DATE: Sunday, October 26, 1997              TAG: 9710280514

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARCIA MANGUM, HOME & GARDEN EDITOR 

                                            LENGTH:  227 lines

FALL FESTIVITIESTHE GARDENING SEASON MAY BE WINDING DOWN, BUT HAMPTON ROADS STILL OFFERS FALL GARDENING FESTIVALS, EVENTS, WORKSHOPS

TAKE HEART. There's no right way to arrange flowers.

So says renowned floral designer, author and lecturer Hardie Newton. Her upcoming lecture and demonstration at the 1997 Flower Festival at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Norfolk is one of several gardening events scheduled in Hampton Roads during the next few weeks.

When cold or rainy weather sends gardeners inside, it's a perfect time to pick up a new hobby or polish those flower arranging skills.

Flowers are all about connecting to nature and relaxation, Newton says.

``It's really hard to ruin beautiful flowers,'' she adds. In fact, even children can create phenomenal floral arrangements.

That's why Newton calls her Saturday morning lecture and demonstration at the flower festival ``Celebration of Flowers: How Flowers Bring Harmony and Beauty into Our Lives.''

``I think a lot of people would be attracted by that title who might be turned off by `3 Steps to Perfect Flower Design,' '' she says.

Her presentation will include many practical tips, but the real message will be one of learning to work with nature and letting your creativity flow.

Newton says she won't know until she arrives Friday what materials she'll be working with. She's left that to the festival planners.

She'll bring a few seashells and probably will base her arrangement on a log, but beyond that, she'll wing it. She finds that some of her most creative work comes when others supply the materials.

Newton, now 67, only seriously began pursuing her passion at age 50, after her three children were grown and gone. She went to work for Terry Smith, a floral designer in Alexandria, Va.

Her roots, however, were far from the city and suburbs. Her floral work typically reflected the woods and wilds where she was born and raised in Lookout Mountain, Tenn. Her designs tended to be loose and large-scale, not fussy little symmetrical arrangements.

They didn't always fit well in delivery trucks.

After a few years working with several florists in the D.C. area, she started her own business, Hardie Blossoms, specializing in large designs, primarily for commercial establishments.

``In the cold of a January morning, I awakened to a booming voice that said, `I am going to sell this house and move to the country!' '' she writes in her recently published book, ``Hardie Newton's Celebration of Flowers'' (Storey Publishing, 192 pp., $27.95 hardback). The voice, of course, was her own, and she followed her inner oracle to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Newton bought 36 acres in Madison County, Virginia, where she helped design a mountain farmhouse with tin roof, two stone chimneys and 29 French doors opening to three long porches. She calls her home Naramata, a native American word that roughly translates ``the smile of God.''

The land is woods, streams and rolling hills planted with hay. Although Newton draws from all her surroundings to create arrangements, she has only ``civilized'' about an acre with beds for vegetables, herbs, annuals and perennials.

A believer in homeopathic remedies and holistic approaches to mind, body and soul, she raises much of her own food and uses home-grown herbs for medicinal purposes, as well as cooking and arranging.

She believes that plants and flowers heal, in many ways. ``Just having them in the room - the visual, the fragrance and then the touching - it relaxes everyone,'' she explains. ``What we're all so hungry for is being at one and at peace with the way things grow.''

These days she's often on the road giving lectures and workshops and promoting her book. ``It's killing me to miss these two weeks of fall'' on the farm, she said Tuesday in a phone interview from Denver.

When she is home, she tries to reserve Monday and Wednesdays for her own gardening. She frequently gardens in the early morning hours or under lights at night - until she smells a skunk.

She regularly conducts workshops at Naramata, which include a walk around the land to encourage everyone to relax and gather materials for their arrangements.

It was after one such session with a small garden club, when some of the women were literally shaking in terror, afraid they would do something ``wrong,'' that Newton decided she would redirect much of her teaching toward children.

Now she works with 4-H clubs and school groups, hoping to reach people before their inhibitions kick in and their creativity shuts down. ``When I started out, I ended up having a series of the same children for three summers in a row,'' she recalls. ``You should've seen what they did.''

In Norfolk, she plans to make a fall arrangement, possibly similar to the Thanksgiving picture in her book.

``I always spend a lot of time in the woods and collect a lot of things,'' she says. From abandoned bird and hornets' nests to rocks, lichen, moss and mushrooms.

Part of her appreciation for using branches and forms from nature stem from her studies of Ikebana and bonsai during nine years of living in Hawaii. ``I can take a branch that other people may think is really ugly and turn it into a focal point, especially if I have very few flowers,'' she says.

Still, she insists there's no right or wrong way to arrange flowers. ``In a workshop with seven people, you will have seven different styles,'' she says.

She fondly recalls working with one woman who was once an art student but hadn't painted in years. When that woman started arranging flowers, her use of color was stunning.

``I go to bed at night far richer, because I've learned so much from my pupils,'' she says. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

STOREY PUBLISHING

1997 FLOWER FESTIVAL

ABOVE: Floral designer Hardie Newton...

CHRYSLER MUSEUM

TULIPOMANIA

LEFT: Follow the motif of tulips in art and learn...

Graphic

UPCOMING GARDENING EVENTS

History Park and Trail

Ground-breaking ceremony at 2 p.m. today for the Francis Land

History Park and Trail behind the Francis Land House house at 3131

Virginia Beach Blvd. Call 431-4000.

Holiday Herbal Gifts

Workshop on making herbal gifts such as sachets, candles and

ornaments, 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, at Norfolk Botanical

Garden; $18 for members, $25 for non-members; 441-5838.

