We were delighted to welcome Daphne Grant this month – she had very kindly agreed  to come with only  48 hours notice as our booked demonstrator was indisposed.

Her title ‘A planting we will go’  so described Daphne’s obvious love of all things associated with flower          arranging and gardening. By the end of the evening we were all  very jealous of what a beautiful garden Daphne must have    – her variety, use, knowledge and love of  mainly home grown plant material  (much of which many of us will have in our gardens) was tremendous. We were introduced to another new foliage this month – photinia  pink crispy. Her containers, used imaginatively,  were also items many of us may have ‘collected’ around the garden including ‘Hoot’ the wicker owl, a trug,  a chimney pot, buckets and a hanging basket.

These containers lent themselves to a variety of shaped designs. Flowers, mainly pastel shades, included alstromeria, tulips, roses, gerberas, white hypericum berries and lilies –  all complementing the foliage and the containers.

There were many happy raffle prize winners – particularly appreciative of the manageable sized arrangements.

The pictures  we have included shows the imaginative use of buckets and the photinia pink crispy. Thank you Daphne for a very enjoyable evening.

Joyce promised that her floral designs would bring us some sunshine and they did.  By the end of the evening six delightful arrangements decorated the stage and each recorded an aspect of a special holiday.  Using a wide selection of flowers and colours we ‘travelled’ from the Greek islands to Goa via Amsterdam, Mauritius and Sri Lanka and finally back to  England.

In interesting and varied containers, blue delphiniums, red and green anthuriums,  vivid orange and purple strelitzias,  pink gerberas and red roses portrayed the warmth of sunny climes and the cooler colours of green Anastasia and carnations,  orchids and white roses depicted the more temperate countries. Mainly garden foliage including phormiums, aspidistra leaves, box, yew, and cornus was used to good effect and complemented the flowers very well.

Thank you Joyce for your lovely arrangements and also for introducing many of us to Nandina Domestica.

We are always grateful to members who help in any way at meetings; providing the welcome flower arrangement is one example – a picture of this months is below:

It was a delight to welcome Gill McGregor back to BFAS on   a cold winter’s night but by the end of the evening and her ‘Spring Fever’ presentation  we were really anticipating a change in the weather and the Season!

Due to the weather, Gill had struggled to source lots of traditional Spring flowers .  She used carnations, orchids, avalanche and ecuador roses, delphiniums, gerbera, chrysanthemums, strelitzia and daffodils (to name a few!) together with a wide variety of foliage. Throughout the presentation she showed lots of techniques especially leaf manipulation and she demonstrated tubing, coning, grouping and  plaiting   – there was something for everyone to learn – from our experienced arrangers to our brand new members. By the end of the evening the stage looked colourful, inviting and full of impact.

Throughout the evening we were also entertained by her experiences in Singapore and we do hope she gets to Hawaii ! Thank you Gill for a delightful evening and for allowing us to share a picture of one of your designs.

It has been a busy first few days of February! The society contributed to the Candlemas Festival at St Paul’s Church in Bedford. There are just a couple of pictures below to show the design we did around the oak pulpit. It was based on the verse ‘Though the approaching Spring is still a whisper, we celebrate her youth’. Thank you to anyone who helped in any way – it was great to welcome some different members onto the arranging team. It was good also to see the beautiful efforts of many members who were representing other organisations.

A few days later it was our AGM. During the business part of the evening, all the officers’ reports highlighted the very positive development of the society over the last year. It was pleasing that the Society had been involved in producing floral arrangements for four community events – thus increasing our profile in the area. Committee, volunteers and all society members were thanked for their continued support We were also delighted to present a cheque to Sarah Russell for £500 for the Tibbs Dementia Foundation (Music4Memory)

Following the formal aspects of the AGM we welcomed Victoria Diggle who gave us a very interesting illustrated talk ‘National Garden Scheme: horticulture, history and charitable giving’. Although many members are regular visitors to the gardens we all learnt something new especially about the origins of the Society and the amazing £50million that has been raised for charity over the years. Thank you Victoria.

We look forward to our first demonstration of the year next month when Gill McGregor will present ‘Spring Fever’.