Fencing Class led the herb guild which in turn led me to attend a Flower arranging workshop on Tuesday night. The class was led by a retired florist, and she gave us a lot of basic tips for making our own garden-related tabletop arrangements a success.

First step: Start with greenery. Snip off any leaves that will be submerged since these will promote rot and wilt. And focus on something strong-stemmed first to build a firm foundation for the entire arrangement to rest upon.

Second step: Build up from there, starting with the heaviest item and working your way to more tender stems. Think about height to add interest --- our teacher did great things with sprays of lemongrass leaves, snipped so they didn't tower too far above the rest of the vase.

Third step: Have fun! We all brought vases and plants from our gardens, mixed and matched, and ended up with plenty of colorful and attention-grabbing displays to take home.

Whether I'll stop simply bringing in big masses of zinnias out of my garden and plopping them in a jar, however, remains to be seen.