Sylvania florist creates blooming works of art for The Solheim Cup opening ceremony

SYLVANIA, Ohio (WTVG) - Solheim fever is in full swing, though it looks more like spring fever at Hafner Florist in Sylvania. Hafner was approached by organizers for The Solheim Cup to provide floral creations, and they’re stepping up their game.

“We’re helping with the decorations and setup for the opening ceremonies downtown this Friday,” president Dan Hafner explains. “We’re building a couple of 3x5-foot American flags here, that will go up on one of the entranceways.”

While the flags and golf tees are showing their colors, the crown jewel of the collection is taking shape: “A 5-and-a-half foot Solheim Cup... we’re almost there, getting ready to flower it up tomorrow.”

Hafner says it’ll take the team a good 4 to 5 hours to fully furnish the cup itself, with some 1400 carnations and 150 bunches of mini-chrysanthemums going into these works. “Set pieces are one of our strong points here... we do a lot of those in our everyday work,” Hafner says. “Each [flower] is cut and inserted with a toothpick. That locks into the stem, then the toothpick locks into the styrofoam pretty tight. We’ve done some big pieces, but the Solheim Cup trophy there is probably the biggest.”

With less than 48 hours before the ceremony, the entire staff is ready to bring their works of art to Promenade Park: “We’re very proud that we’re able to help show our city in the brightest light possible.”

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