—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 30, 1977
42
Anabel Lasker gives final lecture
By SUSAN KAUFFMAN ,
Feature Writer
Last week the public was invited to a special program of
the Green Acres Garden Club of Lancaster County to hear
an internationally known horticulturist lecture on the
topic “Our Heritage of Flowers and Plants in Interior
Decoration.” What those in attendance actually witnessed
was the final public presentatu.. to be given by Anabel
Combs Lasker.
Since it was her last public lecture, the program con
tained much more than stated in the title. “I want to cover
as much as possible,” she said.
The afternoon program which consisted part of Mrs.
Lasker’s presentation at the World’s Fair in Brussels
included the use of antiques and reproduction containers
as well as modern adaptations of early vessels for floral
arrangements. The lecture also included the use of wall
hangings, table settings, and figurines as they related to
particular floral displays.
An unpretensious lady, Mrs. Lasker pakced as much of
a life-long pursuit of horticultural expertise and ex
perience into the two hours as possible. As she moved
rapidly from one exhibit to another, she related some of
the many experiences she has had in foreign countries and
in teaching disadvantaged children in New York City. It
was quickly apparent to the audience that this expert who
was an outstanding horticulturist on an international level -
was also keenly in touch with the needs and responses of
culturally deprived children. Having two children of her
own may have given her special msight into the creative
interests of these young individuals.
Residing in her retirement on a farm at Woodbine, York
County, Mrs. Lasker is a world renowned horticulturist.
She received her B.S. and M.S. at North Western
University and her PhD. at Columbia. She has lectured at
the Royal Horticultural Society in Londa, the World’s Fair
in Brussels, where she won the Designer’s Gold Medal for
Creativity, has taught the first judging schools in Canada
and Switzerland, was accredited by the National Council
of State Garden Clubs as a master judge, landscape critic
and horticultural judge, and has written six books.
For 25 years she taught at the New York Botanmcal
Gardens where she was in charge of the children’s
workshop program. She also taught at Welsley, Penn
State, Columbia, UCLA, Yale and Harvard.
For her work with disadvantaged children in New York
City she was given medals by two presidents. Several
projects she used with these children were also on display.
One used broken glass shower doors; another used old
bottles, curched, with the resulting pieces of glass glued to
create a stained-glass effect; and a third used bits of
wood, clothes pins, wire and other trash gathered in the
inner city. . ~
In working with the children every Saturday for 25
years (500 children every week) Mrs. Lasker had to
devise projects w 1 cost no more than 55 cents per child.
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Above is a black influence centerpiece fashioned
out of a wrought iron figure placed against white
gladiolas and a tan palm leaf.
Homestead Notes
W ****** **.•(****
She wanted them to have a finished product to take home
to keep, so she contacted contractors and collected the
broken glass shower doors. Many of the other supplies for
the children’s projects were readily available to the
children or were donated by visitor to the gardens.
Tracing the American heritage of flowers and plants in
interior decorating, Mrs. Lasker explained that our
richness of culture is derived*Trom the various ethnic
groups which have made our nation. Not tracing these
groups in order of importance, but rather as the exhibits
appeared on the tables, Mrs. Lasker pointed out several
characteristics and differences in the displays she had
created.
xu represent the American Indian influence, she
showed a sandpicture candle arrangment complete with
petrified wood and a collection of artfully arranged
squash, potatoes, and com.
The Hawaiian culture was depicted by a display en
veloping a Sorenson sculpture of the head of a native girl.
Driftwood, bamboo, glads, fan-tailed palm, Antheria,
bananas, and pears complemented the sculpture. Warm
browns, bright red, and yellow dominated the color
scheme.
From the pioneer days, primitive needlework, hand
crafted by Mrs. Lasker on organdy to create a farm scene,
was displayed with an arrangement of honeysuckle, grape
hyacinth, blue ageratum, petunias, and verbina in an
antique agateware teapot.
Also from our early history was a arrangement of
herbs, including artemisia and mint in the Williamsburg
style.
The Seminole Indian influence was represented by a
hand-crafted clay basket of irregular shape filled with a
live African violet.
An arrangement of candles and flowers placed on a
pedestal base which was traced from the Hebrew or
Jewish culture was explained.
Apple dolls and com husk flowers depicted the German
traditional-influence in-our culture. An early American
lantern painted in Pennsylvania Dutch fashion dominated
an exhibit of fir, carnations, and Iron Cross Begonias.
The Black culture’s influence was represented by a
striking display created before the listenings audience’s
eyes. A wrought iron figurine was silhouetted against a
white gladiola and brown palm fronds.
Not limiting her presentation to tracing the ethnic
heritage in our total American culture, Mrs. Lasker also
included in the afternoon’s presentation many hints and
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I want to start a garden this year. Me. Yes, me -
the one who helped to plant the potatoes that
rotted m the ground last year, and the one who
decided to plant tulips in the shaded circular flower
beds in the middle of June, and the one who always
had a piano lesson to practice when it came to
picking string beans, shelling lima beans, or
freezing corn.
-
And, hoe a weed, who ever heard of me doing
something like that 7 The best I could do was pick
an ear of corn off a stalk when I was desperately
starving and there was no other food to be found in
the house (which never happened, so you know
how many times I picked my own corn.)
JL >
Now, of course, this lazy, disinterested individual
wants to have her own flower beds and be a super
gardener If I do, you can be sure I'll be the one
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My Thoughts
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By JOANNE SBAHR
Associate Editor
suggestions for using floral displays to accent ordominatt
place settings, figurines, and wall hangings, as well as]
giving numerous guidelines to follow when creating
floral displays themselves.
“One should be striving for variety, new ideas,
ways of doing things,” Mrs. Lasker stated. “We
Americans are not so inhibited that we are afraid to
something new.”
“Three things constitute creative design-the idea,
material and the skill with which- you handle
material,” she explained. “Use nature's unusual f<
suchas driftwood, stones and seeds.”
Each display for the various ethnic groups evident
[Continued on Pate 43]
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’WfMkm arrangement shown
above is created from
a Sorenson sculpture
and surrounded by
gladiolas and fruit.
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and welcome to them
who’ll end up with the dozen stalks of fennel
feet high and then realize I hate the stuff. Or, I’ll
the one to plant a zillion tomato plants, then nevi
have time to can the produce, and end up gettir
three intensive weeks of rigorous exerci
throwing rotten tomatoes up against the puff
house wall or at any stray cat or dog coming into ff
range.
Or, if that doesn't happen, I'm sure to let t
broccoli go up in seed, or never tealize that t
little tumors on the sides of the brussel spro
stalks are really vegetables, after all, and not a ra
disease.
Oh, yes, this garden of mine will be just a lot
fun, all right. On second thought, maybe I’ll
brush up on my piano skills--that should take me i
Summer, and sufficiently save me from myself
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To the left is a
Japanese flower
sculpture created by
Lasker.
Mrs.
features Japanese
figures In a wormwood
container.