It is an opportunity like no other for students to grow their talents and perfect their skills creating beautiful flower arrangements for actual weddings and other special events around town.
On this episode of the Supercast, find out what the Floriculture program at Mountain Ridge High School is all about and how a career focused bridal bouquet and flower arranging business is helping students see a clear path to a promising profession.
Audio Transcription
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is an opportunity like no other for students to grow their talents and perfect their skills, creating beautiful flower arrangements for actual weddings and other special events around town. On this episode of the Supercast, find out what the Floriculture program at Mountain Ridge High School is all about, and see how a career focused bridal bouquet and flower arranging business class is helping students see a clear path to a promising profession.
We're here with Mrs. Neil in her Floriculture class, preparing for a wedding, actually a wedding of a former student of hers.
Alisha Neil:
Former student. We're in full swing,
Anthony Godfrey:
All right. That's what we were hoping for.
Alisha Neil:
Good.
Anthony Godfrey:
All right.
Alisha Neil:
So each group, I'll give you a copy of their form, but each group has been assigned a different aspect of the wedding to work on. So last time in class we talked about the bride's colors for a general theme, the flowers we're using in particular, and today's demo day. So what that means is each kid is making a sample of one thing that we'll make for the final wedding next time.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, I see.
Alisha Neil:
And so they're going through, and like, if they're in charge of the groomsmen's boutonnieres, I'll get five copies of those today, and then we'll decide as a group which one we like best to make for next time.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so after today, then will you work with the bride to see what she likes?
Alisha Neil:
Yes. So this bride, well actually the groom, is an older brother of a student I had last year. And this bride is pretty chill. We've made a couple things for her in the past, and she's given me full reign and said, ‘I trust you. We'll just be there to pick it up on Wednesday.’
Anthony Godfrey:
So the demo is just to see what you're going to create? But it doesn't necessarily have to make it through her anymore?
Alisha Neil:
No, nope.
Anthony Godfrey:
She's just turned over to you.
Alisha Neil:
Yep. She's given us our creative liberty.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's a lot of trust.
Alisha Neil:
It is. But the demo is because I know what I would create, but the kids are more creative than I am. And so they will take the colors and the flowers and the other things that are going on, what the grooms or groomsmen or bridesmaids are wearing, and they'll add accents that I wouldn't think of or do the flowers a little differently than I would. And then we select which one we think fits the theme best, and then make that for next time.
Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me everything that you're doing for the wedding right now. You're doing boutonnieres for the groomsmen.
Alisha Neil:
Yep. The bride's bouquet is done. We did that out of artificial flowers a week ago.
Anthony Godfrey:
And what does that look like? Oh, is this the one in the photo there?
Alisha Neil:
Yeah, it's the picture up there, up front.
Anthony Godfrey:
So describe that for those who are listening.
Alisha Neil:
Yes. So, her colors are burgundy, white, offwhite, forest green, and kind of a sage. So she used roses. We used some ranunculus. We use chrysanthemums, eucalyptus, and some dried pampas grass, which is a new thing. I'm not saying we actually stole from a church parking lot, but we did.
Anthony Godfrey:
Dried pampas grass? From a church parking lot.
Alisha Neil:
From a church parking lot.
Anthony Godfrey:
At a location not to be disclosed.
Alisha Neil:
Not to be disclosed. But my bishop knows where things happen, and he was like, ‘Oh, Alicia's at it again.’ So we're using a combination of silk flowers and artificial flowers for the actual wedding with more of the real flowers because of the scent. So this bride chose a lot of things. She's got some rosemary in there. She's got eucalyptus. So things that smell really nice.
Anthony Godfrey:
It’s very fragrant. I didn't realize that you would ever combine the two. I didn't think of that. So you use the artificial flowers to help it pop and last, maybe? And you use the natural flowers and what's the term for the greenery?
Alisha Neil:
Live greenery. Yeah, live greenery.
Anthony Godfrey:
Live greenery.
