Soon Jeffrey was taken to the backroom where boxes of coolers and refrigerators were neatly stacked. Inside were various kinds of flowers, White Chrysanthemums, Blue Lotus flowers, Osmathus Root, Peony, Daffodils, Bellflowers and more. A few vases had an arrangement of daisies, poppies, and red roses.
Kevin Gilliano started to carefully take a pair of scissors to remove the thorns from some of the more sharp stemmed flowers. Jeffrey stood close by.
"Every two days you need to water the fresh flowers", Kevin said carefully handling the rack of flowers.
He pointed toward the hose and mist sprayer nearby.
"Make sure the water Lillies and the fish tank get spritzes of water from time to time. No more than 2-3 times a week", Kevin continued.
Jeffrey produced a pen and pad of paper and started to take notes.
They walked through the small shop toward a window and mini-greenhouse area. A few green sprouts emerged from the dirt and black soil.
"Susan's fertilizing these seedlings, just made sure to take out the weeds. We don't use any chemical spray because she uses her hands sometimes instead of gardeners gloves", Kevin said opening the door to the back of the shop.
Nearby were various small saplings and trees. A small tea set of carefully arranged trees by a hobby bonsai maker. The names of the apprentices and gardeners labels were placed in front.
"That's the local bonsai club", Kevin looked back at Jeffrey staring at the specimens. Some were tanks of stone and rock covered in lichen and moss. It was a beautiful miniture zen garden, although it seemed to missing a few animals like butterflies and bees.
*gurgle* *gurgle*
A small waterfall fountain quietly had water passing through. The evaporation formed a small mist as the fine particles created a rainbow shimmer.
Jeffrey followed Kevin outside. A white delivery van was parked with the store logo. A bunch of flowers in a ceramic flower pot and in nice cursive script was the name, "SK Florist shop".
Kevin started to grab the buckets of flowers, the water inside still sloshing around back and forth.
"Help me out with flowers, Jeffrey", Kevin grabbed two white buckets and headed inside.
Jeffrey propped the backdoor of the shop open and for the next hour they started to move the shipment of fresh flowers.
Inside, Susan was hard at work sketching and drawing. She was planning out the arrangements for an order someone had placed.
Grabbing a folder on the wall Kevin handed the file over to Jeffrey.
"What are we doing with this?", Jeffrey asked staring at the drawing.
Kevin took a glance a the paper. He pointed to the vase and said, "Let's start by looking for the right container."
Kevin grabbed a round container and washed it out. "There we go", he said.
Jeffrey watched as Kevin demonstrated the steps of flower arranging.
Kevin said to Jeffrey, "For now, Susan and I will be in charge of designing the bouquet sand handling the flowers. You won't have to worry about that, just make sure that the flowers stay nice and healthy. Later, you'll be assisting me on gathering and selecting the best ones."
Jeffrey nodded his head, the pair of garden shears hanging on his apron.
Kevin demonstrated how to handle a flower, checking for damage, and selecting the healthy ones with clean petals and green leaves. Jeffrey watched carefully as Kevin's eyes looked over the batch grabbing each one and placing them in a pile.
"So what exactly do you do with the rest of the piles?", Jeffrey asked.
Jeffrey took his time trying to do what he was taught. Kevin with a watchful eye, inspected his work.
"Just some small fixes here and there"
The afternoon passed quickly as Jeffrey settled in to the various tasks he was to be responsible for.