News & Blog

No fake blossoms here! Flower committee beautifies Center

By Kathleen Truelove

The genesis of placing fresh flower arrangements in public areas here at Broadmead is shrouded in the mists of history. Mention was made in early editions of the Voice of residents informally placing arrangements, but it did not seem to be an organized effort.

Resident Sally Robinson says that early residents collected flowers from funeral homes to be recycled. It was longtime resident Bea Post, who arrived in 1999, who organized the flower arrangers into a formal group. In 2010, Barbara “Tippie” Sieck moved to Broadmead. Her late husband was the third generation owner of Claymore Sieck Wholesale Florist, founded in Baltimore in 1918. Although Tippie died in 2022, this fortuitous connection continues down to the present, with Sieck Floral Group, as it’s now known, providing floral material year-round for the Flower Committee, at very favorable prices.

Each Tuesday morning, flowers and greenery are ordered, sometimes with specific items requested— and often asking that Regina Sieck, Tippie’s granddaughter, throw in something surprising. The flowers are delivered on Wednesday morning, when Angela Breakey and Harriet Goldman unpack them, trim the stems, and put them in vases of water in the Flower Room’s refrigerator to await arranging on Friday morning by Anne Daly, Lynn Jones, Sharon Karsk, Penny Partlow, Marnie Pilachowski, Sally Robinson, Kathleen Truelove and Sally Weinman.

After creating floral arrangements to be placed around the Center, Kathleen Truelove or Sharon Karsk sets them out. These arrangements are watered and checked for wilted material on Monday by Sally Robinson and Marnie Pilachowski, then are collected and dismantled on Thursday by Lynn Jones and Sharon Swackhamer.

Other plant material is gathered from common areas and members’ own gardens in season. Yarrow and baptisia near the Holly House provided a bonanza of blossoms in the late spring. Inflorescences from ornamental grasses add movement to arrangements in late summer and fall.

Perhaps most notably, zinnias are grown specifically for use in summer arrangements. Lucy Wright planted and tended zinnias in the raised bed on the north side of the pickleball court, and this year another bed of zinnias was added in the resident garden plots. Both areas have State Fair zinnias from Burpee, which come in a rainbow of colors and grow on long stems for cutting.

In addition to the 19 large arrangements for the Center, 60 or so bud vases are filled each Friday, to be used on dining tables in the Holly Terrace, the Magnolia Room, and on Taylor. These are prepared by Leslie Glickman, Linda Michel, Jeannie Platt, Gwyn Sirota and substitutes Bunny Dadds and Harriet Goldman, under the direction of Mary Sturm. The charming bud vases were made by the ceramics group, and the flowers in them are little flower arrangements on their own. The bud vases are collected on Thursday mornings, emptied, washed, and readied to be filled on Fridays.

With the renovation of the Community Center, the Flower Committee got a lovely new home that includes a florist’s refrigerator and a dishwasher for the containers, which was generously funded by the BRA. It is a comfortable workspace with a large table area for making arrangements and shelves along two walls to accommodate the many containers the group has accrued.

The Flower Committee members enjoy providing fresh flowers all year for the Community Center. It is a lot of work—and a lot of fun.