Clara's been busy teaching Floral Design Classes by request for special groups. Lately she presented for the Seabrook Island Garden Club and Wine Savvy Women. Both groups had a blast, as Clara wowed 'em with early spring arrangements. The classes are a way for us to show our stuff, meet new people, and feel like a rock star.

Here's a little irony for you. Before we started Tiger Lily, Clara took a floral design class at our local technical college. No credits or anything, just an evening "fun" class taught by a local florist. She had never made a single arrangement before then, and didn't even know the names of the flowers. She enjoyed the lessons, and took a picture of her very first arrangement. She was so proud of it she put the photo on our home refrigerator for all to see. Alas, the instructor wasn't too impressed and told Clara to "stick to her day job." He shouldn't have said that. It was kind of like when Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. There was going to be a reckoning.

So 14 years later, Clara now owns the largest florist in South Carolina, voted the City's Best for a decade and won Charleston's Business of the Year award. She's been in Southern Living, televison, radio and all that. She also teaches the class that started her on the floral path. So there.

Actually, Clara and our staff teach 4 classes throughout the week for Trident Technical College. The classes are Floral Design I, Floral Design II, Wedding Design and Sympathy Designs. All are sold out every session, and people always call trying to sneak in. Several florists send their designers to the class for training. We also hold the special classes for various organizations.

Honestly, we get as much out of the classes as the students. After a long day of designing and processing flowers, consultations and ringing phones, we're often exhausted. We may have just finished processing 500 roses, making 40 centerpieces and and a bunch of large event focal arrangements. We're wiped out. At 6pm the students roll in all stoked about flowers they see, it reminds us what a great job we have. We know it's the highlight of their day, and we feed off of that and get re-energized too. All good stuff.

Once in a while our staff will come across the photo of Clara's first arrangement. The design is way out of date and there were some serious flaws with it. It would never leave the shop now. We'll smirk and poke fun out of it to her. She's still proud of it though, and we're proud of her.