Alisha Neil:
So the artificial flowers have gotten so good lately that a lot of times you can't tell the artificial from the live. And so we mix them a lot of times if things are out of season. So for example, like some of the pampas grass is starting to fade right now. So if I needed to use that in the spring when it's not available, I can use artificial as the filler in between.
Anthony Godfrey:
Artificial pampas grass. Was that like a Kickstarter campaign?
Alisha Neil:
I’m sure it had to have been somebody's.
Anthony Godfrey:
I've got this big idea. What is it? I'm going to make artificial dried pampas grass.
Alisha Neil:
Oh yeah. And pampas grass is very popular at the moment.
Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Listeners, ideas are out there for the taking. If you can only wrap your mind around it. So, what are some of the concepts behind good flower arranging?
Alisha Neil:
So, the students in this class, we have already learned all the floral tools because you need to use specific tools on specific things. So you're not gonna use your wire cutters to cut fresh floral stems, because you'll crush them and destroy them. They've learned taping, they've learned principles and elements of design. So they've learned about balance, color use, unity, texture, all those kinds of things.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about taping.
Alisha Neil:
So floral tape, these kids will tell you that they hate it.
Anthony Godfrey:
Is this over here? Is this the green stuff over here?
Alisha Neil:
This is the green stuff.
Anthony Godfrey:
Let's check it out.
Alisha Neil:
So, floral tape.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, I just got into the fragrance zone. Like, I couldn't smell the flowers there, and now I can. Wow, that smells great.
Alisha Neil:
Yeah, there's some good stuff. And she, this bride, also chose to use Holland roses. So her roses are from Holland. They are a more natural rose, and they have the natural rose scent. So if we get our roses from South America or California, we don't get as much of that scent to them because they're hybridized for long shelf life, or a specific color. But these Holland roses have that rose scent.
Anthony Godfrey:
I am learning a lot. Now she's chill, but she wants roses from Holland. So she does know what she wants.
Alisha Neil:
She does know what she wants. We talked through it and she agreed that's what she wanted.
Anthony Godfrey:
Holland roses. Wow. That's fantastic.
Alisha Neil:
The floral tape is actually made of a paper mache like material, and then coated in paraffin wax. It comes in different colors, different shades of green.
Anthony Godfrey:
Does it stick to itself?
Alisha Neil:
It will only stick. So, Sabrina, do you wanna show him the magic of the floral tape? This is Sabrina. So stretch it, now, stick it to something.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, only when you stretch it. May I? All right. Let's see how I do now.
Alisha Neil:
So only when it's stretched, will it be activated and then it will stick to itself or to other materials.
Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Huh? Oh, I broke it.
Alisha Neil:
That's fine.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Oh, I broke it again. All right. Clearly I need to sit in your class before I do this.
Alisha Neil:
Yeah. So, the floral tape is a hard skill to learn because often when you're trying to get that stretch, you tear it the first time. But these guys made floral crowns about two weeks ago and did a great job with them. But we did that to teach that taping skill along with where are we placing this and how am I going to make it look natural without showing the wire or the tape.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Yeah. So you've gotta have all the backstage stuff that stays backstage. And how do you use the wire?
Alisha Neil:
So, floral wire, these guys are gonna use it in a couple different ways. If we were making a big spray bouquet.
Anthony Godfrey:
This is the floral wire right here?
Alisha Neil:
Yeah. This is the floral wire. This is 22 gauge floral wire. So it's a medium light thickness.
Anthony Godfrey:
So when you talk about 22 gauge, you're talking about something different than many other people might be. So 22 gauge floral wire. And tell me again how this is used.
Alisha Neil:
So they are gonna use this as the base in our corsages and boutonnieres. If they were doing a large spray, like a standing spray, we'd use it to wire the roses and hold them in a specific position. But where we're doing small hand tied bouquets, we're not gonna use 'em for that. But when they put the wire in the flowers, so in this case in our roses or our carnations or chrysanthemums, they're going to create an artificial bendability to those flowers so that we can adjust them slightly. So they lay on the lapel or on the wrist at just a slight angle. So we're creating kind of an artificial stem. We put the wire in tape down the stem, and like I said, kind of create an artificial angle or stem so that we can bend them and make them look the way we want.
Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. And this looks really pretty. Even what they're working on at the table looks great. What's the white stuff there that looks like an ice queen touched it?
Alisha Neil:
That's bleached ruscus. So Italian ruscus is the dark green that's next to it. You can see her on the table, and that's the bleached version. So bleached or blanched flowers are really popular right now, and they actually put the stems in bleach and suck all the color out of them.
Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. I'm quite overwhelmed at all of this. It's a big deal. Okay. Let me ask you this, kind of off topic, but what advice do you have for people who are buying flowers for a significant other?
Alisha Neil:
Well, there was a poster in my classroom at USU, at Utah State University that said, ‘How mad is she?’ And it had flowers, it was the same arrangement, but in different sizes. So you gotta take that into account when you're buying flowers.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's solid advice.
Alisha Neil:
There's been a big movement in the floral industry about sustainability and using local flowers. So if that's important to you there's some flower shops here in the valley that are using locally sourced items and only seasonal items. So they're not getting flowers from Holland or from South America.
Anthony Godfrey:
For a wedding you go all out. I understand that.
Alisha Neil:
For a wedding, you do what the bride wants. And we don't ask questions. Yep. We just fit her budget to what we can do and give her the best we can. But yeah, if that's important to you, you can think about that. I always like to shop local. There's some really good local florist and florist shops around, and most of them are really willing to work within your budget. If you say, ‘Hey, she's this mad and my budget is this much’, and they'll make it as best they can to that.
Anthony Godfrey:
Is this just ribbon? That's part of the arrangement?
Alisha Neil:
Yep. Last time in class we were practicing the floral bows, which are actually quite challenging. So this is Ivy's floral bow from last time.
Anthony Godfrey:
You don't have to convince me that they're challenging. I believe you. I believe you.
Alisha Neil:
Yeah. They are challenging. And I give them this fabric ribbon to start with, because it is very forgiving, but it's also hard to do unless you get the technique just right.
Anthony Godfrey:
All right. So show me. Loop, you loop, and then you twist?
Alisha Neil:
Start with the tail, however long you want the tail to be. You loop it around your thumb and pinch between two fingers, and then you twist it. And that is to give it that crease, but also on some ribbon we have a shiny side and a dull side. This one we don't. But to keep the shiny side up.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, more fun with students in the Floriculture program at Mountain Ridge High.
Break:
Hello, I'm Tracy Miller, President of the Jordan School District Board of Education. There are seven members on the Board of Education, one in each voting district. We are committed to listening and serving our constituents as we work together to provide the best possible learning environment for the students we serve. As members of the Jordan Board of Education, we believe it is our duty and responsibility to: increase student achievement; provide parents with the choices they deserve and desire; recognize and reward quality in educators; empower school leaders through policy governance and professional development; and communicate with the public, legislators, business leaders, cities, and parents. We invite you to get to know the Board member who represents you in your voting district, and to please join us at our monthly board meeting held on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Or listen from the comfort of your home, on our live stream. For more information and to find your Board member, visit jordandistrict.org. With parent and community input and support we will continue our work to give students every opportunity to succeed in Jordan District schools and beyond. Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me about employment. Are there some of your students who go out and look for employment in floral shops?
Alisha Neil:
Yeah. So one of my students from two years ago is doing flowers on her own. It's her second job. But she does flowers for all the high school dances and she's come and helped me on a couple weddings during the summer. And then I have a student currently who is on the Floriculture team. So we have a team in FFA that competes with floral design.
Anthony Godfrey:
There's a floriculture competition?
Alisha Neil:
There's a floriculture competition, there’s a floriculture team. So she's on the team and she's working at Harmon's right now and is a floral assistant. So she's not the head designer, but she goes through and helps when they have dances and proms and big things. Big funeral arrangements or things to do, or for holidays, Mother's Day, stuff like that. She's there helping the florist there.
Anthony Godfrey:
Do you have floriculture emergencies from time to time?
