Home » Plants & Animals » Garden Design » Flower Shows

Flower Shows

© Kirk Johnson

I decided to go a bit off topic this month and write about floral design rather than garden design.

I recently attended flower show school. The main purpose of a flower show school is to train judges who are accredited to judge standard flower shows. The school took three years to complete. Each year there would be a full day devoted to horticulture and a full day devoted to design. I decided that I didn't want to be a judge, so after the first year, I just took the classes on design.

I didn't learn very much in the earlier classes because my background is in art, so I was already familiar with principles and elements of design. The last class was on table designs. This was an aspect of design that I hadn't explored before, so I learned a lot.

Because I wasn't going to be a judge, I was asked to design a table for the student judges to score as part of their final. I placed an arrangement at the center of the table, so I had to deal with the problem of not blocking the diner's view of each other. I solved the problem by placing a water-worn rock at the center and having branches of contorted filbert going off to one side.

This was my first serious attempt at a table design. I had done centerpieces for holiday dinners before - usually some foliage around a candle, but I had never designed a table to really be a work of art before.

I recently did a second table design for a local flower show. Below is a copy of the instructions for this table from this flower show's schedule.

---

Section E - May Reflections - A functional brunch table for two people, celebrating any holiday in May; to include menu (no flatware, please) Designer provides small table.

---

I did a search on the internet and discovered that the Buddha's birthday is being celebrated in May this year, so it seemed like a good excuse to use my favorite celadon vase. I also indulged myself by buying some celadon plates, bowls and teacups. I composed a floral arrangement using Rhododendron 'Van Ness Sensation' and branches of Corylus avellana 'Contorta' (Harry Lauder's Walking Stick) that I painted using flat black spraypaint. I also painted the frame of an old folding screen black and stretched blue fabric on it. I used the black tablecloth that I used on my first table. I hand lettered the menu using India ink and drew an image of the Buddha using Crayola crayons.

The copyright of the article Flower Shows in Garden Design is owned by . Permission to republish Flower Shows in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.