My Adventures

When people ask me how my career evolved in floral design I have to give credit to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the Philadelphia Flower Show. While taking classes and workshops, whenever they were offered, the chance to try my luck in competition was a...

One of my favorite books is “The Secret Lives of Color” by Kassia St. Clair who begins her chapter on white with quotes from Melville’s Moby Dick.  “The Whiteness of the Whale,” is a powerful chapter touching on the psychological effect of the color white. It can be...

All Photography By: Laura Pearson Couture floral design may be used when creating a floral design for a flower show or stylish event. We may look to the French for haute couture inspiration.  Much like fabric, leaves and grasses may be folded into graceful shapes to...

One of the most useful designs for filling large spaces is the phoenix design.  The name comes from an ancient Egyptian legend of a colorful bird called a Phoenix.  It lives in the desert for hundreds of years and then self ignites. When the ashes rise to heaven...

Thanksgiving is approaching and a good time to add fruits and vegetables to table arrangements.  With just a few tricks this can be easy and the effect is long lasting.Look to the vegetable aisle in the supermarket for colors and textures to enhance flowers. I like to...

I had the pleasure of visiting Leesburg Virginia for their semi annual Leesburg Garden Club Symposium 2018.  The event took place at Riverside on the Potomac, a fabulous barn and party venue that made working in a barn a very glamorous experience.  The light inside...

The Garden Club of America held its annual Shirley Meneice Conference at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square PA.  This is a meeting of more than 250 avid horticulturists who meet for several days of workshops and garden study.  I was asked to...

June brings the summer solstice and long, sunny days. As temperatures rise flower colors get hotter as well. Soft larkspur blues and columbine in early June make way for bright sunflowers and zinnias by August. The glamorous dahlia begins it show late in...

My best advice for arranging with sunflowers is “DON’T.”  Just let them fall into place and their heads should find spaces in a graceful, natural way.  The fresh water in this vase will cloud in a few days and that’s the sign for changing the water and...

The Event of the Year This year I had the opportunity to present demonstrations for two outstanding organizations---Longwood Gardens and the National Garden Club Annual Meeting which was hosted in Philadelphia. Longwood Gardens’ theme was, “The Art of The...