Each year, Mrs. Gwen Gosney’s Horticulture Class creates floral arrangements ahead of the Homecoming dance, to be sold to students seeking to get something nice for their date, mother, or whoever else would like flowers. Most customers, however, don’t think much about what goes on behind the curtain and the work put into them.
The arrangements include bouquets, which come in two different sizes, small and large. The small bouquet comes with 2-3 roses with other flowers, ($20) and the large bouquet includes 4-6 roses, also including other assorted flowers. ($25) Horticulture also sells boutonnieres, which makes for a nice addition to an outfit, clipping onto a lapel. ($30). The boutonnieres include one rose, a baby’s breath flower, and other greenery.
About the types of flowers used in the arrangements, Gosney said “Typically roses are used, greenier as filler flowers and baby’s breath. We also add in different flowers to help match the color of the dresses or suits.”
When ordering the arrangements via the Google Form, it asks what color you or your date’s outfit is for the dance.
Based on what color you give them, the class will color coordinate the flowers to the dress or suit. Senior Kathleen Beard is taking a lead in creating the flowers.
“If they’re wearing a pink dress, we’ll throw in some pink flowers,” said Beard. Following the order, students in the class “analyze” the order and determine the best arrangement of flowers, depending upon the type of arrangement ordered and the colors. When asked about what kind of advice she would give students pursuing a career in the floral world, Gosney said “Be patient, this (career) takes time to learn all the steps. Make sure you have fresh flowers…(Find) an internship if you are able to.”
After the order is complete, the students can begin working on arranging and setting up the flowers in the way they determined to be the best. This is done with a variety of tools and methods, some of these tools including anchor tape, floral adhesive, floral scissors, floral stem tape, floral wire, folding knives, pruning shears, and wire snips. The production process was outlined by Gosney and Marin Famuliner, which can be compiled into a simple list:
- The horticulture students will pick whatever flowers and colors align best with the information on the order.
- The students will then arrange the flowers, in accordance with the order type, in a way that’s aesthetically appealing.
- After the arrangements are assembled, students will cut the stems, and anything else, to the correct length and remove any dead leaves.
- Once the flowers are positioned correctly, students will wrap them for delivery to the person who ordered it.
Orders will be fulfilled and distributed the Friday before Homecoming, and any excess the class has will be sold at the Friday football game.
