Adult Education Alum of the Month: Alix Astir

Posted in Adult Education on June 20 2013, by Lansing Moore

Summer is almost here, and for us that means another season of our Summer Intensives. Starting in early July, new students will be arriving for five weeks of full-time classes, Garden tours, and field trips. The Summer Intensive allows many students to complete their Certificate requirements in a compressed yet stimulating time frame, like Alix Astir, a graduate of our Floral Design Summer Intensive.

Alix is the first to admit that she doesn’t sugar coat anything when it comes to advice, so we knew she would be a good person to ask for anecdotes about her abundant experience as a student and now as the owner of Trellis Fine Florals, with locations in Manhattan’s Flower District and on City Island.

“Take a deep breath as you enter the Summer Intensive. You are going to be completely inundated with information every day. Get really good sleep, pack a great lunch, and have a good support system.” Alix entered the five-week, full-time program of everything from basic arrangements and flower identification to wedding design and event planning with gusto. “The payoff is that you’re going to get the most comprehensive, in-depth education in an art and trade on the east coast.”

The NYBG Floral Design Summer Intensive covers all the classroom hours required for a Certificate in just five weeks, so that a student has only to complete an internship to graduate. In addition to the NYBG, Alix has studied Floral Design at the Crillon in Paris. “It’s not a comprehensive, scholarly, practical endeavor like NYBG. It’s far more formal and authoritative. I found that the NYBG walked that certain line between forcing us to rise to a certain level, and also nurturing us at the same time.”

Starting her business was “in a word, terrifying,” but the payoff has been clear.

“When I’m alone early in the morning (I get up at 5 a.m.), and I have Steely Dan’s song ‘Peg’ or Chicago’s ‘Saturday in the Park’ playing, I look around at what I’ve created, just being in my studio, with my flowers and my two cats, doing what I love. I am filled with a profound sense of joy. All of the fearful moments were worth where I am now.”

It makes our day here at NYBG Adult Ed to hear about one of our graduates thriving in the world of plants. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more stories from our students, graduates, and instructors!