ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996                 TAG: 9603150104
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: G-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER 

KEEPING UP WITH THE TRENDS

You're planning a wedding, or a retirement party, or just guests for dinner, and want to make sure your flowers are up-to-the-minute chic.

Here, according to nationally known floral designer Michael Polychrones, are the hot floral trends for 1996:

Ethnic: The growing emphasis on diversity means we can expect to see lots of tropical flowers - birds of paradise, for instance - and exotic, jungle-inspired designs.

Environmental: Recycled is in, even in flowers. These arrangements are for people who can't bear to throw away bouquets - they use flowers that you can enjoy fresh, then dry and save for months.

Garden: Americans are hungering for a return to romance. Add to that a compulsion to "grow things," he said, and you end up with garden designs, which use English-garden flowers in the pinks, blues and purples of Monet's palette.

American nostalgia: As we approach the millennium, expect to see more retro designs and new takes on traditional arrangements. Even Spiegel is selling a Formica-and-chrome kitchen table. "It's flea markets, it's quilts, its kitsch," Polychrones said. Look for pricey flowers arranged in garage-sale ceramic bowls.

Adventurous designs usually start on the two coasts and spread inland slowly, he said. But even in the conservative heartland, both florists and customers are branching out, away from traditional arranging and toward more innovative designs.

"The flower industry is in a real serious time right now," said Polychrones, who owns a shop in Northern Virginia. New competition is cropping up all the time, he said, and if retail florists want to hold on to their market share, they have to keep up with floral trends so they don't keep giving customers the same old designs.

Polychrones travels from floral show to floral show, sharing his designs and techniques with local florists. He recently was in Roanoke, where he spoke at the Blue Ridge Teleflora show.

"We find that everybody doesn't just like vanilla ice cream," he said. "There's chocolate and strawberry and jamocha almond fudge."

LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ERIC BRADY/Staff. Michael Polychrones, a floral 
          designer, prepares an arrangement for a recent flower show at Hotel 
          Roanoke. color.