Evening star., 1938-03-20
Manhattan Mirror
Flower Decorators Advice.
Show Draws Thousands.
Opera Tour to Begin.
BY Grace Hendrick Emsfis-

A MOST interesting English
~ woman who has been flut-
~ tering around the country
4 a from Denver, Colo, to
youngstown, Ohio, giving lectures
and talking on the air, settled in
New York last week for few hours
to ofiiciate at the Silver Jubilee
International Flower Show. Her
name is Mrs. Constance Spry and
she is the great flower decorator
who planned and supervised the
floral decorations at the respective
weddings of the Duke and Duchess
OF Kent, the Duke and Duchess
of Windsor and many other notables.
She runs a concern in London
called Flower Decorations. Inc,
which employs so people and han
dies flower arrangements for pri-
vate clients. Also, and In con-
junction with this, she operates a
school for teaching the art Of
flower decorating.
We caught this energetic little
lady at her hotel one morning while
she was working on radio speech.
Her room, to use her own words,
looked like the Caledonian Market.
There were small travelling bags in
all states of overflow. Over the bed
she had tossed Sea-green Spanish
shawl. On the bureau and on the
bedside table were scattered per-
fume bottles, a bracelet made Of
heavy gold seals, travelling clock,
a scarlet eyeglass case, newspapers
and manuscripts. Everything was
everywhere. In the midst of this
bedlam was Mrs. Spry. faultlessly
dressed in neat black, brightly
manicured, wearing heavy pearls
and q tricorne hat from under
which peered humorous face with
oarting brown eyes. Her bag was as
bursting with papers, letters and
n1emos as Alice Longworth's.
In the space OF half an hour
she managed to pack. rehearse her
radio speech with two girls from a
broadcasting company and give us
an interview.
Flowers" she said, Should be
used like the paints of an artist.
This way they act as a means of
self-eXpression to the countless
people. like myself, who can neither
paint nor draw.
Il believe the people of this coun-
try have been too much Influenced
by japanese floral restraint. Use
anything you like. That is my
motto. collect twigs and wild
flowers and seeds from the hedge
rows and vegetables and dried
grasses and ferns.
But there are few rules" she
continued. For instance, If you
start with a color scheme, don't
let it deteriorate. If you have
made a really good flower arrange
ment, stop there. Don't use the
left-overs, for it may be an anti
climax. Finally, never use leaves
for make-shifts to fill up space.
Leaves are beautiful in themselves
and should be utilized as a sepa-
rate unit"
Mrs. Spry is a great believer in
using lovely, bare winter stems.
She puts the red-stemmed dogwood
In q vase with pink amaryllis to
give the flowers height. She will
cut yellow willows or the branches
OF birch tree and use them with
yellow flowers.
\ X
THE flower show filled four
floors Of the Grand Central
Palace last week with so many
thousands Of flower enthusiasts
that 1t took us three weary, push
ing hours to cover it. And that
was in the morning. To get near
enough to any exhibit meant shov-
ing and elbowing. The only people
Tor whom clearance was made were
lnvalids In wheel chairs. We
counted six of these and decided
that next year We will go that way.
Nevertheless, it was an exciting
and eye-fllling sight. There were
zinnias as big as cabbages, sweet
peas the size of azalias. To look at
the names Of the winning ex-
hibitors. among them ]. P. Morgan,
Marshall Field, ETC., would indi-
cate that the much-publicized first
go families had a lien on the
awards. But, under the rules of
the competitions and in fairness to
the actual artists, the gardeners
names appeared under those Of the
exhibitors in equally large letters.
Among the outstanding exhibits
was a rock garden created by Col.