The Ashland Garden Club celebrated its first Fall meeting on Sept. 12 with a floral design project designed to bring happiness to the members as well as lucky people in the community.

Members, under the direction of club member Molly Caruthers, created 40 floral arrangements  that were then taken into the community and “abandoned” for others to find and take home.

The program is called The Lonely Bouquet.  Each arrangement had a tag which explained that the bouquet needed a new home and the finder was encouraged to take it home or give to someone of their choice.  Each arrangement also had an attached postcard addressed to the Ashland Garden Club which finders could use to write back to the club to tell us where their bouquet found its new home.  Flowers were from members’ gardens as well as Fry Family Farms, LeMera Gardens, Albertsons and the Enchanted Florist.

The Lonely Bouquet program was begun by Emily Avenson, a young California woman who moved to Belgium and began a floral farm and florist business.  When traveling she would make a small bouquet and put it in a glass jelly jar and abandon it with a tag explaining the Lonely Bouquet concept.  In just a few years the movement has spread all over the world.  The mission is to bring happiness…..one flower at a time.  We hope it will spread much joy in Ashland and the surrounding area!

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