Going Green

Since this week was my Altar Guild team's turn to create the flower arrangement for our church, I thought I'd show you how we turned some greenery and several bunches of flowers into a large arrangement for the altar.

With St. Patrick's Day coming up on Tuesday, Connie, Susie and I decided on a theme featuring different shades of green. So with that in mind, we visited the wholesale florist early Friday morning to see what we could find. We were glad to see that they had Bells of Ireland, and we found two sizes of green chrysanthemums. We also liked these green berries. I don't know what they're called, but they had pretty feathery folliage, and we thought they'd make good filler.

That afternoon Connie and I raided a friend's yard for smilax to use for our greenery. We also cut some white azaleas, and because they were just beginning to bud, they were perfect for our green theme.

After soaking our flowers and greenery overnight, we began to assemble our arrangement on Saturday morning. We selected a large moss lined wire basket to use as a "vase" and filled it with oasis that we thoroughly soaked in water. The oasis was covered with wire to help stabilize the flowers.

Using the greenery, we established the basic line of the arrangement. Then we added the Bells of Ireland to reinforce the line.

After adding the large spidery chrysanthemums as our "face" flowers, we filled the gaps with the remaining flowers and berries. The result was a large arrangment that made a statement in green, even from the back of the sanctuary.

For more Metamorphosis Monday stories, visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. I'm looking forward to getting a closer look at what she's done with her master bedroom.