Floral designer Jane Godshalk from the famous Longwood Gardens faculty delighted the Boca Grande Garden Club Nov. 7 with nine holiday arrangements combining native plants with vividly colored roses, carnations and hydrangeas.
She also cleverly used candles and decorative items from nature and the art world.
Members Mary Ann Hooker, Marguerite Tremelin, Gabrielle Heidsieck and Pam Payne helped bundle temperate and tropical flowers in dramatic color combinations with grasses, branches and shells.
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Jane Godshalk of the Longwood Gardens faculty presented nine holiday arrangements, including this one combining native plants with vividly colored roses.
One arrangement used white roses and white carnations with greens in a silver dish with a silver starfish imparting a tropical feel. Another offered a holiday piece using a tropical red heliconia.
Some arrangements were balanced while others were intentionally unbalanced in an artfully attractive manner.
Sea grapes, pinecones and palm fronds collected during two days on island were used while flowers were shipped here from Hawaii and Pennsylvania.
The coup de grace presentation was a collection of three arrangements with candles lit on stage for a spectacular finale to a grande program.
Members said they found Godshalk entertaining.
Godscalk expressed how impressed she was with Boca Grande hospitality. She was treated to a wine-and-cheese reception Tuesday with host members Bretta and Melanie Sullivan at the Boca Bay Beach Club, and stayed in the home of Barbara and Bruce Stirling.
Her arrangements were sold at a silent auction during the Tea Hour arranged by Sandi Bilski and Rose Marie Iovino. Members could also buy orchids from provider, Joe Hayden.
First Vice President Diane Johnson, filling in for President Nora Lea Reefe, kept away from the island by the red tide bloom, managed the opening meeting with committees reporting planned season activitiees.
Johnson, along with Second Vice President Jodie Pearah, is in charge of programs for the 15th year of the Boca Grande Garden Club.
Membership in the Boca Grande Garden Club is full for this season, but community members are welcome to attend presentations for a fee on a space-available basis. The club has begun keeping a wait list for next season.
