Flower arranging is like Karoake

Pictures for the newspaper with an article on flower arranging


Flower arranging for the amateur - it's like karaoke

Debbie Balzotti for the Springville Herald

It started out as a basic interview of a local business and their news that they would be teaching floral design classes in Springville. But Chad and Cherie Hall found out I had a secret yearning to create and they made me give it a try on the spot. Here are a couple of things I learned.

It's like karaoke. You think you can sing but actually you need someone singing along with you to make it really good. Chad patiently, very patiently and smiling sometimes at my complete ineptitude, stood by my side teaching me how to make a simple fall arrangement. Here is the recipe I followed, with lots of help.

First, hollow out a small pumpkin and attach the lid with a wooden skewer. Next, fill the pumpkin to just above the rim with that green florist foam stuff. Cover the foam with little pieces of leather fern (already I was pleading for help on where and how much) around the edges. Now take 3 cattails and cut them 3 different lengths and insert to form a triangle - no, no the smallest one always goes at the top!

Take 5 red carnations and place them in the triangle pattern - yes 5 makes 2 triangles when viewed from the front and side. Oops I make the big mistake of sliding a carnation up when it looks too short. "Never pull a flower back up or you will make an air pocket and the flower can't get water which makes your arrangement die sooner." That explains a lot about my past failures.

My focal flower is a sun flower and I learn how to wire the floppy stem and make it stand where I want it to stand - down front and center. Off course Chad now has to zoom in and repair with a little stem stick where my flower isn't quite standing up.

The filling in is the hard part for me. And I forgot to strip off the lower leaves so Chad reminds me again that I need a couple of inches of just stem to push in. Myrtle, Solid Aster, and Broom Corn finish the flower work.

The ribbon - for me this is very important but Chad reminds me it isn't the focal point. What? Another false notion is corrected with a lovely fall bow - not too prominently placed to complete my first masterpiece. It was really fun but I think I better take the class and see if I can do this more than once and all by myself.