Contact: Maridith Geuder
Well-known Mississippi State floral designers James DelPrince and Lynette McDougald will lead a Nov. 4 rose symposium on the university campus.
Sponsored by the Oktibbeha County Rose Society and titled "Petals on the Bypass," the 7 p.m. public event will take place at the Hunter Henry Center. A $5 admission fee will help offset the costs of plant materials used in the demonstrations.
DelPrince is a department of plant and soil sciences associate professor; McDougald, MSU Florist manager and departmental instructor. Both have received national recognition for their teaching and design roles in the institution's retail floristry academic program.
By virtue of the daily, student-staffed operation of a commercial florist, the program is the only one of its kind on a U.S. university campus.
In addition to the two professional designers, three top senior retail floristry majors will provide creations for the symposium. They include Suzanne Williams of Vicksburg, top overall winner in the 2004 American Institute of Floral Designers student competition; Aisha Booker of Jackson, second-place overall winner in the same contest; and Amber Adsit of Riceville, Tenn., a recent floral design intern at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C.
Persons attending the program may bring roses for inclusion as last-minute additions to selected designs. Those doing so are asked to identify the cultivar and class, if known.
For more information about the event, contact Charles Weatherly at (662) 325-3471 or Charley Weatherly.