Final flowers go for Barack's big day

MIKE SCOTT

Kathleen Coils was hard at work in her Urenui greenhouse yesterday getting the final disa orchids ready to be shipped to the United States for the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20.

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The excitement is building for Urenui orchid grower Kathleen Coils who can't wait to see how her blooms are used in American President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony next week.

"I hope I get to see what they are doing with them," Mrs Coils said yesterday.

"I hope that they take photos while they are doing them so I can see how they are working with flowers."

The final seven boxes of disa orchids will leave Riverton Horticulture, owned by Mrs Coils and her husband Barney, today for the special occasion.

Mrs Coils said she would have shipped a total of 15 boxes, 600 stems, for the event. "They started going two weeks ago, we were sending as many as we can get when we have got them." The large number of disa orchids available to be displayed at the inauguration would be a world first, she said.

Mrs Coils has been in the media spotlight since it was announced in December that she would be supplying the orchids for the event, but she has taken it all in her stride.

"It is all a bit of a storm in a teacup really, we send the flowers all of the time.

"We still have to take the same care of them," she said.

The extra special order came a year after she had set up a supply deal with US supplier, Amy's Orchids, which caters for the top end of the US market.

"It is nice to know that they are going to be used somewhere super-special," Mrs Coils said.

- © Fairfax NZ News