A recipient of the American Horticultural Society’s Frances Jones Poeltker Award and a Gold Honors Best of Show winner at the Singapore Garden Festival Windows to the World International Floral Exhibit, Hitomi was inducted into the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) in 1986. She has presented 10 main stage programs at various AIFD Symposia, received the prestigious AIFD Award of Design Influence in 1998 and was a featured artist at the Les Fleurs Sauvages Art Exhibit at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York City. She served as a judge for the 2020 Tournament of Roses Parade and is a Teleflora Education Specialist.

Keith Stanley is a Washington, DC–based sculptural botanical artist, floral designer, and educator working under the brand Keith Stanley Sculptural Botanical Design. With over four decades of experience, his practice has evolved from traditional floristry into large-scale, structural botanical installations that merge European floral design principles with Japanese Sogetsu Ikebana and architectural construction methods. His work emphasizes movement, tension, sustainability, and the expressive potential of natural materials.

Keith is a graduate of the European Master Certification (EMC) program (2016) and the International Master Florist (IMF) program at the Boerma Institute (2022). He is also a certified Sogetsu Ikebana teacher and currently serves as a Teaching Coach for EMC, where he plays a key role in developing mentor training systems, educational resources, and international support structures for students and mentors. In 2025, Keith returned to the Boerma Institute to continue his studies with Gregor Lersch through the advanced IMF+ program for previous graduates, which he will complete in 2026.

His work has been featured in major international exhibitions including Hoogstraten Groenten & Bloemen, Floralien Ghent, and Art in Bloom DC, and he is actively developing new large-scale conceptual projects for international exhibitions. Through his teaching, installations, and ongoing research, Keith is committed to expanding contemporary floral design into a more sculptural, conceptual, and sustainable art form—bridging Eastern and Western design philosophies while inspiring the next generation of floral artists.

After retiring from a career in nursing, she found she had no intention of slowing down. Gardening, a lifelong passion, continued to bloom alongside her many callings. She teaches Sunday School, lifts her voice in the church choir, and treasures her roles as a devoted mother and grandmother.

Her love of flowers grew into mastery, earning her recognition as a Master NGC Flower Show Judge. Leadership naturally followed. She currently serves as President of the Boones Mill Garden Club and is preparing to step into the role of President of the Roanoke Council of Garden Clubs, while also leading nationally as President of the Creative Floral Arrangers of America. As a founding member of the Designers Atelier, she has long been committed to elevating floral design.

Over the years, she has faithfully served the Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs in numerous capacities, including Blue Ridge District President, VFGC Treasurer, Convention Chairman, Symposium Chairman, and Flower Show School Registrar. She is a sought-after speaker at garden clubs and especially enjoys sharing her passion through design presentations.

Always looking for ways to support fellow designers, she fulfills a unique need by stocking and selling mechanics and specialty items essential to floral creation. And just when it seemed her plate was full, she recently opened a thriving consignment shop—because, clearly, she didn’t have enough to do.

Betty Ann Galway, AIFD, CFD, is a certified floral designer with a lifelong passion for flowers and for sharing that passion with others. An inducted member of the American Institute of Floral Design (AIFD), she also serves as an AIFD Certified Evaluator and Judge.

Betty Ann previously worked at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, where she retired after 13 years as Adult Education Director. In 2005, she launched the Garden’s Floral Design Certificate Program.

Today, she freelances primarily as a design instructor and has worked in multiple floral shops, as well as owned and operated her own wedding floral business. She regularly exhibits in flower shows and is an Accredited Master Judge through the Federation of Garden Clubs.

Since 2010, her floral interpretations of the arts have been featured in Richmond during the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Fine Arts and Flowers events, and in Norfolk at the opening of the Virginia Arts Festival at Chrysler Hall and at Virginia Stage Company performances.

Betty Ann is an active member of Floralia, Richmond Designers’ Guild, Shenandoah Design Guild, Creative Floral Arrangers of America, Thoroughgood Garden Club, and the National Capital Area, Shenandoah, and Tidewater Judges’ Councils.

Carol Friedman, a Florida native, was born in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Always artistic, with a great fondness for crafts, she put the arts aside to pursue her education at Florida State University. She taught mathematics for 20 years before retiring in 1995. She and her husband Carl, reside in Bradenton, Florida. Wanderlust was born while her husband was in the Navy, so they travel whenever they can, spending summers seeing the USA in their RV.

She saw her first flower show in 2012 and was enthralled by the beauty of Floral Design. Hooked, she went on to become an NGC Flower Show Judge and Garden Club has consumed much of her time. She has won awards in Design and Artistic Crafts as well as Horticulture and has become quite adept at staging flower shows.

In 2017 she attended her first CFAA Seminar and was blown away. She was inspired by the freedom of style and wonderful display of creativity and

imagination and vows not to miss another! She is currently into using natural materials to make her own structures for Floral Design.

Frances Thrash
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Frances Thrash is originally from Jackson, Mississippi, but has lived in Virginia since 1988.  Previous addresses include Thiene, Italy; Baumholder, Germany; Nellingen, Germany; Lawton, Oklahoma; Manassas, Virginia; and Hepzibah, Georgia, all compliments of a military husband.

