HomeMy WebLinkAboutWingham Advance-Times, 1977-08-10, Page 10•
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HEADPIECE—One of Mrs. English's newest ideas is this
attractive headpiece of mauve azalias and a rose: She
started working with silk flowers in May and they have been
a great success she says.
WEDDING BOUQUETS—Mrs. English has found silk
flowers to be a popular choice for wedding bouquets. They
are very Life like and there is the added joy of keeping them
for a lifetime. This particular bouquet is one of Mrs.
English's favorites. The mauve azalias and white gardenias
are what she would choose if she were getting married she
says.
By Kim Dadson
She's been called a few names
in her life. Many have been good,
some have been bad — by people
who didn't..know her better; but
the naive that most aptly
describes her is "Flower Lady".
That's because flowers are
Marg English's life, and always
have been from the time she stole
them as a child from neighbors'
gardens.
It's been a few years since she
stole those flowers, but a life-long
dream has come true in the form
of her own flower shop, approp-
riately named Hap -e -nest.
"I'm so happy at this point in
my life," Mrs. English says
enthusiastically. Her zeal for life
•and what she is now doing
radiates to others around her.
She is a very direct, honest
woman, qualities which attract
people to her.
Her warm smile and kind face
make you realize, as she often
says, "Life has been good, hasn't
it?"
Hap -e -nest is situated in the
basement of her home at 184
Diagonal Road. It started two
years ago and has grown since.
"I started with $300, en-
couragement from my husband
and children, and articles I col-
lected from nature," she ex-
plains. Driftwood, .pine cones,
stones, rocks, flowers, leaves —
almost everything nature gives to
us, Mrs. English rounded up and
created something with it. She.
made a profit that first year.
Dried flowers were the bulk of
her business until last May when
she got into silk flowers. "They
have just been booming; she
says of her silk flower arrange-
ments. These flowers, seen
mainly in her wedding bouquets
look amazingly like real flowers
and there is the.added•pleasure of
being, able to keep them for a
lifetime.
VARIED TALENTS
Mrs. English's artistic" talents
are varied. Besides creating and
arranging flower designs, she has
painter' done heirloom pieces in
needlework and has written some
poetry.
She has had some of her work -.-
on display at art galleries in
Rexdale where she lived for 20
years before coming to Wing -
ham. Her specialty is a piece of
1.4tiftwood, in the shape of abird,
which she worked on for six
weeks.
She explains how to create a
beautiful sculpture out of drift-
wood. It should be cleaned and
the bark taken off. Hambone can
be used to polish it and give it a
waxen look and shoe polish will
work also. Bleaching the drift-
wood will bring out a silver hue.
Her father,'grandmother and a
grade school teacher are all
credited by Mrs. English as
having a part in her esthetic
abilities.
"My father used to paint the
flowers of the season on a mirror
behind his meat counter," she
reminisces. He owned and oper-
ated a grocery store in Wiarton
where Mrs. English was born and
fl
raised with four brothers and one
sister.
She describes her grandmother
as a "marvelous person". Her
appreciation for nature encour-
aged her granddaughters. "She
hada natural lave of beauty."
Mrs. English recalls a couple of
amusing events about her grand-
mother. One was a cold remedy
she believed in: fried onions in
your socks at night to get rid of a
cold.
Mrs. English says her grand-
mother kept a house, garden, cow
and chickens until the age of 98:
Her ability, to continue an active
life to such an age resulted in a
radio interview with Gordon
Lightfoot who was a CFRB inter-
viewer at the time. Lightfoot,
somewhat facetiously said, "So
you chased bobcats and chopped
your own wood with an axe." The
prompt reply was, "Yes, I did,
and If I had an axe I'd chop you
down 'to size now."
Madge' Patterson was :Mrs.
English's art instructor in grade
school. "She's the one to whom I
owe all my gratitude," Mrs.
English states.
Still living, this teacher has
collected in photographs, all the
wild flowers of the Bruce Pen-
insula. Mrs. English received
honors in her class for the
drawing and painting of flowers.
When she was 16, Mrs. English
took another course in making
flowers.
PLEASURE
Flowers are an important part
of Mrs. English's life, but so are
people, she says. One piece of
literature 'she' reads over and
over is one on pleasure by Kahil
Gibran in his book "The
Prophet".
... it is the pleasure o
gather honey of t
But it is also th
flower to yie d it
bee.
bee to
er,
e of the
ney to the
For, to the bee a flower is the
fountai of life,
And to th • flower the bee is a
messenge of love .. .
And to. bo , bee and flower, the
givin; d receiving of plea-
- ---sure is a. need and ecstacy.
