Lebanon
Except the people working weren’t elves — they were members of the Hanover Garden Club, volunteering their time to create miniature holiday flower arrangements to be delivered to senior citizens and others throughout the Upper Valley.
“The scale is just perfect for a dinner tray,” said Diane Guidone, a garden designer who coordinated the effort — called the Tiny Tins Project. “It’s nice to have something cheery brought to them.”
As club members put the town gardens, which they tend every year, to bed, they clipped flowers that could be dried and used in the arrangements. Members also brought plants from their own gardens and greens from their own trees.
“We have just about every conifer represented here,” Guidone said.
Orford’s Cube Mountain Products donated other greens and Staples in West Lebanon printed customized holiday cards for each arrangement.
This is the second year the garden club has made the arrangements.
“It’s expanded,” Guidone said. “We’ve trebled the number of containers we’re making this year.” Club members made about 130 last year. This year they made more than 350.
The arrangements go to Upper Valley Senior Center Meals-on-Wheels recipients, the Hanover Senior Center, Hanover Terrace, Maynard House, the Upper Valley Haven, St. Denis Helping Hands and Lebanon’s Sacred Heart Church.
Before to moving to the Upper Valley, Guidone was a member of a garden club in New Jersey that did a similar project. After joining the Hanover Garden Club, she suggested making the holiday arrangements.
“Everybody was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do this,’ ” she said. “It’s been well-received, so we’re continuing it.”
More than 20 volunteers gathered last Wednesday at the Co-op Food Store at the Centerra plaza in Lebanon. A lovely, floral aroma filled the room and many of the participants wore colors representative of the season. Workspaces were filled with greens, dried flowers and whimsical holiday decorations, including tiny metallic gift boxes. Guidone estimated that each arrangement takes five to 10 minutes to make, but that varies by volunteer.
The tiny tins — primarily tuna fish and cat food cans — were collected during the year by club members.
“Feed your cat well and eat more tuna,” Guidone said to laughs from other volunteers.
In addition to enjoying the social aspect of the activity, Erin Graf, of Claremont, likes the Tiny Tins Project because “we’re bringing to joy to others,” she said. It’s “the gift of giving to others, even if you don’t who it is.”
Toward the end of my visit, I was persuaded to try making an arrangement myself. I was given a tiny can and a product known as Oasis that absorbs water and gives a firm base for the greens. I had never made a floral arrangement before, and I found the process relaxing.
It was nice to think of this tiny arrangement providing a little holiday cheer to someone else, just the way spending a couple of hours with the Hanover Garden Club did for me.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
