I grew up in the garden watering the plants and pulling the weeds. Flowers and gardening have been a passion of mine since I can remember. Now that the kids have moved out of the house I have had more time to rekindle my passion for flowers and floral arrangements. There is something special that floral arrangements do for a home.
A few weeks ago I signed up for a Floral Arrangements 101 class at our local community college. I never thought I would go back to school, but this was such a great decision. I think it is the best time to take a class because of all the holiday parties coming up and the floral arrangements I’ll want to make. :)
Today was the first class of a 6 class course. I was a little nervous about the class because I don’t have any professional or educational background in floral design, just a strong interest in it. When I got there I immediately felt better, there were beautiful arrangements all around the room and it just so happened an acquaintance from my husband’s work was there too. It is always more comforting when there is a familiar face.
Today in class, we learned about composition, color and design for the different seasons. I was amazed at how extensive the professional thought process is when designing. When I create an arrangement at home I just put together what looks good to me; after this class I hope I am going to be able to make professional quality arrangements.
After a little lecture and chatting, we dove in and began creating our first. We designed little Dahlia and Mum bouquets for a small table setting. Our teacher was so informative and knowledgeable. After listening to her instructions I realized I had been doing the preparation all wrong. We began by cutting the steams of late fall dahlias and mums and arranged it with twigs of crabapples and orange winterberry.
I was surprised how great everyone’s turned out…for our first class, we looked like prodigies. They looked effortless and so chic. The best part was we got to take them home when we were done! The short arrangements look great lining the center of our dinner table. My husband even noticed and commented on how great they looked when he came home!
I loved my first class, I can’t wait for the next one. Who knows, I may have found my new passion?!
Until next time,
Nancy
