Poppy Parsons Wins Inspired Designer Title

One of Swift Current's very own won the Inspired Designer title at the Garden and Floral Expo in Toronto last Wednesday.

Poppy Parsons, Lead Designer and Owner of Smart Flowers, competed against four other designers to claim the title for all of Canada.

"It's the first year they've actually had this live competition," she said. "We had to apply to go, so I think there was about 300 people that applied across the country, and they chose five of us to come down to Toronto to compete live on stage in front of an audience attending the Garden and Floral Expo."

Parsons created a European hand-tied bouquet in just 20 minutes, winning the competition which was judged by the Canadian Academy of Floral Art based on ten criteria.

"A gorgeous bunch of flowers that you create in your hands, that's why they call it a hand-tied bouquet, you're not making it into a container of vase," Parsons added. "Designing it in my hand and using a spiral effect while I inserted the flowers into my hand-tied bouquet, so that when I was done and finished, I cut off all the stems at an even length and it stood on its own on the table."

As part of her prize, Parsons was granted the opportunity to design the portfolio for an upcoming issue of Canadian Florist magazine, her second time doing so for the magazine.