The Colors of Haskell Eargle

All photos by Donna Frasca

I recently had the pleasure of attending a fund raiser for the Museums of the Waxhaws. The program was 'The Holiday Floral Decorations with Haskell Eargle a world renowned floral designer.

I don't have a green thumb by any means but you know me, if there's color involved - I'm there! And color there was!

I had the opportunity to chat with Haskell before he started his program. I asked the obvious questions 'Do you have a favorite flower or color?' With a very generic "I love them all!" I figured I was disturbing his quiet time he needed to get his program in order. Note to self; don't quit my day job to become a reporter. He probably heard that question a gazillion times. 

His program began and he peaked my interest with the first sentence by saying he wanted to talk about the color of the seasons. Good. We're off to a colorful start.

As I sipped by spiced tea and watched as he assembled his arrangements, I saw the colors of autumn flash before my eyes. Yellow, red, white, green, orange, pink - there was a cornucopia of color! With the dark green foliage as a backdrop to his creations, which came from his own garden, the warm hues of fall just popped in every arrangement. Some of his color culprits were:

• red carnations
• white pumpkins
• colored candles
• berries
• red grapes
• green apples
• oranges
• goldenrod
• orchids

As he created his masterpieces, the colors were just stunning. From the home-grown flowers right from his garden to the unique vases he selected for each arrangement, Haskell make it look effortless. Someone in the room asked him 'how do you know when an arrangement is complete?' He replied "when it's tastefully gaudy". 

Haskell then concluded by saying that you can easily transform any of these arrangements from Thanksgiving to Christmas centerpieces by just changing the colors of the flowers. He said you can add red carnations, pine cones and holly to make them more Christmasy. He also said that the color of the container will guide you as to what color flowers or edibles to use in your arrangements.

At the end of his presentation he took some questions. One question was 'where do you get your color inspirations from?' I thought that was a great question. Obviously Haskell uses his bountiful garden as inspiration but he then added that he often looks at upholstery for new color combos. 'You'd be surprised to really look at fabric and see all the colors that make up a pattern. Use those colors in your next floral arrangement and don't be afraid to pair two colors together like a coral and red."

Now that's great color advise from an expert in the world of flowers. So much fun!