Lebanon Flower Club Holds
Flower Arranging Workshop
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
CORNWALL (Lebanon Co.)
When it comes to flower
arranging, you can never stop
learning, according to the concen
sus of members of the Lebanon
County Flower Club.
A hands-on workshop was held
for members on June 16 at Corn
wall Manor Community Center.
Fellow-member Keiko Smith of
Annville taught the workshop.
Keiko said that she has been study
ing flower arranging for SO years.
After some brief instructions on
line designs, members chose
materials from bucketfuls of fresh
cut flowers and greens to arrange
in containers that they had brought
from home.
Keiko said although the use of
Oasis to hold flowers in place
works fine for individual use,
flower pin holders are used more
often in flower shows that are
judged. She demonstrated the use
of various sizes and shapes of the
pin holders. If pin holders seem
inclined to tip over, anchor them
with another pin holder placed
upside down and slightly overlap
ping the base holder.
One of the best ways to hide the
base holder is to arrange leaves
around the edge of the container.
In her demonstration, Keiko used
leaves from peony and pussy wil
low bushes.
She said that leaves from any
bush or plant may be used, but new
shoots from the stems should be
removed as they have a tendency
to wilt. Big leaves with stronger
stems work best when placed
.igh. .agi
tively the base of the arrangement can be covered with a
pleasing design.
A member examines the flower arrangement she made to
see If It conforms to the rules taught in the workshop.
vines and lamb’s ear form
the focal point for this right
angle arrangement.
‘9 ‘9'
uses peony leaves, orna
mental grasses, allium, and
baby’s breath.
around the Ijase.
She reminded the class to
remember to place leaves at the
back of the arrangement even if it
will not be seen because the added
material adds depth to the arrange
ment and the focal point of an
arrangement generally is at the
bottom of the arrangement
These lilies and Iris
leaves were arranged in a
low container by Phyllss
Conto, who in keeping with
the rules, had the highest
point reach twice the width
of the container plus the
depth.
Keiko freely uses shears to con
tinually trim stems and leaves to
conform to the shape and design
that she wants.
In trimming leaves from large
stems, a brown wooden stem will
look white when trimmed. Keiko
uses a dark Magic Marker to color
the exposed pan
It is important to cut the stems of
larger branches with care so that
the stem will draw up water. Stems
should be cut at an angle or split in
half.
“Stems should always be cut
under water and placed in water
immediately,” she said.
Ferns and soft leaves work bet
ter in mass arrangements. While
large leaves work best in line
arrahgements.
The height of an arrangement
should be twice the width of the
container plus the depth or a bit
higher. A table centerpiece should
not interfere with eye contact
between guests at a table. To find
the best height for a table arrange
ment, Keiko suggested one sit on
the dining room chair, prop your
elbow on the table and measure
from the elbow to no mote than the
tip of your nose.
Containers generally influence
the shape of the flower arrange
ment. The most often used designs
ate crescent, horizontal, vertical,
right or left angle, hogarth curve,
fan shape, circle, oval, and
triangle.
Because member Lilly Hershey
wanted to do something different,
she chose a low odd-shaped con
tainer and used driftwood in her
arrangement To keep the drift
wood in an upright position, she
fastened the driftwood to a tin cof
fee can lid with a screw. She used
stones and pin holders to anchor
the lid to the bottom of the
container.
“Always think of triangle
shapes and place flowers at those
points,” Keiko said.
Scale, color, and balance arc
important in an arrangement
Large flowers look out of propor
tion if placed in a small vase. To
maintain balance, avoid top heavy
designs. Color is often achieved by
a sense of color combination.
Imagination adds variety
arrangements. Look beyond the
flowers growing in your yard to
bushes, trees, and weeds and wild
flowers in meadows. Some of the
unusual plant materials that mem
bers used were meadow tea, cle
matis. canteberry bells, ornamen
tal grasses, fever few, and weeds.
If more information on the
Lebanon Flower Club is desired,
call (717) 273-7039.
In a flower arranging workshop.
Lily Hershey adds the finishing touches to an arrange
ment In which she used driftwood and an unique flower
container.
Tom Pedla holds the arrangment he made for a special
spot at home.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 26, 1993-817