A Garden Club Program

Our Finished Design (on the right)

The program for last Tuesday’s Chapel Hill Garden Club November meeting was a hands-on workshop “Create a Floral Design” led by Betsy, a club member and floral designer/judge. Members were assigned to work in pairs, all materials were provided and the finished designs were donated to local community places (hospitals, fire departments, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and community gathering spots, such as the public library).

The folks who put this program together attended to every detail. Upon arrival each team was directed to a table with plenty of workspace and outfitted with a small white dish, presoaked Oasis (floral foam), a bit of florist’s clay and holder to secure the Oasis to the dish, a trash bag for discards and a strip of paper measuring tape. We only had to bring a pair of shears and would you believe it, I forgot mine. Fortunately there were extras available.

After a brief introduction from Betsy, we used a checklist of materials and gathered our floral materials from buckets in the center of the room. There were a few extras up for grabs also.

Stem count provided to each design team.

In about an hour the club designed around 25 arrangements. It was fascinating to see how creatively each team chose to use the flowers and foliage. No two designs were alike.

Club Floral Designs

Each year Betsy volunteers to lead design workshops and I have attended several, which qualified me as “experienced” when we were paired. A new club member, Kathy, and I were teamed together. It was a fun way to bond and of course, it is always fun to work with flowers I do not usually have in my garden. Must say I am usually not a fan of carnations but oh I loved these rich purple ones.

It was hectic as we were finishing up and I did not get a straight on photograph of our final design, but we thought it turned out pretty well. Not sure where it ended up being delivered but hope it brightened someone’s day as much as it did ours.