Floral artists go wild using local materials
THE gentle art of flower arranging was infused with much creative expression at the Port Alfred Floral Art Club AGM at Settlers Park on Saturday.
The designs were so complex and the arrangements so gorgeous it was difficult to conceive how they were made by mere mortals.
Flowers, for example, were placed in test tubes instead of simple oases, for arranging with maximum precision.
A not-so-simple, hand-tied bouquet consisting of a wire frame in the shape of a goblet, handmade, of course, with restios (or grasses) in long vertical lines around the rim, pin cushions and two shades of blue delphiniums within, was supported on a self-standing branch.
A beautiful table design (like a cheese platter) with two circles of chicken wire filled with hay, had Kentia palm seed heads, syringa berries, giant bamboo strips and orange roses arranged in the middle. It was a bold use of indigenous materials considering syringa berries are poisonous and unusual material.
There was also a spectacular large room design on a black metal support stand, with white casablanca lilies, indigenous grass and conifer branches, all wired up.
The material for the sickle binding came from Baakens Valley, but can be anything with a flexible top, as long as it is not dry fynbos. Binding wire is wrapped around and around it, adding more branches as needed, and finished with a spray of varnish.
The arrangements were designed by master florist Gregor Lersch, the German teacher and author of floral design books, who gave a workshop in South Africa as part of his five continents tour at Bona Dea Private Estate near Hermanus last week.
Participants at the workshop were required to reconstruct Lersch’s designs using local floral material.
Over a period of five days, they produced two arrangements each in the five different categories, working with proteas, hand-tied bouquets, table designs, handbags of floral material and large room designs.
Joan Jorritsma of the South African Flower Union and Jill Hoskins of the Eastern Cape Floral Art Association, based in Port Elizabeth, attended the workshop and spoke about their experiences while adding the finishing touches to their reconstructed designs.
They then judged the flower arrangements made by the members of the club. The winner was Linda Dreyer, who took a palm spade, filled it with the sculptural shapes of aloes and echiveria, and added long looped palm fronds for height and contrasting texture.
“It was a successful use of ordinary garden material, suitable for outside or a family room, and neat,” the judge said.
At the AGM afterwards, club president Hennie de Bruin gave the president’s award to Rina van der Merwe for her contribution to floral art.
Honorary member Liz Cooper thanked De Bruin for his dedication and work, which had saved the club.