The art of flower-arranging, and it is an art-form, was the subject of Val Hockley’s demonstration given to members of Titchfield Gardeners’ Club at their September meeting. Val, who is chairman of Fareham Flower Club, demonstrated the construction of four arrangements using a variety of plant and base material.
Val emphasised the need to use only single head blooms with the best results coming from using in-season flowers, when making arrangements.
Popular blooms include daffodils, peonies and tulips in spring and in summer daisies, sunflowers, roses and poppies. In autumn dahlias, asters and zinnias are very useful. Apples and other fruit can be used to provide emphasis.
Supporting material includes gypsophila, pittosporum and hypericum which are very useful for providing background to the arrangement. Oasis is commonly used as a base material but as this is non bio-degradable, more environmentally friendly types are being developed but at twice the price.
Maintaining shape and balance in the arrangement is obviously important, adding the large and dominant flowers first working in a circle making sure that it looks even on all sides. Use an odd number of flowers in each layer and pay attention to height and width. All flowers and plants used should be watered for 24 hours before planting up.
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