INTRODUCTION – H2O H2o, water, the only resource we cannot

INTRODUCTION – H2O
H2o, water, the only resource we cannot live without. The
quantity of water now present on earth is the same as when the
earth was formed. The earth is a closed system similar to a
terrarium, meaning it rarely loses or gains extra matter. The same
water that existed on earth millions of years ago is still present
today. Tap water may contain molecules that dinosaurs drank
once before.
About ninety seven percent of the water in the world is either salt
water or water unfit for drinking. Two percent of the water is
securely locked in icebergs and glaciers. This leaves one percent
to cover all human needs, agricultural, residential, industrial and
personal.
The members of the Greater Detroit Flower Arrangers Guild have
chosen to depict water in its many forms, or lack of, in their
designs. You may notice some of the designs are all dried even
though we have access to any number of fabulous plant materials
at this conference. Some Guild members have chosen the
alternative, dried. This is actually a reflection of Northern design
work where because of climatic conditions, we rely on the color
and form of dried plant material and the use of paint to embolden
them.
H20
Jane Covington
Water may be one of the most familiar substances on the planet, but it certainly isn't ordinary. In fact,
water's unique chemical properties make it so complicated that after decades of research, scientists
still have much to learn about this remarkable and versatile substance.
Water is all around us—in the sky, on the ground, in the air—continually changing form. Water's
unique chemical properties make it the only natural substance that can be found in all three states:
liquid, solid (ice) and gas (steam). The continual movement of water around the globe is known as the
hydrologic cycle. Several processes take place within this cycle, including evaporation, condensation,
precipitation, runoff and collection. During the cycle, water will change form many times.
That’s water, as in the clear, sparkling fluid that covers three quarters of the Earth’s surface—not to
mention the basis of life as we know it, and possessor of the world’s most recognizable chemical
formula (H2O). Water is everywhere. And yet, scientists are still learning about its properties.
Water simply doesn’t behave like other liquids.
If you drop an ice cube into a glass of water, it floats. This happens because water expands as it
freezes, which makes the solid form less dense than the liquid. But most other liquids do just the
opposite; they shrink and become denser as they freeze, so the solid form sinks. If water behaved
that way, ice would accumulate on the bottom of lakes and oceans during the winter, and would have
difficulty thawing in the spring. If this was possible, this would have dire consequences for aquatic life.
Another surprising characteristic of water is that it boils at a very high temperature—100 degrees
Celsius at sea level—compared to similarly sized molecules. If water behaved like other liquids, it
would exist as a gas at the temperatures and pressures found on Earth, and life as we know it
couldn’t survive.
In general, the odd behaviors of H2O are reasonably understood. That’s no easy task because
hydrogen bonds are chemical contortionists: highly dynamic, forming linkages that vary in strength
and length. And so, even though water influences everything—from how proteins fold inside cells to
the weathering of seaside rocks—getting at the fundamentals of its many different interactions is very
difficult.
Jane Covington, who unfortunately is unable to be with us today, has her BA in Biochemistry and was
a long time resident of Texas. Jane is unmatched in her ability to write a flower show schedule and is
a wonderfully creative designer. She chose to have her components placed in a structure custom
designed by Chip Flynn of Detroit. This structure is a representation of the actual molecule H2o. The
brilliant blue monkey puzzle vine represents the water. Lime green Harry Lauder Walking Stick and
green button mums represents the growth on earth that water makes possible.
FIRE AND ICE
Della Haydon
The Ring of Fire is a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that encircles
the basin of the Pacific Ocean. It is shaped like a horseshoe and it is 40,000 km long. It
is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, island arcs, and
volcanic mountain ranges and/or plate movements.
In the past 25 years, scientists have developed a theory -According to this theory, the Earth's surface is made up of a patchwork of about a dozen
large plates that move relative to one another at speeds from less than one centimeter
to about ten centimeters per year (about the speed at which fingernails grow). These
rigid plates, whose average thickness is about 80 kilometers, are spreading apart,
sliding past each other, or colliding with each other in slow motion on top of the Earth's
hot, pliable interior. Volcanoes tend to form where plates collide or spread apart, but
they can also grow in the middle of a plate, as for example the Hawaiian volcanoes.
In the Pacific Northwest, the Juan de Fuca Plate plunges beneath the North American
Plate. As the denser plate of oceanic crust is forced deep into the Earth's interior
beneath the continental plate, a process known as subduction, it encounters high
temperatures and pressures that partially melt solid rock. Some of this newly formed
magma rises toward the Earth's surface to erupt, such as the epic explosion of Mt. St.
