Tavistock Flower Club members were treated to a floral demonstration around the world at their most recent meeting.

Demonstrator Tracy Johnson, from Torquay, provided floral inspiration on a theme of ‘Around the World in 80 Minutes’ taking members on a journey around Australia, Holland, Egypt, France and India, ending in the Arctic.

Her first demonstration took her to Australia, with a display inspired by the Australian outback, featuring eucalyptus, curly twigs, peach roses, cafe au lait chrysanthemums, chocolate cosmos, burnt orange dahlias and crocosmia giving the effect of fire.Her next design took her to Holland, and was based on a still life painting by one of the Dutch masters, dating from around 1600s. Reflecting the fact that wild flowers would have been used in this era, as cultivated blooms were then so expensive, she used violet gladioli, sedums, peach roses, peachy stocks and blue larkspur. The design also featured grapes, apples and a peacock in the foreground.

Next she whisked members watching the demo at the United Reformed Church in Russell Street last Wednesday afternoon to the land of hot sun and sand, Egypt.

For this design, Tracy used dried lotus stems, bullrushes, apple wood, bergenta leaves and deep burgundy and green foliage. She added five large sunflowers and bright yellow gladioli, placing the arrangement on a sandy cloth with a mask of the pharaoh Tutankhamun in front.

Then members were whisked back to France, Paris and the Eiffel Tower to be precise, with Tracy using colours of the national flag, red, white and blue, in her design using foliage from the cotoneaster shrub, with griselinia, cotton lavender, white stocks, red carnations, stems of red hypericum, berries, blue eryngium and statis.

Her final design was inspired by the Arctic, with roses, pussy willow and statis. This design included large white lilies, ammi majus, avalanche roses, pussy willow and statis, creating a striking white and green decoration. The Tavistock Flower Club meets monthly.