In October, our Demonstrator was Linda Soutar from Dunfermline. Linda is a most experienced Demonstrator and was one of the successful SAFAS team who won gold at Chelsea this year. Her title for the evening was “Reflections” and through each arrangement she pondered the origin of the container used, or her ideas for the design.
An open metal basket was used in the first arrangement which she filled with fern, viburnum and pierus before freesia, Rosa “Marie Claire” and beautiful chrysanthemums, which really picked up on the colour of the rose and the freesia, were added. Flexi-grass was added as a finishing touch and gave a further dimension of enclosed space to the arrangement.
A lovely metallic container that Linda had used over the years had been given a new lease of life with the addition of some copper aluminium wire trailing down the side; into this, callistemon foliage, conifer, and bergenia leaves were placed. Some of the “Marie Claire” roses and a contrasting pinhead protea gave a lovely warm glow to this design.
In her next arrangement Linda reflected on a trip to Hawaii filling a low container with palms, dracaena, red cordyline leaves and choisya “White Pearl”. This mixture of foliage looked stunning even before the addition of leucodendron “Safari Sunset” and red anthurium gave it a typically tropical feel.
A little bit of Chelsea came to Aberdeen next with an arrangement inspired by a seascape. A tall glass container had been filled with a mixture of objects in different textures and colours. The arrangement above this consisted of umbrella fern, Rosa “Aqua”, blue gentiana and gloriosa lily. A touch of sparkle from the baubles trailing down the side really brought this seascape to life. An unusual and unique piece of soft coral, which had been recycled from Chelsea, was placed at the base, harmonising with the theme of the design.
It’s a good number of years since Linda’s last visit to our Club and it was a delight to welcome back this talented and entertaining lady to Aberdeen.