Helen’s in 1980.
Included in this belt is the Alaskan Aleutian Trench. At this northern most tip of the Ring
of Fire is a broad submarine mountain chain. Young volcanoes, lava flows, and hot
springs were discovered in a broad valley less than five mile wide along the crest of the
ridge in 1970. This volcanic range is mostly hidden beneath the ice and snow of the
arctic glaciers.
These seemingly opposite elements have an aspect of beauty that Della Haydon has
portrayed in her design. The flames are depicted by the heliconia and orange acrylic
ribbons purchased from Joy Parker. Glass and acrylic icicles complete her portrayal of
fire and ice.
Della hails from Garden City, a bedroom community of Detroit. An avid gardener, she
has incorporated vividly colored bottles into her landscape. Della was inspired by
research for a guild assignment on the glass artist Dale Chiluly. She is also
accomplished at the art of bonsai.
GLACIERS
Sally Ouellette
Glaciers, perennial accumulations of ice, snow, sediment, rock and water, respond to
changes in temperature, snowfall and geologic forces. Several components make up a
glacial system: the ice and sediment contained in the glacier; the valleys, fiords and
rock features it flows over, on, or around; and the deposits left by its retreat or advance.
New snow layers create pressure on existing layers of snow and ice. As the snow
collects over many years, an ice field forms. Ice flows down the valleys and slopes of
the mountains to the lower elevations, and glaciers are born.
Glacial ice is the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth, supporting one third of the
world's population. Many glaciers store water during one season and release it later
as melt water, a water source that is especially important for plants, animals and human
uses when other sources may be scant. Year after year snow accumulates and
compacts underlying snow layers from previous years into solid ice, causing changes in
volume, density and crystal structure.
Glacial ice appears blue because it absorbs all colors of the visible light spectrum
except blue, which it transmits. Glacial ice may also appear white because some ice is
highly fractured with air pockets and indiscriminately scatters the visible light spectrum.
Rocks and other debris picked up by the glacier add other tints. As the glacier recedes
these rocks and other debris are deposited to form hills and swells which are known as
moraines. Moraines may also occur when glacier or iceberg transported rocks fall into a
body of water as the ice melts.
Sally Ouellette came to flower design by way of her interest in horticulture. She has a
vast knowledge of the classification system. Sally was also honored to be the ‘Vision of
Beauty’ calendar designer of the year in 2010.
Sally has used in her design a Ken Swartz frame including a furnace filter leftover from
a creative design assignment for Guild. An eyelash yarn scarf has been wound on an
upright to reflect the texture and colors in the gravel moraine. She has chosen
weathered wood to depict the breaking off of a glacier, an event called calving. This is
how icebergs are formed. The greatest concentration of calving tidewater glaciers
occurs in Prince William Sound with 20 active tidewater glaciers. The design is
completed with the addition of banksias and unusual dried cecropia leaves.
Ocean Currents and Fogs
Pauline Flynn
Ocean currents flow for great distances. Together they create the great flow of the
global conveyor belt, which plays a dominant part in determining the climate of
many of the earth’s regions. Surface ocean currents are generally wind-driven and
develop their typical clockwise spirals in the northern hemisphere. Another effect
results in the currents flowing at an angle to the driven winds.
The foggiest place in the world is the Grand Banks off the island of Newfoundland,
the meeting place of the cold Labrador Current from the North and the much
warmer Gulf Stream from the South.
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near
the Earth’s surface. While fog is a type of cloud, the term “fog” is typically
distinguished from the more generic term “cloud” in that fog is low lying
Chip Flynn, Pauline’s son, designed the structure supporting the Palm Spathe as part
of a series he made for her synergistic design for the World Flower Show. The New
Zealand Sea Kelp was a gift from a competitor at the World Show, This Glorious
Earth, and was hand silver-leafed by Pauline. To make the shell garland, each shell
was drilled with a diamond drill bit and affixed to a sparkle garland by a white cloth
covered wire. The sea fan from Hawaii, representing the fog, was lent by a fellow
guild member, Jan Dolan. It’s a wonderful lacy sheet that was made by hundreds of
minute colonial coral animals called polyps. A single polyp lives in each tiny
aperture of the sea fans branching reticulating stands, it’s eight wispy tentacles
reflecting the 8-fold radial symmetry characteristic of this and other octal corals.