Alisha Neil:
Occasionally. Now, when we prep a wedding like this, I will send an extra pair of wires, extra pins, extra tape, a little bit of ribbon, and some extra flowers with the family.
Anthony Godfrey:
Because they, well, I forgot Uncle Ned. Uncle Ned needs a flower.
Alisha Neil:
Yes, yes. We always do that. So we always send a couple extras. And the nice thing is most of the weddings we've done has been for family members or former students. And so they know a little bit and they can fill those gaps or patch things. I had a crash. We had this big spray over this chevron wood board and the line snapped and it crashed in the middle. Not in the ceremony, thank heavens, but during the reception. So I sprinted over there with some more fishing line and got it hooked back up and it was fine. But that's been the only major crash so far.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I ask about the emergencies because these are high stakes events that you're making these flowers for.
Alisha Neil:
They are.
Anthony Godfrey:
There's not a margin for error.
Alisha Neil:
Well, I've been really lucky. None of the brides I've worked with have been bridezillas for a long time. And so most of them have been very happy. And they understand there's a little bit of a risk in having students do your wedding, and having students do your wedding work. But the cost is lower because we do it at cost for them because I have free labor here, and the kids are learning. So there's that little bit of a trade off. They're gonna get a little cheaper than they would if they did it at a florist shop, but there is that risk involved.
Anthony Godfrey:
I think a couple of students in the background just realized that they're free labor.
Alisha Neil:
Oh yes, they did. They were like, ‘What?’
Anthony Godfrey:
Sorry. Are we in the way of you making progress?
Student:
No, you’re totally fine.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about these scissors, like huge handled, tiny blades. What do you use these scissors for?
Student:
Those are like floral cutters.. So you use them to cut like plants off of their stem or like cut off leaves just so that you're not like twisting them off.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I tend to twist them off.
Student:
It’s just much easier and faster.
Anthony Godfrey:
I use regular scissors that probably crush the stem. Is that what you're trying to avoid?
Student:
Yeah, this keeps it all nice and clean.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right. Very nice. Is it gonna be harder for someone to buy flowers for any of you? Because you're gonna be very discriminating and you're going to look at the bouquet and say, ‘Well, that was a very nice effort, but I really don't like the fill flowers that they chose.’
Students:
Oh, 100%.
For sure, no.
Definitely.
Anthony Godfrey:
You're tougher to please now I understand that.
Students:
Oh, yeah.
We’re the experts.
Alisha Neil:
My husband knows not to buy me flowers. That’s just a no.
Anthony Godfrey:
He just knows that's not gonna fly.
Alisha Neil:
Yeah. He's like, ‘Nope, I'm not gonna do that.’
Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. So these are pixie carnations?
Alisha Neil:
Pixie carnations.
Anthony Godfrey:
And have these just opened up more than these?
Alisha Neil:
Right. So this one is a little bit more open than this. Carnations are lovely because we can cheat. So see how tight this one is?
Anthony Godfrey:
See how tight this one is?
Alisha Neil:
Yeah. This one's all still buddy. You can just take your thumb.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so you can open it up. You don't have to wait for it.
Alisha Neil:
Yeah, you can cheat carnations.
Anthony Godfrey:
All right, I wanna ask each of you, after being in this class, what is your favorite flower?
Student #1:
Oh, purple daisies.
Anthony Godfrey:
Purple daisies. Now are daisies dyed purple or are they?
Student #1:
No, just like natural.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, there are natural purple daisies?
Student #1:
Yeah. Natural purple daisies.
Anthony Gedfrey:
And was that your favorite before you took this class? Or has it always been your favorite?
Student #1:
It's always been my favorite.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right.
Student #2:
I like Siberian Irises.
Anthony Godfrey:
Siberian Irises. And what do Siberian Irises look like?
Student #2:
A mess. No, they're, I don't know how to describe them. They've got, I don't know how to describe them.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, listeners will Google the Siberian Iris.
Student #2:
They're like a purpley color most of the time. Darker colors is usually what they are..
Anthony Godfrey:
And they're a mess. What do you mean? Does it kinda look like they're falling apart or?
