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Roadside materials add to creations
Roadside materials add to creations
The flower show judge said the limited flowers must have an impact.
YOUNGSTOWN — Far from the worries and woes of daily life is the beauty of Pearl Marlos.
She is a nationally accredited master flower show judge, and a member of the Garden Club of Ohio, Ikebana, an oriental form of flower arrangement, and Gleaners Garden Club.
The Garden Forum of Greater Youngstown Area Inc. on Saturday featured Marlos as its keynote speaker at its spring meeting and flower show at the D.D. and Velma Davis Center at Fellows Riverside Gardens.
Marlos’ talk on her designs was titled “Roadside to Yourside.”
For those people who have gathered flowers along a rural road, placed them in a vase and hoped it looked good, Marlos has advice.
“Using a minimum of flowers has to create an impact,” she said.
She has used a variety of natural materials for her stunning creations.
Among those are salsifies, a common form of wildflowers that are often considered weeds.
Other forms of flowers are milkweeds, or mullens, which are biennials that grow leaves the first year and then flower and die the second year.
Her selections stand out. One of her examples consisted of flowers and what appeared to be rods bent at angles to frame the flowers.
The rods were not man-made, but thin, round reeds.
“Everything,” she said, “is natural.”
Marlos also knows what to put the arrangements in. She said she took ceramic classes at Youngstown State University to make vases.
“I learned how to make my own,” she said.
She lives in Campbell in the home in which she grew up. Not surprisingly, she said she has a large garden.
Rex Luckage, a ranger in the MetroParks system, stopped by to tell Marlos he had won three blue ribbons in the contest.
Many of the entries featured a flower in green bottles that normally would be considered litter.
The show will also be open to the public from 1-5 p.m. today.
Those who miss the show this weekend can take heart. The 2009 daffodil show will be from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and next Sunday. Entries will be accepted at 8 a.m. Saturday.
wilkinson@vindy.com