Pauline lives on the east coast of Michigan, the sunrise side. Port Huron is the point
where Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair River heading south to Lake Erie. A
favorite pastime is parking along the ‘big river’, as it is called by the locals, watching
the magnificent ocean freighters pass by so close you can see the crew. Pauline
came to design work via her crafting with nature. She is also chairman of CFAA
ways and means.
Rainforest
Nancy Passfield
The beauty, majesty, and timelessness of a primary rainforest are indescribable. It is
impossible to capture on film, to describe in words, or to explain to those who have
never had the awe-inspiring experience of standing in the heart of a primary rainforest.
Rainforests have evolved over millions of years to turn into the incredibly complex
environments they are today. Rainforests represent a store of living and breathing
renewable natural resources that for eons, by virtue of their richness in both animal and
plant species, have contributed a wealth of resources for the survival and well-being of
humankind. These resources have included basic food supplies, clothing, shelter, fuel,
spices, industrial raw materials, and medicine for all those who have lived in the majesty
of the forest. However, the inner dynamics of a tropical rainforest is an intricate and
fragile system. Everything is so interdependent that upsetting one part can lead to
unknown damage or even destruction of the whole. Sadly, it has taken only a century of
human intervention to destroy what nature designed to last forever.
There are two types of rainforest – tropical & temperate. Tropical rainforests can be
characterized in two words – warm & wet. Mean monthly temperatures exceed 64
degrees during all months of the year and average rainfall no less that 66 inches.
Temperate forests cover a large part of the globe, but temperate rainforests only occur in
a few regions around the world. The lush forest of the Pacific Northwest is a spectacular
example of primeval temperate rainforest.
Storms off the Pacific Ocean drop much of their moisture on these west facing valleys.
Precipitation in the Olympic Rainforest ranges from 12 to 14 feet every year. The
moderate temperature seldom drops below freezing and summertime highs rarely
exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Epiphytes, or plants growing on other plants, mosses,
spike mosses, ferns and lichens festoon tree trunks and branches, giving the forest a
“jungle-like” feel. Large old trees, the dominant species are Sitka spruce and western
hemlock, but other conifers and several deciduous species grow as well. Many are 100s
of years old and can reach 250 feet in height and 30 to 60 feet in circumference.
Because of the densely covered ground, many seedlings instead germinate on fallen,
decaying trees. As they grow, their roots reach to the ground. When the log eventually
rots away, a colonnade, or row of trees on stilt-like roots, remains. When the massive
trees die, they eventually fall, but can take centuries to slowly decay back to the soil.
Throughout their long death, they provide important habitat for whole communities,
including mosses, tree seedlings, fungi, small mammals, amphibians, and insects.
Nancy Passfield, a master judge, is depicting the Pacific Northwest rainforest, The
Olympic National Forest, in her design. The very large weathered wood is rhythmically
accented by green sheet moss, fern, salal (or lemon leaf), all common to the area, and
magnificent Casablanca lilies.
Nancy has retired to the family homestead, a cottage on a bluff overlooking Lake Huron
in Port Sanilac, Michigan’s thumb area. Conveniently, we can all hold up our left hand to
show where we live.
Snow
Helen Kane
Snow Picture
by Nancy Byrd Turner
Yesterday hills and woods were gray,
And boughs were bare and brown,
But all last night silently, silently
Snow came down.
All night long over the fields,
Quiet and soft and slow,
With never a footprint, steadily, steadily
Walked the snow.
Now at dawn there is nothing but snow,
Nothing but whiteness, now,
Except the flame of a redbird's wing
On a feathery bough;
Never a sound in all the land;
Pure silence, through and through,
Save for the chatter of chickadees
Debating what to do.
Snow falls in soft crystals of infinite variety. Most well formed snowflakes have six nearly symmetrical
branches. Sometimes you may find a 12 branch symmetrical snowflake as well. One thing you will not
find falling from the sky is an 8-sided snowflake. Polyvinyl resin is used preserve the unique shape of the
snowflake.
The levels of moisture and air temperature help determine a snowflakes pattern and snowflake watchers
describe the shapes as columns needles, plates and dendrites. A myth you may have been taught is that
each snowflake is individual and unique. Most snowflakes tend to stick together with others into globular
crystals. Snowflakes look similar to anyone who takes the trouble to look closely at enough of them, but
for each one to have a unique shape would be a statically impossibly.
