FLOWER POWER FLOAT CREWS SHOW METTLE WITH PETALS.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

The ingredients: 105 pounds of dried parsley; 140 pounds of dried dill; 75 pounds of shredded coconut; 50 pounds of crushed split green peas; 75 pounds of mustard seeds; 50 pounds of peach pits; and a couple boxes each of portabello mushrooms, baby squash and cactus petals.

This is not the recipe for some exotic dish, but a partial list of the ingredients needed to make Burbank's Tournament of the Roses float, titled ``The Jitterbugs.''

With just days left before the New Year's Day parade, battalions of volunteers were at work Friday, toiling away like a swarm of bees at the city yard on Flower Street.

``We've been working 14 to 18 hours a day for the last three weeks,'' said Don Hanes, president of the Burbank Tournament of Roses Association, pointing to dark circles under his eyes.

Behind schedule initially, Burbank's float crews have now caught up, getting ready to put flowers on starting today.

Over at Phoenix Decorating Co.'s Rose Palace in Pasadena, Glendale's crews on Friday began gluing on live petals of red carnations to portions of the city float, called ``Rock Around the Clock,'' a tribute to Bob's Big Boy restaurant.

Over the last few weeks, all the dried materials have been meticulously applied to the float to give it varying textures.

Flax seeds cover the Big Boy's head, while a mix of herbs and spice give him his rosy cheeks. Sesame seeds have been applied to the surface of the restaurant's bricks and crushed walnuts are used for the grout.

``We are very precise. We even take stuff off and put it on again if it's not done right,'' said Councilman Dave Weaver, who is the crew chief.

A binder filled with pages of detailed notes - the so-called decorating book - guides volunteer crews on exactly what materials to apply to each section of the float.

Casey Weeks, who is volunteering with her church group from Placentia, said she is learning how much work it takes to make a float and how painstaking it is to glue on flower petals.

``It takes a lot of patience,'' she said. ``With the petaling, you have to make sure it overlaps just right. You have to go slow or you mess up and have to do it all over again.''

While most of the work is admittedly tedious, Hoover High student Kevin Riutzel has no complaints.

``It's the most fun tedious work I've ever done,'' he said. ``I enjoy getting my hands dirty.''

In addition to ``Rock Around the Clock,'' Glendale crews are also helping to finish the International House of Pancakes float, featuring a fisherman in his boat.

Flowers for both the Burbank and Glendale floats have already arrived from all over the world. They have been unpacked and put into buckets of water. Each rose will be individually preserved in a vial of water before it goes on the float.

Many of the flowers that will go on both floats are exotic, such as pin cushion proteas, bells of Ireland, red torch ginger, antheriums and haliconias.

``It just smells incredible,'' said Leslie Liberty, who was in charge of the flower inventory for the Burbank float.

Whitney Aaron, 17, busy gluing lima beans on a jitterbug with Joey Diel, 14, can't wait to see the finished product.

``We are going to camp out in Pasadena to see it, so when it goes by I can say, 'This is my bug,' '' Aaron said.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) Burbank volunteers, from left, Angelito Mamdac, Ryan Kimble and Jerry Kovar apply straw flower to a giant bug.

(2) Volunteer Angelito Mamdac smooths straw flower onto Burbank's Rose Parade entry.

(3) Purple cushioned mums are kept fresh for application at the last minute to Burbank's float.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer