Pershore Flower Club

PERSHORE FLOWER CLUB

Members of Pershore Flower Club and their guests gathered at Bishampton Village Hall on Wednesday, the 17th June to enjoy coffee and tea and home-made cake before we settled down to watch Jackie Page, our demonstrator for the evening. Jackie, from Chipping Norton, called her demonstration “Connections”.
Her first design was a connection to her childhood and her grandfather, who had lived in
Birmingham. At the end of his road there was a farm where they could get milk. Her container was a small milk churn with a dish of oasis on top into which she placed stems of laurel, bergenia leaves and ferns and then two large sunflowers and stems of a pale delphinium and yellow solidago (golden rod). Jackie then produced a similar arrangement which she placed at the base in front of a metal coal scuttle.
Next as a nod to her life in floristry, she used a frame of two gold hoops with an oasis container at the base into which she placed hosta, palm and bergenia leaves. To this foliage, she added pale yellow antirrhinums, blooms of a hydrangea called “magic and tryst”, stems of pink and green variegated anthurium, pale pink carnations and finally sprigs of euonymus. Next a gold coloured urn containing chicken wire to which Jackie added lilies, the same glorious hydrangea, pink peonies, stems of lisianthus and ammi majus (cultivated cow parsley). A design reminding us of Constance Spry and Jackie’s connection to ‘June is busting out all over’.
For her fourth design, Jackie placed a wooden shelf on two stands on which she put various water bottles of differing height together with two white candles making a ‘tablescape’. She inserted stems of a lilac-coloured iris – three stems in each of the three tallest bottles – stems of yellow freesia in the smaller bottles and stems of scabious. Next a hand-tie with a difference – bind pieces of beargrass not too tightly and thread stems of carnations in a line together with stems of a gerbera and a pretty grass. Tie all this together, trim the stalks and stand the hand-tie in a shallow bowl of water.
Finally as a connection to celebrations, Jackie used a tall silver container attached to a silver circular tray on which she had placed varied foliage – eucalyptus, matching silver senecio, garrya elliptica and sprigs of pittosporum to fill in the gaps. Then flowers – antirrhinums, purple campanula, white lisianthus and the white rose “mondial”. This design was another connection to metal – gold, silver, tin, etc.
All this made a very enjoyable evening and we appreciated her humerous chat – successfully using our new microphone for the first time! We meet again on Wednesday, the 15th July when Jayne Morriss from Stroud will give her demonstration entitled “Bits and Bobs”. Everyone is welcome at 7.30 p.m. at Bishampton Village Hall.

Pershore flower club is a vibrant and friendly with over 40 members; we all love flowers and anything floral! We meet on the third Wednesday of the month to chat, watch and learn from the creation of beautiful floral arrangements by demonstrators.