The annual show is a fundraiser for the garden club, last year raising about $1,200, said Mary Anne Kamas, show chairwoman.
The club uses the proceeds to maintain two gardens at the Women's Club, to help Beverly Health Care residents make fresh flower arrangements for their rooms, help decorate The Miller House for Christmas and to make donations to charities and nonprofit groups such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Kamas said.
Here, Warrenfeltz shows how to use a variety of foliage, fresh flowers, dried materials and other items to make an adaptable floral design that could be a centerpiece or adorn a sideboard or deep mantel.
Some tips from Warrenfeltz: Keep water in the container to extend the arrangement's life, cut stems at different lengths to provide depth, and watch the height of the arrangement if it's to be used as a centerpiece on a table people will be seated around.
The finished arrangement, bought in a store with these particular materials, would cost at least $65 to $70, Warrenfeltz said.
Photos by Joe Crocetta
1. The foundation of the holiday floral design is a shallow rectangular container, a wicker cornucopia and a block of soakable floral foam. A casserole dish or platter can be used as a container, Denny Warrenfeltz said. By the time the design is complete, the dish is barely visible.
2. Use a variety of dried nuts, pods and pine cones and preserved autumn leaves around the cornucopia and foam block. Real autumn leaves can be substituted. Stick branches of various greens into the foam block to create a nest for further decor. Greens can include aucuba japonica (gold dust plant), American boxwood, sage, rosemary, bay leaves and seeded eucalyptus.
3. Skewer faux apples through the bottom of the core, using bamboo skewers found with kitchen supplies. Push the other end of the skewer into the foam block. Real apples can be used, but faux ones last longer and are lighter and stay up better, Warrenfeltz said.
4. Add red color with fresh flowers like safari sunset, James Storey orchids, black magic roses and a variety of chrysanthemums, including green and/or red button and pompom chrysanthemums.
5. A cob of dried corn, a couple pheasant feathers, faux bittersweet, dried yarrow and a turkey decoration complete the Thanksgiving decor look. Instead of a large turkey, a small artificial autumn bird such as a pheasant can be nestled in the arrangement.
6. To make the centerpiece more appropriate for later holidays, remove the autumn leaves, turkey and corn. Add fresh winterberry and gold-sprayed artificial myrtle, and place fresh cranberries in and around the container. Place a cardinal atop the floral decoration and add a Canada goose aside the piece.
If you go ...
WHAT: Crossroads Garden Club's Greens Show
WHEN: 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18
WHERE: Auditorium of the Women's Club, 31 S. Prospect St., Hagerstown
COST: $10.
MORE: Tickets can be purchased from any Crossroads Garden Club member or by calling the Women's Club, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays at 301-739-0870.