Another myth is that the Inuit people of Northern Canada, Siberia and Greenland have dozens of names of
snow. In their language they combine several descriptive words into a single word, for example “snow
that drifts into wavelike patterns” (8 words in English) would exist as one word in Inuit, so their “many
words for snow” are really combinations of words to describe particular snow conditions on the ground,
not falling.
The ice storms of the winter seasons have an exquisite beauty. Crystal glazed trees sparkling in the sun are
shining examples of nature’s artistry. The unique intricate designs of each snowflake reflect the individuality of
mankind. A winter storm can be a time of awe inspiring reflection on the treasures we enjoy.
Helen Kane is from Dearborn Michigan, a bustling, multi-cultural city outside of Detroit. Helen’s love of glass
sculpture is reflected in her monochromatic rhythmic design. A spiral of glass garland evokes the sparkle of her
glazed trees in a winter storm and the Allium the snowflakes. The orb of white carnations echoes the texture of
snow.
SPRING
Marge McGoff
Winter can be a subtle subdued color palette. The grays, muted greens and dull
browns are highlighted by fading, shrinking snow tucked in isolated dark corners where
the sun cannot reach. Winter can be a blinding white wonderland. Stark black trees
outlined by crystal clear blue sky. Or it can be magical, twinkling and sparkling with a jet
black night sky. However, we long for the signs of spring. A yellowing of the willows, a
glimpse of red twig dogwood in the lowlands, and we check for the tips of crocus to
poke through the receding snow at the sunny side of the house.
Finally, the breaking ice shatters the silence like the crack of a whip. The brilliant white
ice floes float serenely down the river, seagulls catching a ride. Tantalizing, slowly the
days warm. Still icy nights, but the buds on the trees swell, reddish tints on their tips.
Spring in Michigan is the beginning of the warming of the land and waters surrounding
us. Trees bloom, wild flowers suddenly appear and bulbs buried in the earth burst forth
with an uplifting brightness. The spring rains combined with the melting snow replenish
the lakes and streams and waterfalls occur.
This annual occurrence is depicted by the clear plastic sections in the framework of the
design. The waterfalls are represented by the sprays of dendrobium orchids. Copper is
mined in the Upper Peninsula as a natural resource. Copper tubing has been used to
indicate an outline of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, naturally shaped like a mitten.
Yellow tulips highlight the Holland area. Agapanthus represents the lilacs of Mackinac
Island. A combination of colorful/ flowers represent the Southern part of Michigan.
Marge McGoff resides on the western coast of our state, also known as the sunset side,
on a harbor connected to Lake Michigan. She has used a custom structure, codesigned and fabricated by Ken Swartz. It was previously used in her exhibit in the
Chelsea Flower show in London, England.
Storm at Sea
Sherry Sanelli
The ocean is capable of extreme contrasts. Water can take many forms, from the beautiful but
often dangerous waves that may be several stories high during a storm to the beauty and
tranquility of becalmed water, with a mirror like reflection. The protea represent this contrast
and beauty of the sea. They are named after Proteus, the Greek God of the stormy sea. As the
sea can mimic many things in the shape of a wave, varieties of protea mimic other plants such
as pine cones, artichokes and ginger.
In a ship yard adjoining a marina Sherry saw a discarded rope eye and was attracted by the
rhythm of all the splintered and frayed wires. It also inspired thoughts about what force it must
have taken to break a braided wire of that size. During a storm, the sea is capable of great
strength and force.
For centuries sailors have been telling yarns of encountering monstrous ocean waves which
tower over one hundred feet and toss ships about like corks. But recently scientists have
discovered strong evidence indicating that such massive rogue waves do exist, including
satellite photos and radar imagery documenting the existence of numerous rogue waves, which
are far more common than previously thought. The phenomenon has become the subject of
scientific study, but their origin remains a mystery of the deep. The most destructive waves in
the ocean are tsunamis, often wrongly called tidal waves. They are not caused by tides or even
by the wind, but by underwater earthquakes, landslides or volcanic eruptions. They can travel
as fast as a commercial jet and sound like a locomotive.
Sherry has chosen the hanging heliconia to represent lightning on the water, during a storm at
sea, while the spathes are indicative of a ship's sails.
Sherry Sanelli, a recent Michigan arrival from Connecticut is an avid fresh and salt water sailor.
She is Guild’s newest member and current president.
The Sweetwater Seas
Jan Dolan
Samuel de Champlain was a young man when his visionary King Henry the IV granted
permission for him to explore the area that had become known as New France. Champlain
was the first European to see the Great Lakes. He sailed into the top of Lake Huron naming
it the ‘Great Sweetwater Sea’ in 1615.
