- March 10, 2025
Attendees peruse entries during the "Bridges" flower show by the Garden Club of the Halifax Country. Photo by Michele Meyers
Cathy Weite and Lisa Watts took first in class one, "Cuisines Bridge our World" with their Hawaiian themed table setting. Photo by Michele Meyers
Garden Club of the Halifax Country president Linda Armour won the Baylor Novice Award for her floral design submission of a jungle suspension bridge. Photo by Michele Meyers
Photo by Michele Meyers
Garden Club of the Halifax Country president Linda Armour won the Baylor Novice Award for her floral design submission of a jungle suspension bridge. Photo by Michele Meyers
Garden club member Melissa Frankel, in charge of the flower show publicity, won first place in class for her photography. Photo by Michele Meyers
Photo by Michele Meyers
Photo by Michele Meyers
Attendees peruse entries during the "Bridges" flower show by the Garden Club of the Halifax Country. Photo by Michele Meyers
Photo by Michele Meyers
Nancy Jamison's floral design was the second place winner in the Class 4 submissions. Photo by Michele Meyers
Melissa Frankel who was in charge of the flower show publicity, snaps a photo for social media. Photo by Michele Meyers
Photo by Michele Meyers
Mary Lenssen's jade plant took first place in the Bridge to the Past horticulture class. Photo by Michele Meyers
Uta Rollins and Pam Wilson were happy the GCHC won the Marion Brown Conservation and Crammond Education Awards for the Bridging Nature and Community exhibit. Photo by Michele Meyers
Pam Banker, Ann Bert and Karen Upchurch stand in front of Bert's third in class winning setting. Photo by Michele Meyers
Photo by Michele Meyers
Romona Meneough's floral design won first place and the Dorothy Munger Award at the GCHC's show. Photo by Michele Meyers
Photo by Michele Meyers
Gwynne Keller, Susan Anderson, Lori Hagen, Nathalie Sweeney, Sunnyie Rountree. Photo by Michele Meyers
The Education Division title was "Bridging Vadner Park with the Community," where the exhibit was focused on conservation and educating the community. Photo by Michele Meyers
A variety of vibrant floral designs and horticultural delights welcomed visitors to the Garden Club of the Halifax Country flower show at the Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach on Wednesday, March 30.
“I am really impressed with the turnout,” said Melissa Frankel, the head of show publicity. “I wasn’t sure what to expect.”
The GCHC usually holds a flower show every four years and is a member of the Garden Club of America, which sanctions their shows. A specific number of GCA qualified judges are used for each show and all exhibitors must follow strict guidelines and time constraints. Submissions are categorized in four divisions — floral design, horticulture, photography and education, with each division being divided into specific classes.
“Bridges” was this year’s theme, which correlates with the club’s plant zone in the Halifax area where the structures cross the intracoastal and connect the local communities. The theme also reflects the club’s centennial year and “bridging” to their next 100 years of community service and education.
For the education division, the club created a conservation exhibit titled “Bridging Vadner Park with the Community”, which won the Marion Brown Education Award and the Crammond Education Award. Vadner Park was overrun with invasive plant species and was unusable. The exhibit gave an overview of the history of the park and its evolution to an all Florida native plant park. The GCHC will be celebrating the opening of the park with the city of Ormond Beach April 26.
Club president Linda Armour’s floral design submission won the Baylor Novice Award in the “Wonders of a Bridge” class. Each class had specific commonalities. Armour’s class required a “stretch” connecting a large and small component. She created a suspension bridge and used Anthurium which grow in rain forest canopies and are reminiscent of a jungle.
“We all had to do our own interpretation of an element of a bridge,” Armour said. “I chose a jungle suspension bridge. It’s a process. I like florals because of the creativity. We also had to enter a plant but I’m not the green-thumb star.”
Cathy Weite and Lisa Watts had never entered a flower show and decided to submit a Hawaiian-themed table setting and arrangement. They won their class. Weite had been taking a ceramic class so the two decided to make their own plates and glasses. The hibiscus is a native Hawaiian flower, but is highly perishable, so instead of including it in the arrangement, they painted it on the plates.
“Since we were new, we did not know what the limits were,” Weite said. “We had a good time. We always were asking each other, ‘What about this, what about that?’ ... It was a collaboration.”
Ann Bert and Pam Elkins placed third in class one, “Cuisines Bridge our Worlds”, with their elegant gold and white table setting. Their concept embraced the theme while mirroring today’s world situation.
“In this very negative, divisive world we’re in right now, we thought, love bridges all, promoting peace and kindness,” Bert said. “Then the Ukrainian war started and it gave us our focus regarding overcoming our diversities and headiness.”
