By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

FRYEBURG – Behind the brilliantly colored blossoms and buds at the Fryeburg Fair are artists in their own right, professionals with years of education who, like fashion designers, are at the forefront of hot trends and consumer tastes.

That’s why Sharon Kostopoulos, a freelance floral designer, cringes at perceptions that florists are merely talented people who make weddings and funerals look pretty and make sweethearts happy on Valentine’s Day. It’s a lot more intense than that, she says.

“It’s not just pick up a knife and go,” she said as her hands weaved a fall arrangement of red, yellow, and orange flowers prior to a flower show at the fair Wednesday. “People really do sign on to move up.”

And how.

Janet Black, president of the Maine State Florists’ & Growers’ Association, said today’s floral designers educate themselves to achieve what she called their “bachelor’s and master’s degrees” in floral design.

The first step is a one-year course held in Bangor that, upon completion, makes one a professional certified florist. Black said the course helps instill the artistic flair to create what a customer wants, but it also teaches business skills including how to run a floral shop.

Want the advanced degree? That’s the Maine Master Florist Course, a new program that began last year and consists of four courses held in Orono and Augusta. So far, 12 floral designers in Maine have completed it. “It’s just like a master’s degree in floral design,” Black said.

And finally, the Ph.D. of floral design is the American International Floral Designers course, a year-long process during which students build portfolios of their work and submit them at the end of the course for a grade. Just like a thesis.

“Absolutely,” said Rhonda Davis, a freelance designer who works at a florist with locations in Portland and Westbrook. “There’s a whole pecking order.”

A flower show is held each day of the fair in which designers showcase their creations and a commentator explains each arrangement to the public. At the end of the fair, all arrangements will be auctioned off. Most of the proceeds will help fund Black’s association, but proceeds from one arrangement will be donated to the Red Cross.

The association includes about 130 floral shops in Maine, and its purpose is to support educational opportunities for its members and educate the public about the floral industry. It also keeps its members up-to-date on industry trends. Dues are $40 per year.

Black lobbied successfully in Augusta for a bill that targets deceptive marketing in the floral industry. The bill was signed into law last year. Telemarketers will list themselves in the white pages as florists, and when a customer calls, they take the order, then call an actual florist to fill the order. “The problem is that you, the customer, wind up paying 20 to 30 dollars more in fees,” Black said.

Like designers in the fashion industry, florists in Maine follow consumer tastes to stay at the forefront of trends. Davis, a certified bridal consultant, said “tussie mussies” are the current trend in bouquets. A “tussy mussy” consists of loose-cut flowers that are simply tied together with ribbon instead of gathered in a hand-held holder.

“It’s as if you just lifted flowers out of a vase and held them,” she said.

Black said carnations also have made a resurgence, in less-traditional colors such as celadon green, and people are preferring arrangements with less greenery and more flowers.

Black said she’s unsure how much money people spend on flowers every year, but business is strong and in spite of trends, some things stay the same. “Valentine’s Day is still the busiest,” she said.