Once a teacher, always a teacher, but the subject matter and students can change after retirement. Moving from elementary students to floral designing and working with adult floral designers has been a rewarding change for Wanda Norton.
A Gulf Coast resident for 44 years, she and her husband, Bruce, live in Gautier. Together they have four daughters, 10 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. She said floral design started as a hobby and has now become a second career.
Photo credit: Wanda Norton
“My continued love of teaching has led me to present floral demonstrations and workshops,” she said. “Designing bespoke, or custom and organic, florals for weddings, events and gifts are my passion.”
She opened her own floral studio, Bent Tree Bluff Designs, five years ago and also works part time for the Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center in the floral design lab. Mrs. Norton said her inspirations for floral design came from her appreciation of the outdoors and God’s miracles in nature.
“My first designs were simple, and the classes I took at MSU Coastal helped me to build the mechanics I envisioned and to learn about choosing, processing and utilizing florals to create pleasing designs and to increase their longevity,” she said. “Combining colors and textures to create moods and to express emotions can be challenging and is very rewarding for me.”
Much of her inspiration and familiarity with nature come from her hobbies. She and her husband enjoy traveling, kayaking, and spending time with our family in Mississippi, Utah, and Oregon. She is also a volunteer with MSU Extension Master Naturalist, Master Floral Designer, and Jackson County Master Gardener that keep her keep me involved in the local community.
She is also a member of Gautier First United Methodist Church, Alpha Delta Kappa, Dogwood Garden Club, Krewe of Kirkos, and the Mississippi Native Plant Society.
“My favorite designs to create are ‘designer’s choice’, and I enjoy matching florals with individual personalities,” she said. “No cookie cutter designs for me. The entire process of designing florals, from washing buckets to finished arrangements, is relaxing and truly a spiritual practice for me.”
Keeping with her expertise in education, she is currently working on developing floral design curricula for classes for adults and children.
“I will be teaching at the Mary C. O’Keef in Ocean Springs this fall,” Mrs. Norton said. “I want to learn more about the history of floral design in different parts of the world.”
She said another goal is to continue her own studies about native wetland plants and to establish more of these plants in her own yard.
