Award-winning floral designers Margareta Kotch and Peggy Townsend met recently to select some of the plants they will be including in their upcoming program demonstration, “Classic Tradition Meets Creative Contemporary.”

The Town & Country Garden Club of Newtown will host the program on March 11, at 7 pm, at Newtown Senior Center, 8 Simpson Street within the Fairfield Hills campus.

The public is invited to the program, free of charge.

Kotch and Townsend, who are well known for their blue ribbon-winning designs at many flower shows and competitions, will create two very different types of arrangements: American Traditional Design and Contemporary Traditional Design.

American Traditional Design became popular in the mid-20th Century and is guided by strict adherence to form, type of plant material, size, and balance with a specific type of design.

Creative Contemporary Design, introduced in the late 1950s, incorporates such terms as eclectic, multirhythmic, nontraditional, reflective, angular, and abstraction.

Both styles require great creative talent for success, which is what these two champions will bring to their demonstrations.

Both women have developed a passion for transforming every kind of plant material into creations of great interest, beauty, design, and surprise.

After many years of taking classes and symposiums and entering competitive flower shows, Kotch and Townsend have established themselves as masters of their art.

Kotch won two coveted awards in 2019: The Award of Design Excellence at the State Flower Show in Hartford (only one bestowed per show) and New England Garden Club’s Creative Design Award.

In addition to her own collection of ribbons and awards, Townsend has exhibited her designs at the Wadsworth Atheneum, New Britain Museum of American Art, and the State Flower Show in Hartford.

They are both accredited flower show judges of the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut (FGCCT) and are past presidents of the Town & Country Garden Club of Newtown.

They currently conduct workshops, demonstrate flower arranging, and continue to hold positions in FGCCT.

Reservations are not needed, but additional information is available by calling Town & Country Garden Club member Diana Johnson at 203-426-5148.