State’s Only Floral Trade School

To Offer Fall Classes

CROMWELL — Connecticut’s only floral trade school, formed five years ago to alleviate a shortage of trained floral designers, resumes classes in September with both basic and intermediate floral design courses.

Owned by the Connecticut Florists Association (CFA) and licensed by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education, the CFA Floral Design School basic session will reopen at a facility in Cromwell September 15 and will run for seven weeks, teaching basic floral design to a class of an estimated 25 students. The intermediate session begins September 12 and runs for five weeks in the same facility.

The basic class will be taught by Sylvia Nichols, AIFD, who also owns The Window Box in Cheshire. Students will receive 30 clock hours of live instruction along with flowers and materials. Topics to be covered include: an overview of floral products, where they come from, how they are shipped and handled, how they are merchandised, identification of floral varieties, elements and principles of floral design, mechanics and construction, color theory, green and blooming plants, florist business skills, including pricing methods, merchandising, and sales.

The intermediate class will be taught by Debra Grote, AIFD, a nationally renowned designer. Students will receive 27 hours of instruction and their flowers/materials. Intermediate students will also be required to complete an internship with a florist. Topics will include design mechanics, color theory, pricing, productivity, and wedding and sympathy design.

There are some 550 independent flower shops operating in Connecticut with total annual sales of more than $93 million, according to the state Department of Revenue Services. In addition, there were some 85 mass market floral outlets in the state. The Connecticut Florists Association is the state’s only trade association representing nearly 300 retail florists, floral wholesalers and flower/plant growers.

For information on the new school, contact the CFA school director Bob Heffernan at 800-352-6946 or download the school catalog at www.flowersplantsinct.com.