Advance tickets for Feb. 7 floral seminar on sale

Advance tickets for Feb. 7 floral seminar on sale
Gulf Shores Garden Club fundraiser always sells out

Advance tickets are now on sale for the Gulf Shores Garden Club’s 27th Annual Floral Seminar on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at the Erie Meyer Civic Center in Gulf Shores. Jim DelPrince, the horticulture specialist at the Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi, will present “Elegant Flowers: The Graces of Spring.” Doors open at 9:15 a.m. The program starts at 10 a.m.
Immensely popular, the seminar always sells out. Tickets are $20 (advance purchase only). Entry includes lunch and raffles for exciting door prizes.
Tickets are available at The Thomas Norton Public Library (221 West 19th Ave.) in Gulf Shores or by contacting Charlotte Higgins at 205 410-3190 or c.s.higgins@gmail.com. or Mindy Jones at 251 968-9777 or Islanderclosures@gulftel.com. Groups of 10 or more can request reserved seating. The deadline to purchase and receive tickets by mail is Jan. 4.
Charlotte Higgins is the chair and Diane Urban is the co-chair for this event. Proceeds benefit the Gulf Shores Garden Club Scholarship Fund, local non-profits and other local horticultural and community projects.
Dr. DelPrince is a Laureate Member of the American Institute of Floral Designers and has published numerous articles and books on floral design and interior plantscaping design, including two textbooks and one reference guide.
Dr. DelPrince delves into the scientific and artistic world of flowers. He has held research fellowships at Winterthur and the Smithsonian Institution on 19th century horticulture studies.
As an artist, he was the solo floral designer in seven performances of “Concerto for Florist” in Mississippi, California and Oregon. His historical floral design work has been featured at the New Orleans Museum of Art and the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts. DelPrince has delivered talks and written about the flowers of Tennessee Williams’ plays, and delivered a floral lecture-demonstration at the Tennessee Williams in Europe Conference, The University of Nancy, France.
On faculty with Mississippi State University since 1996, he has taught floral design to over 5,000 students and professional florists. Since 2015, at the MSU Coastal Research and Extension Center, he has developed educational and research programs benefitting flower growers, florists and floral enthusiasts. MSU Extension is the first of its kind to initiate and maintain educational and research programming in floral design in the United States.