By Kate Bobby
“Don't tell Martha Stewart about us!” warned Flushing resident Lillian Press, smiling as her nimble fingers steadily transformed a multicolored bunch of dried flowers into a table-setting perfect for Valentine's Day.
Press is one of a team of about 15 retired artisans of the QBC crafts group who get together weekly at the Queens Botanical Garden to transform former garden flowers into new works of art – cards, wreaths, table decorations and more. These handmade items – each one as unique as its respective creator – are then purchased by area residents at garden sales as well as the garden's upcoming “Be Mine, Valentine!” pressed flower art workshop.
The workshop will be held Sunday, Feb. 13, for kids ages 3 and up, at 2 p.m. in the garden's auditorium (conducted by Iva Neiman, a crafts group member.) Proceeds from the workshop ($3 fee) and any sales of crafts by the group members are directed back toward the garden and its future.
“I think the garden, in many ways, is still one of the best-kept secrets of New York, but not for long,” said Press, adding that Time Warner recently aired a segment about the garden called “The Grand Gardens of New York” (air date: Jan. 26) “I'm proud of the crafts group and what it does. I think it helps remind people of how special the garden is.”
In December, the group raised $1,000 for the garden with its end-of-year craftwork sales, a considerable sum considering the fact that commercial florists and wholesalers would never be able to use as many flowers for its products as the garden crafts group can. This is primarily because the crafts group is made up of volunteers with full access to an endless supply of free source material: the garden itself, which the volunteers are authorized to use.
“I wish I'd discovered I could do this a while ago. I do it for fun, but you can make a business out of this type of handiwork. What we do here is very much in demand,” said Pauline Schwartz, a volunteer pal of Press's from Flushing the past 40 years.
“At the garden, you have all these flowers here. A commercial business just can't create what we create for free, charging what we charge. They'd have to turn a profit,” said Schwartz, one of three volunteers present and working in the garden on a cold morning in early January.
“A business, therefore, can never produce what we can produce because they haven't the time or the number of flowers we need to use,” she said. “We simply have more at our disposal so our work is unique.”
But it can't come down to just money and time. Talent is also required.
“I think everyone can do what we do,” said the third volunteer in for the day, Beatrice Schecter, a Whitestone resident, who in addition to puttering around in her own garden, likes to tool around in the Queens Botanical Gardens. “Take one of our classes. You'll find something you'll like to do,” she said.
One look at the crafts group workshop reveals there are many types of work for an eager volunteer to do because their room is thoroughly, and cheerily, overrun with colorful flora. One can't help but notice, for instance, rows and rows of flowers hung upside down from various ceiling fixtures throughout the workroom.
“That's so the flowers can dry. We can't work with them until they are completely dried out,” said Schecter who began working for the garden following her retirement from teaching in 1984.
“I just decided to give something other than teaching a try,” said Schecter whose workout routine often includes a few miles on the exercise bike and a few miles walk through the garden to gather flowers for the group.
“I do the bending down for the flowers, usually. I've got the good back. So, I'm lucky,” said Schecter who also grows her own garden at home. “I've always been a gardener.”
One of Schecter's own pet projects is potpourri. Off to the side is a row of pull-out trays, each with a spray of brightly colored, beautifully scented petals, arranged and classified by color. Schecter pointed out rose, yarrow, lavender and a multitude of sweet-scented neighbors occupying tray after tray.
“Oh, we don't waste one flower here. We use whatever we have access to,” attested Press, who while talking in just moments flat whipped up a Valentine's Day arrangement, a vase decorated with hearts and bursting with dried rose petals.
“We'll sell this for a song. These go fast,” Press said, then lifting up the vase to display its maker: Staffordshire, an important name to collectors of vintage china.
“We picked up vases like this at garage sales and we are able, in turn, to sell them for next to nothing. You aren't going to be able to find something like this just anywhere, neither the vase, nor the arrangement, at the price we'll sell this for. So, people who visit us know enough to revisit our tables again and again.”
Yet another top seller: arrangements of precious flowers and delicate seashells, favorite creations of Press.
“We call it the 'surf 'n' turf,'” said Press. “These do very well.”
Other top sellers are the series of cards for all occasions, each one featuring picture-perfect arrangements of various petals. Another favorite gift item is wreaths.
And this team's secret is enjoying what it does.
“Oh, we just sit here and gab, like we'd be doing anyway,” said Press, adding, “it's a lot of fun. Otherwise, it would be a job, wouldn't it?”
“We've had people ask us if we could do such and such for this wedding or that party, and that they'd pay us,” said Schwartz. “First of all, if we were doing this for ourselves and not for the garden, they couldn't afford it,” she said.
As it is, the work for garden volunteers is year-round and there is no exception for the flower arrangement workshop team. The fall and winter months are more or less the time for creation of the pieces. During the spring and summer months, Schecter and company don aprons and wield scissors and go around the garden to gather flowers.
“It's a riot. People come up to us and demand to know what we are doing,” Schecter said. “It's a quite touching, actually. They defend the garden. They think we're thieves or vandals.”
Finally, it reached the point where the ladies had to be outfitted with garden insignia identifying them as official “garden wreckers” authorized to skillfully prune the garden of its drying flowers – the hallmark of a healthy garden, in fact, are regularly pruned flower patches.
“We don't go into scissors and clean out whole area,” Press quipped. “It's done carefully. Methodically. We have to actually cover a lot of ground, clipping and snipping here and there.”
The volunteers also cover a lot of ground on the road, always keeping an eye out for the random garage sale gems and generous wholesalers with a large spot in their heart for helping ensure the garden's ongoing growth.
And if you're curious about the respective ages of these green thumbs, suffice it to say they're simply evergreen.
The workshops are held at the Queens Botanical Garden, 43-50 Main St., Flushing. For more information, call 886-3800.
They include:
“Make It, Shake It” on Feb. 27, 2 p.m. ages 3 and up. (Fee: $3)
“Flower Arranging for Young Beginners,” on March 12 at 2 p.m. (Fee: $3)
“The Writer's Garden,” Saturdays through March 18, 12:30-2 p.m. (Fee: $35)
“Planning and Planting Mixed Borders,” Sunday, Feb. 6, 2 p.m. (Free)
“Spring Pruning,” Saturday, March 11, 1 p.m. (Free)
“Starting Flowers and Vegetables from Seed,” Saturday, March 18, 2 p.m. (Free.)
