GRASSROOTS: East Preston floral club

Cherie works in London, close to the Tate Modern, and often visits the gallery, where she gets lots of inspiration for her floral designs.

The first was inspired by Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture, “Orpheus”. Cherie made a low base of a mixture of green foliage, adding a tall piece of Lucky Bamboo to which she fixed pink midelino sticks representing the strings in the sculpture, adding pink mini gerbera and lime green antheums to complete the design.

Her second arrangement was inspired by watching the “Shard” being constructed, which, when completed will be London’s tallest building. She used a very tall, slim, pointed metal stand for the design, which featured pink antirrhinums and pink anthuriums.

The third design was inspired by Cornelia Parker’s sculpture “Cold, Dark Matter, an Exploded View”. Cherie had created a large, black, loosely-woven ball and then arranged a dramatic design on top, with various lime green foliage, green chrysanthemum blooms and green carnations.

For her fourth design she produced her own piece of modern art, using many circles of cane joined together to make a base for her arrangement of white gladioli, yellow chrysanthemums and yellow roses.

The fifth arrangement had two placements of lime green foliage, burgundy cotinus, red mini gerberas and grand prix red roses.

Cherie’s final design was arranged in a large dark blue glass container within a metal stand. She used beautiful blue delphiniums and bright orange gerberas, the colours Cherie chose when she exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time this year. She had some very entertaining stories about that exciting experience.

Results of the May competition, “Garden Party” – novice: 1, Julie Brockhurst; 2, Janet Samwell; joint 3, Sheila Heather, Joan Skinley. Intermediate: 1, Enid Oddell. Advanced: 1, Ann Jarvis.

The Betty Marwood Memorial Salver was won by Ann Jarvis.

The next meeting is on Wednesday, September 7, at the East Preston Conservative Hall at 7.30pm, with a demonstration by Christine Evans entitled “Something Old, Something New”.