Press issue delays delivery of paper

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‘A Year With Frog and Toad’ to open at King’s College in WB on Sept. 28

<p>PLAINS TWP. &#8212; The first thing recent visitors noticed about the ornamental horticulture classroom at Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center is how good it smelled, thanks to all the flowers.</p><p>&#8220;You just walked into the freshest room in the building,&#8221; said student Alquan Cade, 18, of Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>While we were enjoying the scent, our eyes were drawn to the creativity evident on so many work tables, as instructor Janice Leiby&#8217;s students prepared 23 entries for competition in the Bloomsburg Fair.</p><p>Here Cade had inserted a live rose into a ring made of twisted stainless steel wire, a piece of &#8220;living jewelry&#8221; he imagined a young lady could wear to a prom. The flower would last for a few days, he estimated, showing how a tiny piece of moist cotton in a corsage stem would keep it fresh.</p><p>Among students who seemed to be thinking about Halloween, Kyle Metzger, 17, of Nuangola, debated whether to add dried flowers to a frame around the glamorous little skeleton he had sketched by hand, and Karina Lefkoski, 18, of Nanticoke, decided an accent that looked like a bloodshot eyeball would be an ideal way to top off her floral arrangement.</p><p>Lefkoski&#8217;s project also included a small witch hat, a black spider, and an abundance of orange and yellow flowers around a green lantern.</p><p>Carly Carey, 16, of Pittston, was completing several projects, among them an all-white arrangement of chrysanthemums and alstroemeria (Peruvian lilies) and a wreath that boasted not only dried flowers but also a bird&#8217;s nest.</p><p>&#8220;We have a generous community supporter,&#8221; Leiby said, answering a question about where the bird&#8217;s nest came from. &#8220;She&#8217;ll just bring us things and say, &#8216;Oh, your kids will use this someday.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Perhaps the most elaborate arrangement among the entries was a dress form sculpted of Spanish moss, soon to be adorned with a scarf, belt and necklace, all made of fresh flowers.</p><p>Kailee Wright, 17, of Old Forge, was using orchids, miniature roses and seeded eucalyptus to build the necklace on Tuesday afternoon, concentrating on the job at hand and not worrying about whether she&#8217;d repeat last year&#8217;s performance, when her entry won first-place and best-in-show ribbons.</p><p>Over the past 16 years, Leiby said, horticulture students from Wilkes-Barre Area have won 75 ribbons at the Bloomsburg Fair. She&#8217;s extra proud of that accomplishment because the students&#8217; entries are judged alongside entries from adults.</p><p>If their school was in Columbia County, where the Bloomsburg Fair is held, their entries would be judged in a student category, she noted. But because the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center is in Luzerne County, its students&#8217; entries are judged alongside entries from adults.</p><p>&#8220;This could be the first step toward their professional careers,&#8221; Leiby said.</p><p>Whether horticulture becomes their lifelong career or not, the students have learned a lot about making things grow during the past year, as they spent months patiently nurturing large, healthy specimens from small cuttings.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a really good house plant,&#8221; Amanda Tulanowski, 18, of Wilkes-Barre Township said of her asparagus fern.</p><p>&#8220;All it needs is water,&#8221; Carey said of her spiderwort plant.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m making sure it has no dead leaves on it,&#8221; Alex DiGiacomo, 17, of Forty Fort, said of his Boston fern, as he worked to make it look its best, just in time for the fair.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Kailee Wright, 18, of Old Forge, works on a horticulture project she will enter in the Bloomsburg Fair. Last year, her entry won a blue, first-place ribbon as well as best-in-show. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_TTL092417horticulture1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Kailee Wright, 18, of Old Forge, works on a horticulture project she will enter in the Bloomsburg Fair. Last year, her entry won a blue, first-place ribbon as well as best-in-show. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_TTL092417horticulture2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A floral arrangement by Karina Lefkoski, 18, of Nanticoke, features a Halloween theme. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_TTL092417horticulture2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>A floral arrangement by Karina Lefkoski, 18, of Nanticoke, features a Halloween theme. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_TTL092417horticulture3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Carly Carey, 16, of Pittston, adds sunflowers to an arrangement in her classroom at Wilkes-Barre Area Career &amp; Technical Center in Plains Township. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_TTL092417horticulture3-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Carly Carey, 16, of Pittston, adds sunflowers to an arrangement in her classroom at Wilkes-Barre Area Career &amp; Technical Center in Plains Township. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>CTC hopes for honors in Bloomsburg</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

CTC students prepare horticulture projects for entry at Bloomsburg Fair