Ashton Hayes and Tarvin Flower Club – October Meeting Report

Flower Demonstrator Anne Russell delighted us with her wit, humour and flower arranging skills throughout a demonstration entitled 'A Walk In The Park'.

Anne's introductory design was a vibrantly coloured, traditional triangular arrangement of yellow roses, seasonal red dahlias and gorgeous orange Germini. After this design, we were introduced to Anne's wit and humour with the first of many one-liners, e.g. 'The name Lance is not so popular today but in medieval times, they used the name Lance A Lot.' She was determined to send everyone home with a smile on their face.

Her second design was a continental style arrangement in pink and white, featuring heather, gladioli, antirrhinum (snap dragons), spray and bloom chrysanthemums. But the Lot! stunning two-tone Anastasia bloom chrysanthemum was the real star of the show, bringing gasps of delight from the audience as its beauty was revealed. Two beautiful designs to take home.

The third design featured an on-trend, reusable, structure of lilac branches forming the basis of an ecologically friendly, hand-tied bouquet filled with an unusual polychromatic mixture of flowers; apricot-coloured alstroemeria, bright yellow balls of Craspedia and tan-coloured Amaranthus, finished off with striking black Zantedeschia lilies.

Then came design four, an unusual design on a stand reminiscent of a church window. This featured mainly home-grown foliage and seed-heads, including dried pussy-willow, millet and some very prickly teazels. And look out also for the striped aspidistra leaves. Truly a design for cash-strapped times, stunning, but not a flower in sight!

Traditionally, design number five is a speedy one, and this was no exception. The stand resembled an unusual roller coaster ride in black, trimmed with orange and white giant test tubes. To these were added four small hand-tied posies, providing one good-sized vase of flowers for the lucky raffle winner.

The sixth design was a larger pedestal style in pink, red and white; pink roses, red spray carnations, white spray chrysanthemums. But look at those lilies, not ready to come out in two weeks, but open on the night! And with the size of the design, came the usual jokes about hoping that whoever won it had not come on their bike!

But wait, design six was not the final one. Anne was determined that everyone left with a smile on their face and had added a seventh design, based on a bottle filled with coloured lights, ready to brighten up the darkest corner.

All-in-all, a very enjoyable evening, packed with humour and beautiful flowers to take home.
Visitors are always very welcome at a flower demonstration. You do not have to do anything, just sit and enjoy the demonstration. And, who knows, you may even win an arrangement to take home. Our visitor fee even includes a raffle ticket.... So hope to see you soon.