Floral Arranging Made Simple
Whether it was the first really spring-like morning or the lure of fresh floral arrangements offered as door prizes, the April program by Tom Cortright of A-a-a-h, Flowers by Cortright, drew 40-plus retirees and friends.
Cortright opened his program with a reminder to folks who got tulip or hyacinth plants over the Easter period to get those plants in the ground and feed them well to keep them blooming, noting that all bulb plants are rapid feeders. Two weeks after they have stopped blooming, dig them up, store them and re-plant in October.
With that opening advice, he opened a 5-foot long foot-square box and from its contents proceeded to produce the seven floral arrangements that folks in his audience would take home at the end of the program. Throughout, he stressed that “flower arranging is simple and there are no rules,” and he set about proving just that.
Among the cut-flower tips he passed along; fresh-cut flowers should be placed first in warm water and trimmed at the bottom about twice a week…take them to the sink and spray them and, when changing the water, use cool water. That should make the bouquet last two to three times longer.
An especially nice new development in floral arranging is floral foam…in colors! He proceeded to assemble an arrangement in a square clear-glass container using yellow foam...and using complementary flowers – sunflowers, yellow tulips, forsythia. Using floral sponge, the cut flowers continue to grow.
He showed his audience how to extend the life of a cut-flower arrangement by changing its look every two or three days just by adding different but complimentary flowers, ribbons or even light-weight decorative items like birds or butterflies. Mix up the textures with airy ferns, baby’s breath. Among the flowers he showed and used in a bouquet were three green roses. He peeled foliage away from a flower so the blossom, which is a heavy drinker, get’s plenty of water.
As he worked on his creations, he talked about his involvement with area 4-H programs and as a judge at local fairs and shows, noting that 4-H programs can always use gardener volunteers.
Asked about the source for his flowers, Cortright said they come from just about all over the world. The combination of cold weather and high heating costs prompted him to shut down his greenhouse in South Corning for the winter. “$2,000-a-month heating bills would be painful,” he said.
Another wanted to know how to get rid of sumac. His advice: Cut it to the ground, score an “X” in the stump and put salt on it. He also told the retirees to just use plain water on the plants…not chemicals or preservatives that can find their way into ground or waste water.
“Flowers make you smile,” Cortright said as he concluded his program. For sure, the arrangements he created made seven attendees smile broadly. |
