I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. — William Wordsworth
Jannette Olalia Garbes could have danced with the daffodils the first time she saw rows upon rows of the golden blooms in a wide open field just outside Seattle during one of her many trips abroad years ago.
“It was the first time I saw so many daffodils, all in bloom,” she recalls. She was captivated.
Jannette has always loved flowers, even as a child. Her favorite are roses, whose scent she loves. She grew them in pots in her home in San Fernando, Pampanga when she was only in Grade 2, but already she knew how to use organic fertilizer from horse manure, which she could get for free in the province. “It’s the most effective,” she says.
Eleven years ago, Jannette opened her own flower shop, The Flower Garden, along the busy McArthur Highway in San Agustin City, San Fernando, Pampanga.
“I’ve always liked making flower arrangements for my home; they brighten up every room.”
Soon, she was giving away her flower arrangements to friends who loved them so much that they advised her to turn her hobby into a business. She took a basic course in flower arrangement at the Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC), where she learned the basic principles of balance and symmetry, variety of shapes, and color combinations. And her personal artistry and creativity took care of the rest.
“I like doing modern arrangements, usually with irregular patterns,” she says. She may choose to work with spring colors and mix colors, or she may decide to go for a monochromatic look, working from dark to light shades and tones of the same color.
Achieving balance is the most important, she says. She does not like to use wires to keep the stems firm.
“Wires restrict the freedom of flowers,” she says.
She prefers to follow their natural forms — even her funeral wreaths have that natural feel. Her funeral arrangements do not have the feel that applies to wakes — the usual heavy curtains and gloomy setting.
“We try to create an ambience that is peaceful and calm,” she says. For the wake, they usually create a garden setting.
They can also do events for offices or corporations, reception areas and hotel lobbies.
Jannette says she enjoys doing weddings best of all. The list of weddings done by The Flower Garden reads like a roster of who’s who in Pampanga. She feels blessed that people place such confidence in her for the important moments in their lives.
Jannette is excited over a wedding with a Filipiniana motif, which they have been commissioned to do in January next year. She is already bursting with ideas, which she carefully jots down, so she does not miss out any detail. Ideas pop into her head any time of the day and at any place, so she always has her handy notepad ready.
Jannette takes extra pains in choosing the containers for her flower arrangements. Many of her vases of unusual shapes, color and texture are imported or were bought abroad. She also makes use of other elements, such as bamboo sticks and twigs for accents. Variegated or plain green leaves of different shapes and sizes are used in their natural state, or they may be curled or pinched together to create interesting patterns — anthurium leaves, silum, green grass, sanderiana, to name a few. Naturally, the stars of the creations are the beautiful blooms.
Many of the flowers are imported or are of imported variety and grown locally — calla lilies, lilium, stargazers and casa blanca, magenta, white and two-toned carnations, gerberas, spider and Malaysian mums, eustoma or lisianthus, and, of course, a wide variety of roses with different colors including lilac, orange, peach, and white, and the unusual cabbage roses in purple and green color.
Jannette shares some tips for floral arrangements:
• Do not place the arrangement directly before an air-con or electric fan. The flowers will wilt faster.
• Clean the vase and change the water everyday. Cut the end of the stems, so the water can be absorbed easier.
• Remove decaying leaves in the water to prevent the growth of bacteria.
• Spray the blooms with water every day.
• Remove the pollen sacs of flowers in arrangements to avoid the pollen from falling and staining the petals.
When you step into Janette’s Flower Garden shop in San Fernando, Pampanga, it is as if you just stepped into her home.
“We like to make you feel at home,” she says. “We are happy to serve, to share our passion and love for flowers.”
Jannette likes to collect and pore over books about different varieties of flowers as well as flower arrangements, from which she draws inspiration. She is ever attentive to new ideas during her travels abroad, always ready to be fascinated in flower shows and exhibitions such as the ones she visited in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in Skagit Valley in Washington where the annual tulip festival attracts more than a million visitors who come to see over 300 acres of tulips in a rainbow of colors all in bloom.
It is said that a flower arrangement is often an expression as well as a reflection of the inner spirit of the person making it. Jannette’s flower arrangements exude warmth, beauty, balance and an open heart.
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The Flower Garden is located at McArthur Hi-way, San Agustin City, San Fernando, Pampanga. Call 0917 8000210, (045) 961-2215, (045) 961-6388; e-mail theflowergarden@ garbesgroup.com.