Last week, our garden curator, Doug Ruhren, asked if it was okay if Tu Bloom came to visit the garden. My response was if Tu Bloom was a what or a when. It turn out to be a who. Tu Bloom, who happened to be in the area visiting a friend, was recognized by local gardening celebrity, Brie Arthur, when Tu was visiting the Raulston Arboretum, which led to JCRA horticulturist, Tim Alderton agreeing to take him around to other area gardens.
Unbeknownst to me, Tu is quite a garden celebrity. His journey started in his native southern Vietnam, until his parents moved to the US, when he was a young child. Tu found his calling as a floral designer to the stars, having created the floral displays for the Grammy Awards for the last 18 years. During that time, he’s been featured on virtually all the television networks, about his over-the-top designs. In his spare time, when most people sleep, he also does special landscape design projects, and runs his own restaurant in northern Indiana.
It’s was lovely to have time to walk him around the garden, during his first trip to JLBG. He was particularly enamored with our rain lily collection, having caught them in full flowers. In his native haunts, business owners all have a pot of rain lilies by their business entrance for good luck. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing Tu Bloom again in the future.
Tu Bloom @ JLBG
Thanks for sharing this. What an interesting person he is.