From bonsai to bouquets, Lego Botanicals turn artificial flowers into design objects
Lego recently announced four new Botanicals sets launching in January 2026. Among them, the Peace Lily presented an unlikely design problem. The spadix (that distinctive spike emerging from the white bloom) is built from a carrot. Not a carrot-coloured piece, but the actual vegetable element from their food range, recoloured and topped with a popcorn piece when the flower reaches full maturity.
Without flexible materials to mimic nature directly, designers engineer solutions using whatever pieces fit the scale and shape requirements. The result doesn’t try to pass as real flora. It registers as both flower and construction, visible from across a room.

Above The Bouquet of Pink Roses comprises individual rose stems built from layered circular elements that form graduated petals

Above The geometric nature persists even at close range and the pieces work because they look constructed rather than trying to hide their nature
The collection launched in 2021 with a bonsai tree that became one of Lego’s bestselling adult sets. By 2025, Botanicals had become a standalone theme, and the sets had found their way into the homes of people who don’t typically display Lego.
What distinguishes these from silk flowers and other artificial flora is how they handle realism. Typical artificial flowers fall in the uncanny valley of almost-but-not-quite, while Lego flora avoids it by making construction visible.
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Where frogs become cherry blossoms

Above The original 2021 Flower Bouquet in a vase beside the cherry blossom bonsai. The bonsai used pink frogs as blossoms, establishing the principle of using whatever parts work regardless of original purpose
The collection began in 2021 with a bonsai tree that used pink frogs as cherry blossoms. The pieces, originally designed for swamp and castle sets, are attached to brown branches via clips. The finished tree sits about 18cm high, its pink blooms creating an unexpected softness against the angular brown trunk.
The design established a principle: use whatever parts work, regardless of original purpose. Builders could swap the pink frogs for green leaves to display the tree in spring bloom or summer foliage.

Above Mini Bonsai Trees (10373) displayed together on ornamental stands. The set builds three separate trees—ginkgo, Japanese black pine, and wisteria—with interchangeable foliage that creates a colour gradient from warm yellow through deep green to soft purple
Following the popularity of Bonsai trees, Mini Bonsai Trees, released in August 2025, extend this modularity. The set builds three separate trees with interchangeable foliage. Displayed together, they create a colour gradient from warm yellow ginkgo through deep green pine to soft purple wisteria. The Japanese black pine looks particularly effective with dark green claw pieces from dense needle clusters that catch light differently than flat leaf elements.
A small olive green frog hides inside the wisteria stand, referencing the original tree’s pink frogs, a whimsical callback underlining Lego’s view that these sets as connected rather than isolated products.
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Lupins from 1989 minifigures

Above The Wildflower Bouquet comprises eight different flower varieties, including poppies, lavender, gerbera daisies and cornflowers
The vibrant Wildflower Bouquet contains eight species, including lupins, cornflowers, and lavender. The set demonstrates what Lego builders call NPU (Nice Parts Usage), where standard elements serve unexpected purposes. The lupins use pirate hats from 1989 minifigures as petals, with said hats attached to studs on a core built from plates and tiles. The Brothers Brick review called this “one of the top 10 best part usages” in their building experience. Each hat is instantly recognisable, but arranged radially around a centre, they read as a spike of small flowers.
The cornflowers combine six-sided Ninjago weapon holders with “eggshell” pieces designed initially for Easter decorations. Crown elements from The Lego Movie 2 appear throughout in multiple colours, with their radiating points serving as flower centres and stamen structures.
The colour palette marked a deliberate shift from the original 2021 set’s muted tones, as the Wildflower Bouquet introduced bright lime greens, vivid purples, and saturated blues.
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Why pink is hard
The aptly named Pretty Pink Flower Bouquet contains 749 pieces that go towards building fifteen stems, including orchids, roses, and daisies. Its waterlily dahlia uses twenty-four light nougat shields arranged in overlapping layers, which appear in castle sets as medieval shields. Here, the curved surface and tapered edge create petal shapes. Brick Fanatics noted the set “could have come out looking quite cartoonish if the blend of colours was even slightly off.”
The cymbidium or boat orchid required new moulds. Lego created 4x6 leaf elements specifically for this set in magenta. Designer Theo Bonner explained that the team has limited “frames” for requesting new parts each year, making this significant. The Persian buttercup builds an orange-to-yellow gradient using wheel trims originally designed for cars, while the two pink roses represent the sixth iteration Lego has produced, refining the earlier Bouquet of Roses design by offsetting shells by half a stud, making petals interleave more closely.
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The Maple Tree’s new leaf

Above The Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree features autumn foliage composed of red and orange elements arranged to resemble maple leaves
The autumnal Japanese Red Maple introduced the 3x3 palm leaf featuring compound curves and graduated taper. Its leaves attach via bars and clips rather than studs, allowing rotation and positioning to create the flowing appearance of Japanese maple branches.
The pot surface is completely covered with lime-green and olive-green “moss” elements. Nothing sits loose, solving a problem from the 2021 Bonsai Tree, where small disc “pebbles” could be knocked off easily.
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Beyond the toy aisle

Above French-Austrian designer Marina Hoermanseder’s Berlin Fashion Week dress incorporated 30,000 LEGO bricks, including forty-four botanical roses, glued to boiled leather using a medieval technique.
Design credibility came through fashion first. French-Austrian designer Marina Hoermanseder incorporated Lego Botanicals into a dress for Berlin Fashion Week, glueing 30,000 bricks, including forty-four botanical roses, to boiled leather using a medieval technique. A team of four people dressed the model.
Lego reinforced this through publishing. The Botanical Almanac, a hardcover book featuring hand-drawn illustrations by Nina Pace and interviews with five designers, resembles design monographs rather than toy catalogues. Celebrity floral designer Jeff Leatham has led workshops on arranging Lego flowers, while singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor collaborated on vase designs using Pick-a-Brick elements.
Brick Architect observed the sets appearing “in offices and living spaces” of people “with no affinity to Lego.” The pieces photograph well, which matters for interior design documentation, and they work as design objects because they look constructed rather than trying to hide their nature.
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Photography: courtesy of Lego
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