I Love Flowers

Author: Karen Marinelli

Article: I always have fresh flowers in my home. That statement brings to mind a grand home with flowers in the foyer and blossoms in the boudoir. That's not exactly what I had in mind. My favorite place to put a little bouquet is the back of the toilet! More often than not, they're flowers cut from the garden or roadside in a mason jar or a coffee cup. Even when I'm working at a flower shop, or in the wholesale florist, where there are coolers brimming with every choice of flowers from orchids and roses to lilies and snapdragons, my choice leans towards the simple. As I was learning floral design, from time to time, I'd give in to temptation and create a flower arrangement for the house. Every time I walked by it I wondered who I thought I was kidding!? A Yankee by birth with a mother who delighted in making everything herself and a father who built our house and fixed our cars, I felt like a fraud with formally designed flowers in the house. I was raised with flowers... In the garden, in the woods, in the fields, entered in the Agricultural Fair, on wreaths, in coffee cans, in jelly jars, violets growing in the grass, Johnny jump-ups volunteering around the barbeque. My Mother taught me the names of he wild flowers, my Great Grandfather taught me to plant the rows straight, my Aunt Nancy taught me to love bachelor's buttons with calendulas and to cut flowers from the garden and put them in a sugar bowl in the middle of the table. Later, after working at a roadside farm stand, weeding gardens for extra cash, and earning a B.S. in ornamental horticulture, I found myself working in a retail flower shop, learning the basics of floral design. As the years passed, I read magazines, attended design shows, took classes and learned by trying. I have designed weddings, funerals, parties, proms, birthdays, and anniversaries and welcomed new babies. Now and then, I browse the shelter and bridal magazines. I have a great appreciation for the beautiful design. I adore attending design shows and watching AIFD accredited designers work their magic. I ooh and ahh over lush designs in hotel lobbies and on soap operas and award shows. Still, my greatest joy from flowers is the flowers themselves, whatever's in season in the yard or whatever was freshest at flower shop, loosely arranged in a jar or drinking glass and set on whatever clear surface I can find in the house. If that's the back of the toilet, then all the better! There are dozens of places you can buy flowers and even more styles of design. You should choose the ones that bring you joy and display them to suit your mood and your memories. You'll be glad you took the time.

About the author: Karen Marinelli is a Floral Industry Professional with nineteen years of experience in the academic, retail and wholesale sectors of the industry. She believes the common goal should be to sell more flowers to more people, more often.

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