Amazingly, only saw The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola) recently, and was taken by Connie's headdress, which looks to be a bunch of baby's breath, in the lavish opening wedding scene. Baby's Breath, or Gypsophila, (/dʒɪpˈsɒfɪlə/) is a genus of flowering plants in the carnation family, Caryophyllaceae. The name Gypsophila comes from the fact that the flower thrives on soil that is high in gypsum, a mineral that makes the soil too thick and heavy for many other types of plants.
Long dismissed as the rather common and inexpensive filler flower that was quickly removed from bouquets of red roses given by well-intentioned lovers on Valentine's Day in the early '90's, the profuse small blossoms have made a spectacular comeback. While the bright white variety is the best known, there are pink and faintly yellow types as well. Today, these misty flowers are sometimes tinted to create deeper hues and arranged into fantastical displays at weddings, from spherical shapes to grand archways, to dramatic fluffy clouds suspended above table settings. They can be used to create floral monograms, woven together to create swooping garlands down long dinner tables or to create romantic pathways down the aisle on your wedding day, or strewn artfully in long wavy tresses. Here are a few of our favourite ways to create sculptural art or enhance anything and everything using these elegant tiny blossoms...