The Flower Workshop: Lessons in Arranging Blooms, Branches, Fruit, and Foraged Materials

To teach the basics of flower-arranging, Cezar (Flowers for the Table) developed a fine workshop, which she duly brings to print with help from former Boston Globe editor Michaels. This handbook offers practical guidelines alongside eye-pleasing color photographs. The lessons, beginning with color, promote Cezar’s “lush, painterly style”; she uses “unusual” flowers, in season, with the goal of intensifying nature. For 45 arrangements, she outlines an appropriate season, tools such as anchors and rubber bands, ingredient flowers (along with alternatives), and clear directions. In great detail, she instructs the reader on how to arrange bouquet sizes fit for banquet and altar tables, teensy tussie-mussies of lilies of the valley, nosegays, garlands, and one square wreath with fruit. She alludes to painters such as Sargent, quotes poets such as Frost, adds fun facts (carnations come in 200 shades), and prettifies the text with metaphors (petals like “petticoats aflutter”). This essential flower-arranging guide has everything but thumb indexes. Color photos. (Mar.)