Petals of Friendship

I recently watched Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Amazon) and it was a lovely, “dreams come true” story. The main character in the story, Mrs. Harris, is a light-hearted woman with a lovely disposition. A war widow, she makes her living as a hard working housekeeper for upper class clients. While at one of her clients’ homes, she spies a stunning Dior couture gown hanging in the wardrobe. Instantly, she is entranced by its beauty and resolves to own one someday. She was on a mission! She scrimps and saves at every opportunity. Finally, she has saved enough to make the trip to Paris to visit the renowned House of Dior. She is ready to make a purchase! She endures a few twists and turns, but as fate would have it, everything falls into place for her. She is seated in the viewing parlor ready to observe a private showing of the beautiful collection of couture dresses. Spoiler alert… She purchases a beautiful gown and the process to custom fit her dress begins. She proudly owns a Dior gown! I

  The work of a floral designer can be perceived as dreamy and romantic. The truth is, it’s really not like that at all.  It’s a satisfying form of creativity and just like any other art form, a great deal happens before the “beautiful” emerges. What isn’t seen is the messy process that precedes the beautiful outcome. If you’ve ever worked in a floral shop, you know what I mean. Flowers arrive to a shop packed in boxes. They are strategically and protectively arranged to protect and preserve them from damage while in transit. If mishandled, flowers can be bruised. The job of the floral designer begins here. The goal? To carefully unpack the flowers and transfer them to another safe place, a cylinder container filled with fresh water. Before the stems are submerged in water though, essential things need to happen. As the flowers are unpacked, the stems are cleaned, then given a generous new cut. This is done so that when they’re put in a bucket of water, they can “drink up”. The new