Student #2:
A little bit, yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. And did you know about Siberian Irises before this class? So you were a, what do you call a flower junkie? A flower-y? Before this?
Student #2:
A little bit.
Anthony Godfrey:
All right. How about you?
Student #3:
I like baby's breath. I think it's just really pretty.
Anthony Godfrey:
Baby's breath. Okay.
Student #3:
It’s that one right there.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. This one? Yeah. Okay. Very nice. Very delicate lacy looking. Yeah. Okay. How about you?
Student #4:
I like the zebra plant.
Anthony Godfrey:
The zebra plant?
Student #4:
It's like a big plant and the leaves have like stripes on them. Like white stripes, so it looks like a zebra.
Anthony Godfrey:
And do you ever use that in an arrangement sometimes?
Student #4:
Not yet, but we've learned about it.
Anthony Godfrey:
But you can, they are used for that?
Student #4:
Yes.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Very good. I did not know about any of these except baby's breath, so I'm learning. All right. What made you want to take a floriculture class?
Student #5:
I've always loved flowers and it's my senior year, so I had some room in my schedule. I go to a whole lot of dances and so I wanted to learn how to make my own boutonnieres.
Anthony Godfrey:
And do you do that now?
Student #5:
I can. We learned last time how to make boutonnieres.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, great. So you're ready to go.
Student #5:
I guess so.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now, would you ever do your own flowers for your wedding? Or is that kind of like being an attorney representing yourself? You never want to do that.
Student #6:
You could, right? I would love to. I've also thought about doing my own cake for my wedding, because I went through like a baking phase. It would depend how stressed I am though. I feel like I wouldn't have very much time if I was getting married.
Anthony Godfrey:
So you might need to back up.
Student #6:
I might need a back up.
Anthony Godfrey:
Like, if the stress overwhelms me, then I'm gonna have to get somebody to bake and to flower for me.
Student #6:
Yeah. I might have to pay somebody, but I would love to if I had time.
Anthony Godfrey:
What do you like most about Floriculture?
Student #6:
Working with the flowers. When we do arrangements like this,
Anthony Godfrey:
Are there some flowers you learned about that you didn't know about before?
Student #6:
Oh yeah. So we're learning a hundred or so, 140 flowers throughout this class. She gave us a list of flowers to look at and when I first looked at it, I didn't know any of them. I recognized a couple names.
Anthony Godfrey:
I think I need to develop a favorite flower. I think I need to look at the 140 and decide for myself. What's your favorite?
Student #7:
I like daisies and chrysanthemums a lot. My favorite since this class, Mrs. Neil's gonna hate me. Baby's breath, just because I see it all the time and I didn't know what it was called. I never really recognized it until I took this class. And so now I see it like all the time.
Anthony Godfrey:
But that's the beauty of a good class is where you learn about something that you've always seen, but never known quite what it was. And what are you doing right now? What is this called?
Student #7:
Stripping.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stripping.
Student #7:
Stripping. So this is gonna be a part of the handle of the bouquet. You can't really hold this part because it has like leaves on it. So I'm just making it so there's just a stem.
Anthony Godfrey:
Perfect.
We talked about all the work that these kids have been doing. It sounds like there's art, there's math, there's all kinds of stuff layered into floriculture.
Alisha Neil:
There is a lot. We first start with plant science. So they need to understand the science of plants. So if we're gonna care for live flowers, they need to understand a little bit about them. We get into different types and families of plants, genus and species because they need to know the genus and species for scientific names. So we talk about things like mosses, ferns, liverworts, things of that nature. Pines, gymnosperms, and then into the flowering plants, which are called angiosperms, which is most of the plant life that we see. Then we get into elements of design, which is the same thing they're teaching in the art classes. We're talking about color theory, we're talking about balance and unity and harmony and those kinds of elements. Scale, proportion, that kind of stuff. So they get a little science, they get a little art. And then the technical hands on skills is a big deal too.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, this is awesome. Thank you very much for spending time with us and letting us drop in on a high stakes job.
Alisha Neil:
You're welcome. Thanks for coming out.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.