She says she realizes her need
to give is selfish as she gets
pleasure from it. But in the poem
is the definition of. people and
flowers as'she perceives them. "I
always go looking — I see my
need for others to need me," she
confesses.
She recalls a crippled boy in
public school. She had flowers
and an apple which she gave to
him. "Thats when I first learned
flowers could open the doors to
emotional people."
The first 'person to call Mrs.
English flower lady was an
emotional child. He was a slow
learner. It was while living in
Rexdale and . she kept flower
gardens in her front yard. One
day, while working in her garden,
a young boy, about five, ap-
proached her, put his hand on her
shoulder and said, "Hello, flower
lady." '
David, the young boy, by that
simple touch prompted Mrs.
English to inquire into teaching
Children like him. For two years
she taught five pupils spelling,
reading, drawing and coloring
and simple daily exercises.
"That little boy passed on to the
next grade," she says proudly.
There is an unexplained joy in
teaching children like David.
"The day David could tie his own
shoes :.. ," Mrs. English's voice
fills with emotion. "It's been a
good life hasn't it?"
The money she earned from
this teaching experience went
into her shop when she moved to
Wingham three years ago.
When the shop first started,
Mrs. English dried her own
flowers. There are different
methods of doing this.
DRYING • FLOWERS
One way is the upside down
method, of which there are two
choices to follow. Flowers may be
stood upside down in . boxes,
crocks or pans and borax poured
or sprinkled over them, or they
may be simply tied in bunches
and hung upside down on a line,
even from a hanger in a clothes
closet. Mrs. English says using
the borax keeps a better color in
• the flowers.
Begonia seed pods, blue thim-
ble, (Alpe marigold, chinese
lantern, dahlia and peony area
' few of the flowers that can be
dried by either method. Mrs.
English also warns that the peony
should be handled like a baby to'
save, the petals.
Another method of drying
flowers in to pour borax into a
container and 'stand flowers
upside down in it. More borax is
poured over them until the flower
heads are covered. Daisies, lilies,
asters, and carnations are some•
of the flowers dried by thr` x
method.
Glycerin is used to dry leaves.
The lower two, inches of each
stem is punded and then stood up
in a two-thirds water and
one-third glycerin mix. The
solution should reach three to five
inches up the stem. In plants that
absorb _ moisture through their
leaves, the whole leaf would be
submerged and not just the stem.
Mrs. English advises pounding
the stems of all fresh cut flowers
that are sitting in water in your
home. The flowers absorb mois-.1
ture much faster and more easily
and as a result will last a lot
longer.
To keep a dried flower
arrangement year round, Mrs.
English suggests using hair
spray to keep • Flowers fresh and
using a hair Lluwer to clean it. If
it looks limp, simply turn the hot
water faucet on in your bath-
room, leave the arrangement in
the room and close the door. A
few minutes of steam will bring it
back to life again.
Mrs. English studied Japanese
design for five years under Daka
Urabe from the O'Hara School of
Design in Toronto. During this '
time she worked for a Wool-
worth's store purchasing their
flowers and designing the store.
Each Japanese arrangement is
like a flower in its natural setting
she explains. If the flower grows
near water, then water would be
in the arrangement. Mrs. English
received honors in this course.
Mrs. English and her husband
Harper, have three. children,
Joanne, Bill and Harper. All have
married and left home but it was
during the years of raising her .
family that Mrs. English dream-
ed of her shop.
KEEPING GOAL
"You must have a goal, a
dream to keep going," she says.
(Continued on page 9)
BASEMENT SHOP—Mrs. English works in her basement
where she has set up shop for Hap -e -nest, She started two
years ago with things she collected from nature pine
cones, driftwood, stones, flowers and much more. Besides
her dried flowers, she is now designing with silk flowers.
NATURAL PLANT LOVER—Mrs. English has several plants in her home, adding extra
warmness to it. Here she waters a fern. Behind the fern is an hybiscus plant which was
five inches when she got it.
MRS. ENGLISH concentrates on her designing when in her workshop. Hap-e•nest is
located in the basement of her 184 Diagonal Road home.
FLOWER LADY—A name she has received through the
years is Flower Lady. Mrs. English lives up to the title. Her
shop, Hap -e -nest, located in the basement of her home is
filled with flowers of all kinds. Arthritis has not stopped
Mrs. English from seeing a dream come true — her own
flower shop where she designs flower arrangements.
BARN BOARDS—A popular Item in Hap -e -nest is barn board designs with dried flowers.
Mrs. English dried her own, flowers when she started the shop but ntiw buys them as she is
kept too busy/signing and selling her products. The centre barn board has a star fish. "
Below is a c ndle arrangement for a wedding.
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