At the tender age of six, Frances joined the junior garden club affiliated with her mom’s garden club where she remained a member until high school graduation.  She rejoined a garden club in 1989 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  She currently is a past president and founding member of Lynnhaven Heritage Garden Club and president of the Richmond Designers Guild.  She is twice Past President of the Tidewater District of the Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs, and serves her state as Flower Show Schools Chairman.  She is a Master Judge and a Design and Flower Show Procedure Instructor for both NGC flower show schools and symposiums.  An NGC 4-star member, Frances has served on the NGC Board for six years and is currently the chairman of Floral Design, writing articles for The National Gardener.  She is also a master judge for the American Iris Society and a Senior Judge for the Hemerocallis Society (daylilies), as well as a board member of CFAA (Creative Flower Arrangers of the Americas).

She attended the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) where she earned a degree in Education and Math.  She taught high school in Germany, teaching mostly geometry.

In 2009, she earned a gold award in the WAFA show in D.C. (first place – World Association of Floral Arrangers) and has earned two national Tricolor Awards from the American Hemerocallis Society.   

Frances has presented programs and schools far and wide for garden clubs, state conventions, and plant societies in numerous states. 

In addition to all this, she finds time to work at Wholesale Flower Market in Chesapeake, Virginia, where she is an FTD Master Designer, and runs her own small business (Seascapes) out of her home doing weddings, meetings, and flowers for churches and individuals alike.  She is a gardener, loves plants of all sorts, her five grandchildren, and her Persian kitties Ruby & Jasper.

Mrs. Chase is an Accredited Master Flower Show Judge, Certified Teacher of Ikebana, Japanese Flower Arranging, in the Ikenobo School. She has participated in workshops with French Floral Designer, Marie Francoise Deprez; Longwood Gardens Floral Designer, Jane Godshalk; Canadian Master Florist, Hitomi Gilliam; Manako Flower Academy President, Rumiko Manako; Italian Floral Designer, Paola Scoccimarro; Canadian Floral Designer, Marisa Bergagnini; Dutch Master Florist from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Remco van Vliet;

New Zealand Floral Designer, Francine Thomas and assisted Mrs. Thomas on stage for the Creative Floral Designers of the Americas (CFAA) presentations, as well as with the “Symphony in Flowers” presentation in Kilmarnock, Virginia.

She is a member of Ikebana International, Chapter 1; Ikebana of Richmond; Creative Floral Arrangers of the Americas; Virginia Flower Show Judges Council; past president and current member of the Piedmont District Flower Show Judges Council and the Kilmarnock Garden Club. Genny has participated in Fine Arts and Flowers at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia for many years and creates floral designs for Hirschler Flowers at the museum. Mrs. Chase participates in the floral design exhibits for “Kaleidoscope” at the Creative Floral Arrangers of the Americas seminars; she competed in the World Flower Show in Dublin, Ireland along with people from 27 countries and 667 floral exhibits.

Mrs. Chase creates floral designs for the local White Stone Volunteer Fire Department’s Waterfowl and Sportsman Gala and Show, an annual fund-raising event; she is a licensed general aviation airplane pilot, flying a 1956 Cessna 172. She and her rescue dog, Sienna live in Weems, Virginia.

Patsie Uchello has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Tulane University, cum laude, and a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute where she studied advanced color theory as well as Painting, Art History and Sculpture. She has been painting in oil paints since the age of 15.

In addition to being a widely exhibited prize-winning artist, Patsie is an Accredited flower show judge, a six-year member of the National Capital Area GC Board, a six-year member of the District II Board, and a current contributor to the National Garden Club Facebook page. She is a Four Star garden club member, a former president of the Environmental Council in NCA, and a busy member of both Garden Club of Waynewood and Yacht Haven Garden Club. Patsie loves to teach art and floral design. She will help you create your own masterpiece to take home.

Sandra Deery has been a member of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs District XII, Coral Pines Garden Club for 11 years and is also a past President and Director of the club. She now serves at the 2025-2027 1st Vice President and 1st Vice President of District XII President’s Council 2023-2027. She is also 2nd Vice President of Metropolitan Miami Flower Show and the 2nd Vice President of Floralia Arrangers Club of Florida, Miami Chapter 4. In addition, she is an FFGC past Natural Disaster Chairman and a National Garden Club member.
She is proud to be an Accredited Flower Show Judge and current District XII Director of Florida Flower Show Judges. She is excited to have some of her designs included in What’s Your Type, a floral design book published by Florida Flower Show Judges. She feels privileged to also have a couple of her designs featured in the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs' annual calendar. She is also an NGC accredited Gardening Consultant and an award winning Flower Show Designer and Horticulture exhibitor. Born and raised in Miami, she feels privileged to have a loving husband of 42 years, two wonderful children and two amazing grandchildren. She is also Mom to one adorable Shi-Poo. She is always excited about a new adventure, she has travelled to more than 50 countries.

A lifelong devotee of all things involving flowers and crafts, Tina became a member of Rock Spring Garden Club in Arlington, Virginia, in 2022 and has quickly dedicated herself to enriching garden club advancement through her service roles in the National Capital Area Garden Clubs and the Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs. She is an NGC Flower Show Student Judge, in the final stage of her credentials to attain accreditation, and engaged with Judges Councils in both states. While instinctively a garden style designer, she joined CFAA in 2024 to brave the world of innovative creative floral design and grow. She has teamed with fellow CFAA member, Thea McGinnis, in 2024 to exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and will return to 2026’s Fine Arts & Flowers. Through her exploration of creative design, she has studied various specialties to express herself in her designs, including basket weaving, wire sculpture and framing, botanical crafts, woodland designs, and organic floristry.

Tina is a native of rural Pennsylvania, schooled in New Hampshire, and is settled with her husband, Greg, and pup, Ava, in Arlington, Virginia where she is an attorney-advisory in civil service and has been a volunteer in the dog rescue and historical preservation communities.