Success Story

Basics of Floral Design

Kendal Bowman, Cooperative Extension Service Intern 2018

Clark County Cooperative Extension Service 

When reviewing Clark County’s Cooperative Extension Service Agriculture and Natural Resource (ANR) programming, women only made up 29% of the participants between July 2017 and June 2018, while women make up over 50% of the total county population (US Census, 2010). To address this deficiency the ANR intern and Horticulture agent developed a plan to better target women. They determined that a Basics of Floral Design series, something that had not been offered before and is outside of the traditional programming in the office, would target the audience they wanted to reach and get women more involved in the Extension Service. 

Twenty-eight community members took part in the six-week series. Participants ranged in age from under 18 to over 70. Class topics included an introduction to floral design, simple fresh cut flower arrangements and advanced to silk flower arrangement. Local high school agriculture teachers and a local florist partnered with the Extension Office to teach the classes. In addition, the florist allowed Extension to buy material wholesale, significantly reducing the cost of the class. The class also took a field trip to a specialty cut flower grower operation where they learned how cut flowers are grown and some basics of flower design. Clark County Master Gardeners volunteered their time to help the class make the floral arrangements for the Harvest to Hand dinner. This fundraiser provides 3^rd graders in Clark County with an opportunity to attend a field trip to a local farm to learn about agriculture through a hands-on animal and plant science curriculum.  

Participants completed a pre- and post- evaluation. As a result of this programming:

• 100% of the participants increased their knowledge of floral design
• 100% of the participants felt more confident in creating floral arrangements
• 100% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend the class to a friend
• 100% of the participants reported that they would participate in more community education classes offered by the Extension Service

One participant commented, “I love working with flowers and at my age, I want to branch out and learn new things.” Another said that as a small business owner, she wanted to “…expand [her] knowledge of things my customers may need.”

Participants have asked for a second part to the series and many in the community have asked about the class again. The Horticulture Agent is planning to make this a permanent part of his programming and is planning to follow up with the class participants to determine long-term impact.

                              Clark County Cooperative Extension Service                                                                         https://clark.ca.uky.edu/

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