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Pokey Richardson and Tina Semenza have enjoyed making Easter floral baskets every year since their children were in preschool a good 40 years ago, often up to 15 at a time as table centerpieces for egg-hunt and family parties over the years.
Dedicated members and floral designers of The Garden Club of Honolulu, the friends said their enthusiasm for Easter bunnies, spring pastels and all the traditions led to teaching others how to create floral baskets to make the season’s celebrations as festive as possible.
Their most recent class on March 31 sold out quickly at the Lyon Arboretum, where the private club holds monthly “Stepping Stones” educational classes. For 50 years, the club has partnered with the Manoa botanical garden to teach members and the public about subjects ranging from horticultural photography to lauhala weaving and designing botanical jewelry.
They were happy to share basic how-tos on making the baskets at Richardson’s home, keeping it simple for beginning students, but mindful that others want to incorporate the principles of floral design.
“But first and foremost, flowers are fun, it’s just joyful. And it’s just being aware of where you want them to be in your home, and how you want them to be viewed by your friends and family,” said Richardson, club president from 2018 to 2020.
She explained that flowers may be arranged so they can be admired from 360 degrees — all angles as a table centerpiece, or cut very short so they’ll be pleasing even viewed from above. If the arrangement will be placed against a wall, it’s to be seen from three sides, and some of the foliage might be left taller.
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Both women have studied floral design, including the Japanese style of ikebana, and their baskets have become a bit more sophisticated since they began, they said.
The first mistake people make is taking a bouquet from the grocery store and simply plopping it into a vase with all the flowers the same height, sticking straight up, Semenza said. Flower arrangements need to show motion, instead of standing stiffly at attention.
“I like to think that the flowers are smiling at me, giving me a wink,” said Semenza, who has also held different positions in the club as a member since 1994. She especially enjoys arranging flowers with children, who say things like: “The flowers are talking to us!”
One way of having flowers show motion is to position the stems to hit the wall of the vase and have the flowers angled outward; stems may be bent carefully to direct them at an angle or to achieve a draping effect. Whether they’re arranged simply in a vase or a more elaborate basket, don’t be afraid to cut the flowers to different lengths so the height is graduated, they said.
Keep balance and proportion in mind when choosing colors and the size of the blooms. Different greens, perhaps gathered from the yard, can be inserted to fill in the gaps.
Build your baskets
To fill the Easter baskets, the women gathered pink roses and carnations, white hydrangeas, deep purple irises, lavender chrysanthemums, white delphiniums, and filler foliage of yellow and green, including magnolia leaves sprayed with a metallic paint. In a short arrangement, they mixed in real lemons for a bright contrast.
The women began the assembly by covering the sides of straw baskets with faux-moss using spray adhesive. To hold the water, they placed part of a plastic flower box (about half of a lei container) that fit inside the basket. They used vinyl-coated chicken wire to hold the flowers and foliage in place instead of nonbiodegradable Oasis foam, as the garden club is strong on conservation.
It takes practice to become comfortable shaping the chicken wire, but they said it can be cut and rolled to fit into the container so that the holes are squeezed together and misshapen to offer more openings to secure stems while holding the flowers in place. Tape the wire to the container before filling it with water. Add a preservative to the water, but if it isn’t available, a little aspirin, Sprite soda (not diet), or even vodka will work, Semenza said.
Remove unnecessary leaves from the flowers and foliage, and those that are brown or limp, and never allow leaves below the water level as that will create bacteria. When trimming the flower stems, snip them at a diagonal under water, Semenza said. If there is no running water where you are making the arrangement, you can use a bucket of water to cut the stems.
Depending on the structure of the arrangement, start by adding the foliage on the bottom if you want the focal point to start there and have the eye move up, or begin at the top if that’s where the focus is. More foliage can be added later in between flowers to keep them in place at different angles.
Keep the arrangement in a cool place, out of the sun.
To prolong the life of the arrangements, fresh water is crucial. Water in a vase should be changed at least every three days, and the stems trimmed. But with a larger arrangement like a basket, the best you can do is hold onto everything and pour out as much water as possible, then add fresh water, Richardson said.
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Future classes
The Garden Club of Honolulu classes at the Lyon Arboretum will begin again in September. Look out for announcements in the arboretum’s newsletter. Sign up at 808ne.ws/lyonarboretum.
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