GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Tova Narrett lives on Hillside Avenue, a real gardening street she says, and that’s good thing. This way she does not have far to go to pick flowers from her neighbors’ gardens. From what she gathers, she creates imaginative floral arrangements, a pastime that now occupies much of her free time.
“I get most of my stuff, plant stuff — plants, twigs, seed pods, leaves — just walking around,” she said.
A former designer of women’s luxury knitwear, Narrett joined the Montclair Garden Club 1 1/2 years ago. She was required to make a floral arrangement. She did, and has not stopped making them since. One appeared at the Montclair Art Museum fundraiser during the recent Matisse exhibit.
“I’ve always gardened, but I never put anything into a vase,” Narrett said earlier this week at her home.
After retiring from fashion four years ago, she spent time in her garden.
“I spent all my time in the garden,” she said. “I mean, all my time.”
So she joined the garden club.
“They required new members to do a flower design,” she said. “I did one and it was like a bomb went off in my head.”
After the explosion, she started looking for interesting containers to hold the flowers.
“I liked the idea that you threw everything out after the flowers died so you could start out fresh,” she said.
Her first design, the one for the gardening club, incorporated cookbooks and a gardening book as a pedestal. Her husband, Zack, photographs her designs. Tova even started a blog, just for friends, that displays her arrangements.
“At the Montclair Art Museum, there was a fundraiser in May during the Matisse show,” she said. “I loved the Odalisque, lots of flower arrangements and fabric.”
For this display, Narrett cut rhododendron leaves ala Matisse who is famous for his paper cutouts. Narrett, who said Matisse is her favorite artist, painted the leaves.
“I tried to make a busy, exuberant table design,” she said.
Looking at one of her husband’s photographs, she succeeded.
At her dining room table, Narrett picked up a lighting fixture catalogue. Flipping through it, she said she may get an idea for an arrangement from the design of a lighting fixture.
She said she has no idea where she is going with her arrangements.
“Actually, sometimes I feel I can sell these things,” she said. “Or have a commission for a house or event. But I’m retired. I tell myself it’s not about enacting a business plan. I’m just about improvising to make each day as fun as possible. Make it up as I go along.”
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