Plantations workshops

Fall workshops in horticultural crafts offered at Cornell Plantations

Experts at Cornell Plantations can help ward off those early winter blues and welcome the upcoming holidays with November-December workshops on chair caning, fall flower arranging and holiday design.

Chair caning with instructor Phil Syphrit is offered on three consecutive Thursdays -- Nov. 6, 13 and 20 -- from 7 to 9:30 p.m. The fee is $30 for Plantations members and Cornell students, $45 for nonmembers, plus an additional $30 for footstool, pegs and caning materials. Using cane from the climbing rattan palm, participants will work on their own wooden footstool and take home a unique handmade gift or keepsake.

Fall flower arranging will be taught Nov. 15 from 9 a.m. to noon, by Sonja Skelly, director of education at Cornell Plantations, who will demonstrate how to create a beautiful autumn arrangement from fall flowers, foliage and fruit.

Holiday design with seasonal flowers and foliage, also taught by Skelly, is offered Dec. 6 from 9 a.m. to noon. The fee for each class is $35 for Plantations members and Cornell students, $45 nonmembers, and includes materials.

"Having flowers in your home can brighten up any occasion and creating that flower arrangement yourself is a fun process, which makes the design all the more special," said Skelly. "Participants will not leave empty handed -- not only will they create a beautiful arrangement in class to take home, but they will learn how to make future arrangements to brighten their home anytime."

Classes will be held in the Lewis Education Center, 1 Plantations Road. Advance registration is recommended, by mail (Cornell Plantations, 1 Plantations Road, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853), at the Plantations' Garden Gift Shop or by phone at 254-7430.

November 6, 2003