Floral Tuesday with Cathy and Val

In our last village magazine was an advert ....

..... Anne and I decided to go.

We always have a good supply of flowers at Freshwinds and we have done wild arrangements for the barn dances and openings.

Anne often puts flowers in the yurts and shepherd`s hut.

We thought we could add to our skills.

Cathy and Val are very much involved with flower arranging in the local churches and flower festivals.

In fact the Fairlight Church Flower Festival is this weekend.

 

The idea of the class, was to encourage us to make entries for the Pett Flower Show.

We gathered in the village hall where all our equipment was set out at tables, surrounded by buckets of flowers and greenery.

Our flowers, dishes and oasis were provided and we took our own secateurs and greenery. There was plenty to choose from.

 

 After an introduction from Val, in which was mentioned the need for more entries in the show, Cathy demonstrated the type of arrangement we were going to try.

Here are some of the points that I found most useful...

1. use three different types of greenery

2. hold the flower near the end to place in the oasis, it is less likely to bend or break.

3. cut flower stems at an angle to increase the water intake

4. put your greenery in first and then add the main flowers

5. keep turning your arrangement to view from all sides

6. soak your flowers before you begin 

And so we set to with a will, with lots of help on hand from both Cathy and Val.

Tea and biscuits were served to keep us going.

Here are some of the results.

This is Anne with her arrangement.

This is Nina who sat beside me.

She is relatively new to the village, so it was great way to get to know people.

 

The time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to pack up.

I think Cathy and Val were quite impressed with our valiant efforts and there were many thanks all round. 

And lots of encouragement to "go for it" when the flower show comes around.

 Cathy with her lovely demo arrangement.

Val making a long arrangement.

And this was an arrangement to show us what we could do with just greenery and seedheads....this is one of the categories in the show.

 We all had a most enjoyable evening and came away, with our lovely floral displays and we were filled with enthusiasm.

Let`s hope there will be plenty of new entrants at the flower show this year.  

 

Many thanks to Cathy, Val and Angela for a very pleasant and 

well-prepared evening.