Basic Skills and Terminology
In this fast paced world, it is becoming more difficult for those interested in becoming a floral designer to get on the job training. These are "need to know" skills and terms" that will prepare you for an entry level job into the floral industry.  

Care and Handling of Cut Flowers and Foliage
Cut flowers, even though they have been separated from the parent plant, are living, actively metabolizing plant parts. These parts undergo the same basic aging process as the entire plant — only quicker. However, the rate of deterioration can be slowed down considerably by supplying the cut flower with its basic needs. The first and foremost need of a cut flower is water. Second is food. In addition, certain damaging factors such as exposure to ethylene gas, microbial attack and rough handling must be avoided. From a practical point of view, a controlled rate of opening is needed as well as maintenance of good color. All of these factors must be considered by everyone who handles the product. This includes growers wholesalers and retailers. In order to be competitive in the marketplace our product must be desirable to the consumer. Our flower must have plenty of life left in them for the customer to enjoy! If you enjoy the flowers then you can use them for crafts. Dried flowers are great and flower stencils to help you draw something nice.

Concepts of the Care and Handling of Foliage and Flowering Plants
Growing plants indoors has become a national pastime. There are many reasons for this increased interest in plants. 1) Plants add a touch of nature to our homes and brighten our indoor surroundings during the long winter months. 2) Large plants may be used instead of furniture. 3) Many people collect plants as a hobby. 4) Growing and caring for plants can be therapeutic by making one feel better and teaching patience and responsibility. 5) Spectacular flowers give one a sense of excitement. 6) Plants provide a challenge to some people by trying to get as many members of a certain group of plants as they can or by growing groups of rare plants. Whatever the reason, the foliage and flowering plant industry is booming and many new types of plants are being introduced to satisfy the demand. This increase in indoor gardening has helped the florist business to become larger each year Many times you are asked questions about these plants that you cannot answer. The objective of this course is to help you be able to provide some answers to the questions raised by your customers.  

Principles of Design
This online course “Principles of Design”, might well be called “Tools of Design”. These principles are not arbitrary rules: they are constant guidelines. They are the tools of all the arts, and no artist can vary them until he has mastered them. The two terms Principles and Elements are synonymous. They are used interchangeably in floral design. They are one and the same: Principle — an essential element, constituent, or quality, especially one that produces a specific effect: as the principle of design. Element — a component, feature, or principle of something: basic part, rudiments. Irreducible parts of principles of anything concrete or abstract.  

Introduction to Business Procedures for the Retail Florist
To be a successful retail florist today, you must be more than just an excellent floral designer. There are many excellent design classes ranging from basic to advanced for the retail floral designer. In fact, most business owners today started out as floral designers and have advanced through the stages and classes of floral design into shop management and ownership. However, to be a successful and profitable business owner, you must have a thorough understanding of the business side of owning a flower shop. Many shop owners today are lacking in this basic business background and as a result their shops and profitability are suffering. The other side of the coin is the flower shop that is owned and managed strictly by the businessperson that has no knowledge of floral design. This, too, is almost always a recipe for disaster in the floral business. So, what is the secret to the successful and profitable retail florist? It is the combination of the excellent floral designer who is also able to bring a good understanding of the business background to the flower shop. Does this mean you have to understand accounting? Absolutely not, but you must have an understanding of some basic business principles that directly affect the retail floral business and your bottom line profit. In this course, we will introduce you to those business areas that you must understand and master in order to be a successful and profitable retail florist in today's economy.  

Basic Design Techniques
Good design techniques include two concepts: design principles and design mechanics. Greater profit and efficiency in both time and material will result when good design techniques are applied in the workroom on a regular basis. During this online workshop, you will construct several basic designs and learn the best mechanics. Once learned, these basic structural patterns (skeletons) may be used in many ways to create beauty that looks traditional or contemporary, large or small, elaborate or simple. Beauty, stability, and lasting quality are the factors of any floral design that will create customer satisfaction, and these things depend on basic techniques! Learning or reviewing these basics will train the eye to recognize proper balance, proportion, and depth. Experience in design increases self-confidence, and self-confidence allows one to try something new — with success!  

Funeral Design Techniques
Flowers are the final tribute we pay our friends and loved ones. Funeral flowers are more than an expression of sympathy; they are symbols of faith and respect. They also express courage, love, and even cheer to the living. No other material thing can convey these feelings with the same beauty and appropriateness. Those who work with flowers professionally are very near to people in love and in sorrow. The florist, when called upon by the family, may discuss appropriate designs and flowers for the family tribute. An enclosure card must accompany each order, bearing the name of the sender on the face and a brief description of the design on the back. The address of the sender should be written on the card to aid the family in acknowledging the floral tributes. Attach the card to a wired pick and place it at the focal point where it is quickly seen and easily removed. If it is tied to one of the flowers, the flower may have to be removed, disturbing the arrangement. Double perforated cards are ideal to use; one section remains with the flowers for identification and the other end goes to the family for acknowledgement. Flowers for funeral work should be at the peak of their beauty, in full bloom. Tight buds seldom show to full advantage. In the case of roses, the half-opened or full-blown rose is more beautiful than the bud.  

Wedding Design Techniques
It is said that a florist can “make or break” his reputation quicker with his wedding work than anything else. This is because the wedding purchase is usually the customer’s greatest single expenditure at the florist shop — and the one that carries the most emotional attachment. The two aspects of greatest importance in wedding design are design principles, (the vehicle of creativity) and design mechanics, (the vehicle of practicality). Greater customer satisfaction will be derived from good design, and greater profit and efficiency will come from good mechanics. During this online workshop you will learn to construct different basic designs and learn the most efficient mechanics. Once learned, these basic skeletal patterns may be employed to create many variations for nearly every bride’s taste — traditional, contemporary, elaborate, or simple.