Over the years I have been asked to do a lot of different things related to horticulture for events in Arkansas. A few months ago I got a call from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture's office. They were going to be hosting a southern regional event in Arkansas in June and they asked if I could do 10-12 flower arrangements for them for table decorations for their final dinner. I am not a floral designer by trade, but they wanted something representative of the state, so I said yes. I got a couple of friends to help and we brainstormed ideas. We decided to use native trees as our focal point in the vases, then fill with local wildflowers, along with some blackberry and blueberry stems. It was too early to get much rice, cotton or soybeans. A local florist, Cabbage Rose, offered to lend us large vases and told us about a local grower of wildlfowers - the Poppy Patch in Saline County. Check out her website to see what she offers! Carol and I drove out there the weekend before to pick out the flowers we wanted to use,
and then we went back out on the Monday beforehand to pick them up.
Poppy Patch owner Elizabeth Kooiman (with help from her husband Rodney) has been growing flowers on their property for a couple of years. She is learning from trial and error, but she had so much to choose from
and she is just delightful! We had a great time walking the farm and looking at what she had to offer. It was hard to decide. In addition to the flowers, Randy cut tree branches and perennials he had on his farm, along with blackberry vines.
The number of arrangements kept vacillating back and forth, but we were prepared.
We had 12 large vases and 18 small ones.
We filled them all.
It was great fun working together and just creating.
Everyone did what they wanted, and it worked out fantastic. The flowers looked amazing. We went back the next morning to clean up and the staff was eager to share in some of the flowers.
We returned what we had borrowed, and I took the buckets back to Elizabeth and had a great visit with her and her parents. Her parents used to have a huge blackberry, blueberry and raspberry farm in Saline County. How did I not know about that then?! The connections (and friends) you make are so fun. It was a great diversion and I think we showcased Arkansas well! And it is great to have friends who won't say no!