SEQUIM — Mary Crook will demonstrate how to make attractive flower arrangements during the “Work to Learn” party set for 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, at the Sequim Botanical Garden at Carrie Blake Community Park, just north of the bandshell.

Each attendee is encouraged to bring a vase and clippers to use the garden’s dahlias and roses as the core of cut flower bouquets. Extra foliage, water and clippers will be provided. Afterward, they will be taught to identify and deadhead (cut off) the past-peak blooms.

Crook has been a volunteer with the Sequim Botanical Garden Society (SBGS) for about five years and a gardener since moving to Sequim in 1978.

Both she and her husband had parents whose love of gardening meant their kids had garden “chores,” but neither thought of working in the yard as fun.

However, since having her own home garden, she has learned and found a hobby that provided beauty, creativity, calm and renewal in the midst of busy lives.

Crook’s mother took Japanese flower arranging classes in her home when the family lived in Japan, and ever after, flowers and foliage were centerpieces in the living room.

Inheriting some of her mother’s vases, and loving color and the variety of textures in the flowers in her own yard, she enjoys bringing them together as both fresh and dried arrangements.

SBGS is a volunteer partner with the City of Sequim and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, providing information and a demonstration of what can be done in home gardening with research-based horticultural practices.

For more information, contact SBGS president Dona Brock at brockdl88@gmail.com or 360-460-8865 and find SBGS on Facebook at fb.me/Sequim BotanicalGarden. Or visit Sequim BotanicalGarden.org.