Kent Duffy’s philosophy of floral arranging is: bring life into a home with fresh blooms in a design created from nature.

At the June meeting of Ladies at The Landing, he demonstrated how this can be accomplished by anyone using fresh flowers and greenery from one’s own garden, the supermarket or local florist.

“Don’t be concerned about perfection”, he stated. In nature, not all flowers are perfect, not all have straight stems or perfect color and form. It is these imperfections which give the blossoms their charm and interest. He appeared to be agreeing with a sixteenth century poet who wrote, “Let us give Nature a chance;  she knows her business better than we do.”

A proponent of casual, non-stylized floral arrangements for the home, he demonstrated his fool-proof method starting with one bloom in hand and adding single stems one at a time in a circular pattern to form a round bouquet.   After cutting the multiple stems in a straight line, he proceeded to add them to interesting containers such as glass cylinders, cache-pots, clear vases and vintage bottles.

He added greens such as ferns, herbs, grasses, lambs’ ears, kale and leaves for textural interest and even incorporated fresh lemon slices in a glass cylinder with an arrangement of yellow lilies.  Six beautiful bouquets in all were made to demonstrate his technique using tulips, hydrangeas, peonies and other familiar blooms.  One especially attractive specimen was a long lasting moss door wreath incorporating ivy and gerber daisies.  This wreath, donated by the speaker, was awarded to a lucky ticket holder at the meeting.

As signature floral and event designer at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Lake Oconee, Duffy was a font of practical wisdom regarding the uses of oases, mosses, wires, pins and raffia, for example, as well as tips on preserving fresh arrangements. Adding a few drops of bleach in flower water will kill bacteria, he said.  Additionally, he suggested that a penny placed in the water will preserve or refresh blooms especially those with tubular stems such as tulips.  Stripping bottom leaves off floral stems before submerging them in water will prevent the growth of bacteria also.

Duffy answered questions from his audience while he was creating his arrangements and appeared to be enjoying his visit as much as those present enjoyed his friendly anecdotal style of delivery.  His daughter assisted during the presentation