Linda Cozakos lurched forward toward more than 1,500 flowers in white buckets.
"Red carnation on the ground!" Cozakos shouted. "Red sweatshirt! You! Red carnation on the ground!"
She pointed toward the cherry-colored flower on the slick pavement and a young man plucked it gently from the ground.
On Tuesday, the first day of Burbank's Tournament of Roses float decoration week, no carnation, lily or marigold was left behind.
"Every last flower is so important to us because we never know when we need one more," Cozakos said. She would know what's important about float decorating as the decorations chair.
That's beside the fact that she's been involved in Burbank's float submission in one way or another for more than 30 years.
Surrounded by the faded out aluminum siding of the Burbank Water and Power plant sits the Burbank Float Barn, the bunker that holds the city's Rose Parade float — called "Free Dog Wash."
Cotton, straw flower, Asian black moss and the staple roses will be glued and tacked down to Burbank's entry, a scene that depicts a boy giving free dog washes in the woods.
Blond, with a red, backward baseball cap on his head, the young boy scrubs down a motley pooch as a pink poodle with an upturned nose sits beside them.
Other dogs, cats and woodland creatures watch and luxuriate around a lush tree holding two nested canaries.
By the end of the year, Cozakos and the all-volunteer crew of at least 110 will have covered the entire surface of their city's 42-foot-long, 18-foot-wide and 16-foot-high float with flowers, plants and all sorts of vegetation.
For the veteran float makers, the first day holds a familiar stress filled with a sense of excitement.
"I was more excited for this than I was for Christmas," said Megan Wilson, 20, of Burbank.
She's been working on the float since she was 9 years old.
"It's just an amazing thing to watch the float go from that thing," Wilson said, pointing to the naked structure that is the base of the float, "to this beautiful thing covered in flowers."
Flowers like irises and dandelions will be added at the last minute, just a few days before the judging of the float on Dec. 31 and the Rose Parade on New Year's Day.
The very last thing to go on the float will be the floral arrangements placed on the day of judging in various spots on the massive structure.
"It's so awesome," Joey Diel, 19, of Burbank, said. She's been around the float camp since she was a baby.
"The end product is really cool but it takes so many hours to get it."
Almost countless hours, said John Hames, president of the Burbank Rose Float Assn.
Burbank's team builds their float from scratch, doing all the concept art, welding, painting and flower adorning from start to finish.
The hours will kick into overdrive in a few days when the volunteers will spend almost 24-hour shifts trying to get the float into award-winning shape for the big parade.
