STANLY MAGAZINE: Florist and artist Claude Harwood recalls his more than 70-year career, which included contributing to the White House’s decor. Published 2:00 pm Saturday, November 26, 2022 Most people live their entire lives without ever setting foot inside the White House or having any kind of connection with a presidential administration. Watching the news on TV is the closest they get to seeing the president or his official residence. Harwood, Claude Jr. however, differs from most people. Harwood, a 90-year-old florist from Albemarle who has been in the business for more than 70 years, has accumulated an impressive list of honors, including representing the United States in the Interflora World Cup Competition in Australia in 1979. However, his numerous trips to Washington, D.C., have been the focal point of the most noteworthy moments of his career. where he assisted with the Christmas decorations at the White House over the years under the administrations of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. W. Bush and other volunteers assisted with the floral arrangements for the inaugurations of five presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. “You begin to consider how fortunate you were to be able to do this,” Harwood said. The City of Albemarle presented Harwood with a special recognition at a council meeting in October, along with a resolution outlining all that he has accomplished and the numerous clients he has helped over the years — whether it be for weddings, funerals, anniversaries, proms, birthdays, or other occasions. Mayor Ronnie Michael subsequently told The Stanly News and Press that Claude Harwood had been a treasure for the city for many years. “Families have benefited from his skill and artistry for generations in times of joy, sorrow, and everything in between. Our neighborhood was extremely proud of his work in decorating the White House. Establishing Himself in the Floral Industry Harwood was in many ways destined to work in the floral industry. In Tarboro, his maternal grandfather ran a floral design business. His father established Harwood’s Florist in Albemarle, on what is now U., in 1942. S. His first tomato plant sale was on Highway 52 South. The cultivation of gladiolus was a particular favorite of my father’s, according to Harwood. Although Harwood did not particularly enjoy gardening as a young child, he did assist his father in the family business by working in the greenhouse and delivering flowers. Harwood attended N for a year following high school. C. State University, where he studied plants and insects typically found in greenhouses through a number of courses. “I just liked to work constantly, and as I got older, I liked the designing part more,” he said. Soon after, Harwood started enrolling in the days-long floral design courses that were being offered all over the country, including in Florida, Georgia, and California. He became a sponge, soaking up all the information he could about the most recent business methods, including using styrofoam for fake flowers, making sure stem placements are parallel to one another (known as parallelism), and high-style arrangements. Harwood attended as many programs—he called them schools—as he could to stay up to date with the most recent trends in the business before putting what he had learned to use at Harwood’s Florist. In his career, he thinks he’s been to more than 100 of these. In Stanly County, “we introduced a lot of the new products,” he claimed. Perhaps more significant than what he discovered was the network of people Harwood was able to create. The Florists’ Transworld Delivery (FTD), the nation’s first floral wire service, sponsored these programs, which assisted Harwood in forming enduring connections with florists both domestically and abroad. Regarding the programs, he said, “It was lovely because you got to meet a lot of people. The designers from other states and occasionally other countries would attend these design schools, and that is where you really learn because they bring their techniques. “Among the many people he met over the years was the German designer and author Gregor Lersch, one of the titans of the business, whose grandfather was one of the original founders of Interflora, which later became ft. in the United States. During his time in Australia, he competed against Lersch and even visited him at home for a few weeks. According to Harwood, “They took some of his material for the competition, and I gave him some of my material, which was unheard of in Europe.”
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