From alstroemeria to roses, Campus Life Services staff worked their magic with flowers in a pair of recently held bud vase flower arranging workshops organized by Project Analyst Beverly Lee and Landscape Supervisor, Dunja Duranovic and sponsored by CLS Chief of Staff, Cathleen Stugard, and Great People Development Manager, Elicia Rozic. Participants included (photographed above from left to right) Mike Huang, Sophia Labeko and Yolanda Marquez.
Duranovic provided the vases, flowers, foliage and pruning shears while Lee, a certified florist from the Community College of San Francisco, taught the flower arranging workshops. “It was the perfect relationship to foster meaningful engagement,” Lee said. “Dunja and I love arranging flowers, so we collaborated to offer the workshops to Facilities Services staff on Aug. 31 and to the Shared Services and Family Services teams on Sept. 12.”
Lee said participants felt the workshops were well-organized and a fun engagement activity. “Everyone appreciated Dunja’s thoughtfulness and commitment to support engagement for her colleagues at CLS,” she said. “Attendees learned the basics of flower arranging and were happy to keep their flower designs or gave their bud vase arrangement away to recognize a coworker.”
Lee said bud vase classes are a wonderful engagement activity that helps employees bond, learn flower making as a recognition tool, and saves participants money as they create their own arrangements.
“It’s an activity that supports a culture of gratitude, is free, easy, and fun to teach and learn,” Lee said. “It can be easy for managers to reach out to Development and Training to replicate classes for various groups and it can be sustained as a recurring engagement event that can positively impact Gallup scores.”
Bud vases differ from traditional vases in that a few flowers in a bud vase can decorate a small space beautifully. Bud vases are typically four to eight inches in height compared to traditional vases that can be up to 12 inches high. As a rule of thumb, in a flower arrangement the flowers should be one-and-a-half times the height of the vase or container.
Duranovic said the classes provided basic information on how to design a small bud vase arrangement using flowers and plant material from their garden or local grocery store. “A few flowers in a bud vase can decorate a small space beautifully and, with practice, a bouquet of multiple flowers can easily be designed into an elegant vase arrangement for a big room that’s picture worthy.”
Duranovic and Lee both have a love of flowers and for bud vase flower arranging. “We believe designing, giving, and receiving flowers is an act of kindness and fosters friendship,” Duranovic said. “It’s a sweet way for people to bond together, recognize others, and reinforce a culture of gratitude.”
Lee said the consensus of participants was that a flower arranging event or a wreath making event for the holidays should be planned. “Dunja and I heartily agree!”
