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This blog is all about Floral Design and Arranging.  Designer's Choice is a club founded here in Houston for aspiring floral designers who are affiliated with a National Garden Club or the Houston Federation of Garden Clubs.

We meet four times a year and put our creative juices to work by designing floral arrangements.  These arrangements use the standards of the National Garden Club Handbook for Design.  We explore the boundaries of the NGC rules to develop our sense of creativity and we move beyond the rules to develop our sense of discovery.  Currently, we have no membership requirements other than to show up with a design and no dues.  We bring our own food and drink.  And we have fun and learn a lot!


The National Garden Club Handbook for Flower Shows, revision 2007, itemizes the attributes of a floral design.  There are Principles of Design which are carried out through the Elements of Design.  Below is a brief explanation of the Principles and the Elements.  These will be discussed in detail as we go along.


The Principles of Design are:
1.  Balance - Visual balance, stability
2.  Contrast - putting component characteristics against each other
3.  Dominance - any great impact of any specific physical characteristic
4.  Proportion - comparing the relationship of areas to one another
5.  Scale - comparing the relationship of objects to one another


The Elements of Design, which are used to attain the Principles are:
1.  Line - visual path
2.  Form - 3-D object
3.  Color -both attributes of light and the Pigment System of Color
4.  Texture - Surface qualities
5.  Pattern - spatial divisions of solids and voids
6.  Size - perceived dimensions
7.  Space - open areas in and around a design
8.  Light - illumination


We held our first meeting last Wednesday, October 19th, and the theme of the program was "Designer's Choice". This is an award offered in a Standard Flower Show organized under the rules of the NGC.  It allows the floral designer all freedom to choose plant materials and other components.  Each participant brought their own design and, after some general introduction material, we analyzed and discussed each arrangement.  The creator was asked to give the title for the arrangement and to tell us what design style and type it was.


Here are some pictures of our first designs.  Next meeting I will take before shots and after shots for those designs where we made changes.

Betty B attended a Beginning Design Workshop given by the Houston Federation of Garden Clubs, where she was instructed on the Traditional Line Design.  Betty wanted to expand on her new knowledge and created her design, which she called a Creative Line-Mass Design.  We had much discussion concerning the amount of blooms and the placement of the line material.  Although you can't see it here, the container was quite shiny and distracted from the overall harmony of the design.  What a great attempt for a new designer!

Here is Rogayle's design.  She had never put a design together before and this photo is an "after" photo.  The plant material on the right, the branch and two dried roses were not on the original design.  We discussed the "thrust" of the dried wood and how it needed to be offset by some plant material on the right side.  She had the material in her "bag of tricks" and added the required roses and leaves.  Now the design is balanced and pleasing to the eye.