Cypress Ranch advanced floral design students constructed a mum spanning 18 feet and 6 inches tall in under three weeks. This is the first time a jumbo-sized mum has been created and displayed at Cypress Ranch.

Cory Shearer, agriculture science and floral design teacher, said she came up with the idea to create a large mum because she wanted her advanced class to make something different and special.

“I thought it’d be a really fun thing for our advanced floral kids to get to do to bring some school spirit and to kind of bring awareness of what our classes are,” Mrs. Shearer said. 

The creators behind the mum are junior Caroline Motley and senior Jocelyn Kanouff, the only two students enrolled in the advanced floral design class. They worked together diligently to create the masterpiece, which they later displayed in the front of “Main Street,” Cypress Ranch’s main hallway. 

Motley said she wants people to see the mum and realize that floral design offers fun, cool and creative activities. 

“Making (a mum) that was on such a large scale was just really fun and allowed me to be more creative,” Motley said.

For about two weeks, Motley and Kanouff dedicated their time to constructing the colossal floral piece out of giant tissue and paper. Kanouff expressed how her favorite part of making the mum was the large ribbons made of paper.

“I’d say my favorite part was just learning how to work with the paper,” Kanouff said. “I expected it to be easier, but it was actually pretty hard. 

Although they originally differed in styles of how they wanted it to look, they found a balance in what each of them wanted and flew with it. Kanouff expressed how they have different work styles.

“We had to split up and divide and conquer,” Kanouff said.

Traditionally, the floral design class constructs a regular-sized mum as part of the curriculum. Although Mrs. Shearer’s advanced floral design students had created a mum last year, they hatched a new idea to create their biggest mum yet this year.

The girls expressed their passion for the class and how much they enjoyed creating the mum. Despite their small struggles of developing a plan and learning how to weave the paper, they managed to beautifully create the mum.

“It was a really cool learning opportunity,” Kanouff said. “I really hope that it inspires more people to keep going with floral (design).”