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All the brigade’s sale-hardened veterans will tell battle stories of their beautiful blooms, delicately placed in the selected medium, which promptly turned black and rotted or fell to pieces when removed some time later.
Even harvesting the blooms at the proper time is a product of experience. Some varieties are best picked before the bloom opens, because they continue to blossom as they dry. Others will fall apart if picked too late. Some must be snipped while the morning dew still clings; for others, that dew is the kiss of death, producing spots, rot and wilt.
The weather, too, plays a part in the equation — perhaps the factor least subject to human manipulation. Among the flowers used, some need dry weather to produce their showiest blooms, for others, too little rain means no blooms at all. Too much sun at the wrong time will cause 3ome blossoms to bleach out, while varieties which do best in the shade also need plenty of indirect sunlight to produce strong flowers.
From the beauty of the arrangements displayed in the parish hall in October, it’s evident that a lot of time and effort is invested by the women (and men) of the Flower Brigade. What usually escapes notice, lowever, is the part that 32 years of ixperience plays in the success of ;he dried flower sale, and the popuarity of the bouquets.
Perhaps the best testimony to the Flower Brigade’s proficiency are the other organizations which have attempted similar events — and abandoned them in frustration after only ,a couple of tries.
According to one veteran of the brigade’s campaigns, the formula for success contains green thumbs, years of experience, immeasurable and unending patience, grace under pressure, the fortitude to endure incalculable hours stooped over in the garden and countless trips to hot attics in the heat of summer to hang harvested blooms, the ability to rebound from failure, and the eyes and hands of a professional florist to create the finished products.
“That’s the formula,” the brigader added, eyes sparkling and mouth creasing into a broad smile, followed by a wink. “The proportions, of course, remain our secret.”
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