THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604200049
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARCIA MANGUM, HOME & GARDEN EDITOR
LENGTH: Long : 164 lines
NOWADAYS WE THINK of geraniums as summer bedding plants and poinsettias as Christmas plants. But in the Victorian era, both made frequent off-season appearances as cut flowers in winter and spring table arrangements, says horticultural historian Ellen McClelland Lesser.
Lesser, who is making her first appearance in Hampton Roads, will present a lecture demonstration on ``Victorian Arrangements: Elegance From the Home Garden'' at Norfolk Botanical Garden on May 3 and will display and talk about several of her arrangements at the Hunter House Victorian Museum in Norfolk on May 4.
Much of what Lesser does is debunk misconceptions. When most people think of a Victorian bouquet, they picture peachy pink roses, lace streamers and baby's breath. In fact, there were no peachy pink roses during the Victorian era, no lace streamers and no baby's breath until after the turn of the century, near the end of the period, Lesser points out.
But Lesser is quick to admit that she shared many of those views until 15 years ago when she was asked to create Victorian arrangements for Olana, the estate once owned by Hudson River painter Frederic Edwin Church.
At the time Lesser was in graduate school writing a thesis on flowering plants appropriate for late-19th century gardens. A man she'd met during her research noticed her talent for arranging and asked her to create Christmas arrangements for the historic Olana house.
Lesser agreed, thinking she'd tie a few pine boughs and plop in some red berries. Then the man suggested she might create something from the 1870s.
``All of a sudden I gasped in horror and realized I knew nothing about this,'' she recalled. The man loaned her a book called ``Floral Decorations for the Dwelling House,'' published in 1876.
``I borrowed the book and read it cover to cover and realized it was so different from the FTD specials,'' she said. ``This was a whole other world. There were trees popping out of the table, there were arches, gardenias, camellias, there was stephanotis, which we think of as wedding bouquet material now.''
There were orchids and ferns, geraniums and lily of the valley, fuchsia and azaleas. In short, there were all kinds of plants that we use as corsage material or garden plants, rather than something to decorate a table or room, she said.
To create these grand, spatial compositions for the table, Lesser had to call upon the landscape architect training she'd received from the University of Massachusetts. Lesser, who lives in Stuyvesant, N.Y., also spent time studying at the New York Botanical Garden to prepare for her debut as a floral designer at Olana.
She learned that a lot of the things floral designers now take for granted, weren't always that way. For instance, the Japanese influence that dictates using three or five stems, rather than the static four stems, is a rather recent development in this country.
Similarly, creating arrangements around flowers with long, graceful stems wasn't always done, because many flowers had short, stubby stems.
Yellow petunias, white geraniums and those peachy pink roses are all relatively new hybrids. Roses from the Victorian era were mainly pink and red. If you were to be given a bouquet of roses from a suitor who wanted to impress, the golden yellow Marechal Niel rose was particularly desirable, known for its large blooms and fragrance, Lesser said.
``Fashion changed, furniture changed, gardening styles changed - so why wouldn't cut flowers?'' she realized.
In 1905, if you decorated for a wedding with chrysanthemums, it would have indicated a family of wealth, because they were a hot-house crop that had to be fussed over, Lesser said. Now, chrysanthemums are one of the least expensive flowers you can use for a wedding, and therefore have fallen out of favor among the upper crust.
Attitudes toward flowers change as well. In the Victorian era, hostesses and arrangers went all out for dinner-table displays. They didn't hesitate to use short-lived flowers such as sweet pea and lily of the valley.
``These were used on the table because, not only the host and hostess but the guests knew that these were short-lived flowers, and it was an honor because they knew these were flowers that were only going to be at peak for their dinner,'' Lesser said.
Nowadays, people look for flowers that last, sometimes through two weekends of entertaining. ``Guests these days can't tell a hydrangea from a hyacinth anyway, so you can get away with it,'' she said.
Greenery, particularly ferns, was used prominently in arrangements for two reasons, Lesser noted. One reason was practical: They didn't have Oasis and other modern means for holding flowers in arrangements; they relied on green ery to buoy up the stems. The other reason was aesthetic: They wanted each flower to be displayed at its best, surrounded by greenery.
In a trend that has resurfaced lately, people of the Victorian era often used makeshift containers to hold flowers, rather than fancy vases or urns, Lesser said.
Lesser's research paid off, her arrangements were a success and she's been considered an expert in 19th-century American gardens and floral designs since.
Lesser calls herself a horticultural historian, a term she says describes her interest in history and plant materials and how they were used.
She said her work differs from plant historians, because they know a lot about names of plants from certain periods and where historical gardens were located, but they aren't interested in the practical aspects of how you can keep those plants alive today to create historical arrangements.
Often her audience is made up of garden club members who want to know what to grow and arrange for historic houses and/or people who live in older homes. Sometimes these people have studiously collected the appropriate moldings, furniture, china and linens but haven't a clue that cut flowers have changed through the years.
``They've gone to much trouble to get it all right and then have a brand, spanking new flower arrangement in the middle of it,'' Lesser said.
``If you are working at an old house, then you should try your best to be accurate, but you can only do your best. You have to go to the flower market and buy what's there. It's not going to be a named cultivar from the 1890s; it's going to be a new one from the 1990s.''
Noting that even within the Victorian era, the kinds, colors and styles of flowers changed about every 20 years, Lesser said she'll create three arrangements at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, one from the 1850s and '60s, one from the 1870s and '80s and one from the 1890s to the turn of the century.
In her presentations, she attempts to open up a new way of looking at flowers.
``I, along with everyone else, was locked into looking at geraniums as a summer bedding plant and not a winter cut flower. And cyclamen was a pot plant and not a cut flower and the same with poinsettias,'' Lesser said.
Now she looks at pink and white poinsettias and thinks what a lovely January arrangement they could make. Aside from the historic viewpoint, Lesser believes more folks would enjoy winter more if they'd celebrate it with flowers.
Many, such as geranium, cyclamen and poinsettias, can be grown inside or in greenhouses all winter. ``These days we put away the winter stuff right after New Year's, and we immediately say it's spring. We don't make use of winter flowering things.
``No wonder we're so crabby about winter - we've declared it over. Wait till March and bring in the forsythia.'' ILLUSTRATION: Courtesy of Ellen McClelland Lesser\ Ellen McClelland Lesser
arranges greenery and flowers on a candelabrum at Olana.
Ellen McClelland Lesser decorates an arch, typical of Victorian
arrangements, at Olana, estate of Frederic Edwin Church.
VICTORIAN ARRANGEMENTS
[For a copy of the schedule and ticket prices, see microfilm for
this date. ]
Information and tickets: Call 441-5839
PLANT LIST
The following plants are among those frequently used in Victorian
arrangements:
Azalea
Calla
Carnation
Cineraria
Cyclamen
Daisy
Fern
Forget-me-not
Geranium, pink and red
Lily of the Nile
Lily of the Valley
Orchid
Passion flower
Rose, primarily red and pink
Solomon's seal
Spiraea
Stephanotis
Violet
White primrose
White heath
by CNB