Wild flowers by arrangement

 

BY JULIA WADE

Armed with wine, coffee and nibbles a local bunch of women have been attending lessons recently in the fine craft of flower arranging, however these classes have involved a touch of the wild. 

The free classes, tutored by Blooming Wild owner Roxy Burnett, are being held at Mangawhai Club on Wednesday afternoons over an eight week period.

Roxy focused on designing arrangements with plants generally found in gardens and growing naturally in Mangawhai’s countryside. 

“My business is all about mainly native flora and fauna instead of the more regular flowers often seen in arrangements,” she says. “However we also used twisted willow, flax leaves, proteas, olive branches, ivy trails, ferns and hydrangeas… no market flowers at all.” 

Along with the traditional bouquet and vase arrangements, participants learned some more unusual styles such as ‘Ikebana’ a Japanese arrangement, floral ice buckets and natural Christmas wreaths using dry herbs and rolled cinnamon sticks for fragrance, and dried orange circles for decorations. A touch of man-made colour via a spray can also added a touch of sparkle and glitter. 

Self-taught in floristry art, Roxy’s talent with wreaths and table arrangements was showcased along with spot prize bouquets at the recent mid-winter Christmas dinner held at Mangawhai Club on June 25, a fundraiser event for prostate cancer. 

Dabbling in the wild; more classes are planned in spring for Roxy’s wild flora and fauna classes using the new season’s flowers.