1997 Flower Festival

Oct. 31-Nov. 4 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, in the West

Ghent section of Norfolk. Call 489-8603 for tickets or info. The

following is a summary of events:

Gala grand opening, 7:15 to 9:30 p.m. Friday; $10 per person;

advance ticket purchase recommended. Floral designer Hardie Newton

will autograph copies of her book at 8 p.m.

Festival bazaar, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday; free. Booths with

flower arrangements, holiday decorations, garden items, baked goods,

Christmas greenery and more.

Children's events, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Face painting,

games, clowns and storytellers.

Lecture/demonstration by floral designer Hardie Newton, 10 a.m.

to 1 p.m.; $20 for lecture and lunch, which follows at 1:15 p.m.

Luncheon/fashion show, 11:30 a.m. Saturday; $8.

Violin recital, 3:30 p.m. Saturday; free. Presented by students

of Wesi Boyer.

Holy Eucharist in celebration of All Saints' Day, 8 and 10 a.m.

Sunday.

Rector's Breakfast, 8:30 a.m. Sunday; $5 adults, $2 children 6 to

12; advance ticket purchase recommended.

Organ recital and Evensong, 4:30 p.m. Sunday; free. Recital by

Christopher Clark.

``Autumn's Glorious Bounty,'' a lecture/demonstration by Wayne

Jones of Flowers-Wayne Jones; 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday; $15 for

lecture and box lunch.

Meditation and music with Old Dominion University Madrigal

Singers, 7 p.m. Monday; free.

Faculty organ recital presented by Dr. James Kosnik, 8 p.m.

Tuesday; free, followed by reception.

``Tulipomania''

``Tulipomania: The Flowers of Rembrandt's Holland,'' 10 a.m. to

noon, Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Chrysler Museum, 245 W. Olney Road,

Norfolk; workshop and tour costs $10 for Chrysler members, $15 for

non-members. Call 664-6268. Events include:

Ann Dearsley Vernon, director of The Chrysler will give a gallery

tour pointing out the motif of the tulip in many works of art.

``The whole idea of Tulipomania comes from an occurrence in 1637

in Holland,'' she explains. ``There was wild financial speculation

over tulip bulbs, and it actually caused the equivalent of a stock

market crash.'' People were paying the equivalent of thousands of

thousands of dollars in speculation for a single tulip bulb, which

resulted in a crash, she says. ``That was referred to as

Tulipomania.''

Vernon says she was intrigued by the idea that a flower bulb

could be so attractive. Even today, people go to great lengths to

get tulip bulbs. ``In Turkey and some other Mediterranean

countries, where the tulip grows wild, there's a major problem with

people who are going in and stealing the bulbs,'' she says.

Carol Chewning, horticulturist with the Norfolk Botanical Garden,

will talk about the history of the tulip and provide tips on growing

tulips.

Tulip bulbs will be given away, courtesy of Van Waveren, a

Norfolk bulb wholesaler.

``The Roots of Historical Landscapes''

A lecture by Dr. Barbara Heath, director of archaelogy at Poplar

Forest, Thomas Jefferson's retreat, 5:30 p.m. Nov. 6; in the

Chrysler Museum Theatre; free; call 664-6283 for reservations. Heath

will explain new techniques that revolutionize the restoration of

historic gardens. Information from the research will be helpful in

restoring the historic gardens of the Moses Myers House in Norfolk.

The lecture is sponsored by Friends of The Chrysler Museum's

Historic Houses. Reception follows.

Gorgeous Garden Tiles

Workshop on hand-made tiles, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6,

Norfolk Botanical Garden; $20 for members, $28 non-members; call

441-5838. Instructor Robin Russ teaches wax-resist glazing.

Holly workshop

Workshop on growing cut holly, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8,

at the Hampton Roads Research Center; $20, including lunch; send

checks to the research center at 1444 Diamond Springs Road, Virginia

Beach, Va. 23455; call 363-3906 for info. ``Cut holly'' is the term

used to describe holly grown to be harvested and sold for holidays.

A representative of the Virginia Department of Agriculture will

speak, a floral designer will demonstrate decorative products made

from cut holly and research center staff will report on ongoing

holly research projects.

Master Gardener training

Norfolk residents interested in Master Gardener training must

apply for an application before Nov. 6. Classes are Tuesday and

Thursday mornings from Jan. 30 to March 26. For application form or

info, call 683-2816. Learn horticulture from experts with Virginia

Tech and Virginia State universities, as well as local

professionals.

Sunday Stroll in the Garden

Guided tours of Norfolk Botanical Garden, 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday,

Nov. 9; free with garden admission which is $3.50 for adults, $2.50

for seniors and $1.50 for youths 6 to 18; call 441-5838. Starts at

Baker Hall.

Everlasting Holiday Wreath Workshop

Class taught by Donniese Moose; 7 to 9 p.m. Nov. 11, Norfolk

Botanical Garden; $30 for members, $37 for non-members; 441-5838.

Easy Holiday Herbal Gift Baskets

Workshop presented by the Tidewater Unit of the Herb Society of

America, 7 to 9 p.m. Nov. 13, Norfolk Botanical Garden; $18 for

members, $25 for non-members; 441-5838.

Dressing Your Home for the Holidays

Workshop, 10 to 11:30 a.m. Nov. 15; Smithfield Gardens, 1869

Bridge Road, Route 17, Suffolk; free; call 399-4331 or 238-2511.

``The Governor's Gardens''

Norfolk Botanical Garden Society Lecture; Nov. 20, dinner at 6

p.m., lecture at 7:30 p.m.; Norfolk Botanical Garden; lecture is

free; 441-5838. Speaker Rollin Woolley, landscape supervisor at

Colonial Williamsburg, talks about gardens and grounds at the

Governor's Palace in Williamsburg.

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