The connected string of five fresh water inland seas, Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie
and Ontario lies in the interior of North America between the Dominion of Canada and the
United States of America where they form the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River
System. These seas are collectively and generally known as the Great Lakes. Though the
five lakes reside in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of
fresh water.
The lakes form a chain connecting the east central interior of North America to the Atlantic
Ocean. In the hydrological sense, it is a single body of water. The lakes drain a large
watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 35,000 islands. The Great
Lakes Region contain not only the five themselves but also many thousands of smaller
lakes, often called inland lakes. Of the five lakes, Lake Michigan is the only one that is
located entirely within the United States; the others form a water border between the
United States and Canada.
The lakes contain six quadrillion gallons of fresh water; one-fifth of the world’s fresh
surface water (only the polar ice caps and Lake Baikal in Siberia contain more). Spread
evenly across the continental U.S., the Great Lakes would submerge the country under
about 9.5 feet of water. The Great Lakes shoreline is equal to almost 44% of the
circumference of the earth, and Michigan’s Great Lakes coast is more than any state but
Alaska. They are sometimes referred to as the North Coast or the Third Coast.
Jan Dolan unfortunately cannot be with us today. Her tapestry design is a black shadowbox
28” x 44” in size. It is divided into five sections expressing the five lakes that comprise the
Great Lakes. All the plant materials are native to the area and are composed of small
driftwood, pinecones, Osage orange slices, cattails and moss. The painted driftwood
represents the famous Lake Superior white fish, a delicacy enjoyed by many. The black
painted branch evokes the many streams and rivers that feed into the Great Lakes.
Jan resides in Farmington just outside of Detroit. She is a former State Representative of
Michigan and is best known for the bill she introduced on ‘potty parity’, the same restroom
capacity for women as for men.
The Desert
Dorothy Lippincott
We all know about deserts, what most of us don’t realize is that deserts need not always be about sun and
sand! A desert is an area of land that is marked by very sparse vegetation due to the extreme climactic
conditions and extremely low levels of precipitation. There are cold deserts as well as hot deserts.
The Antarctic desert which spans across the continent of Antarctica is the most prominent example of a
cold desert. Due to extremely low temperatures, vegetation is very sparse in these regions and the soil is
ill suited for farming and cultivation. Not only is Antarctica the coldest place on earth – the coldest
temperature ever recorded, -129 degrees Fahrenheit, was from there – but it is also the driest. One area
of the continent, called the Dry Valley, has not received any rain for nearly 2 million years.
In hot deserts, the complete lack of moisture coupled with extremely high temperatures makes normal
vegetation and cultivation of food items an impossible task. Deserts cover approximately 1/3 of the
surface of the earth and the annual rainfall in deserts is less than 10 inches on average. Due to the
scarcity of water and vegetation animal life forms are limited in deserts. The Sonoran Desert is the only
desert to have the maximum number of animal and plant lives dwelling there. It is the habitat of around
3000 plant species and 5000 animal species including fish, amphibians, insects, birds and mammals.
The Sonoran Desert is part of the great basin, the 10th largest desert in the world and is located in the
Southwest United States in Arizona and California and also in Northern Mexico. It is the hottest and most
bio-diverse of the North American deserts. The bio-diversity of the Sonoran Desert is due to two rainy
seasons. Winter storms from the Pacific Ocean nourish annuals such as Poppy and Lupine. Summer
monsoons originating from the Gulf of Mexico help both annual and woody plants.
Dorothy Lippincott, the designer, has featured Saguaro Cacti, Michigan Cacti from her garden and Banksia
in her floor design. This lighted design is in a Ken-san fabricated by Chip Flynn. The Sonoran Desert is the
only place in the world where the famous Saguaro Cactus grows in the wild. They grow very slowly from
seed and not at all from cuttings. Whenever it rains, the Saguaros soak up the rainwater and the cactus
will visibly expand. It conserves the water and slowly consumes it. A Saguaro can grow to be between 4060 feet tall and when fully hydrated weight between 3200 and 4800 pounds. Federal law protects
harvesting the Saguaro Cacti and licensed individuals may only procure them.
The cold hearty Michigan Cacti is from Dorothy’s home in mid-Michigan. It is the only cactus that needs a
long dormant freezing period to flower, similar to a Tulip.
Not only is Dorothy an accomplished master designer, she is a dedicated gardener always willing to grow
unusual and new varieties of plants.