SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Florists and garden club members have put their creative talents on full display in Springfield Museums for the 11^th annual Festival of Flowers.

Each display is an interpretation of an object in the museum's collection.

"They might have an animal, or a painting, sculpture, automobile, or some kind of creative theme, and they make an arrangement based on that," said Springfield Museums Director of Education Larissa Murray. "And really makes more people look at the collections which is wonderful..."

Murray said the florists and club members use a number of different tools to create their art pieces.

"They use a structure, it might be chicken wire, it might be some tape, it might be some foam, but kind of create the armature of what they're going to do, and then they fill it in with flowers," Murray said. "A lot of times people think of flowers that are more hardy to stand up for a couple days because this exhibit runs Thursday through Sunday."

Part of the Festival of Flowers is giving children and families a space to create their own unique flower projects inspired by the work done by the florists.

"We're making some of our own flowers using recycled materials, especially the recycled materials from flowers themselves," said Springfield Museums STEM Education Coordinator Sarah Rose Adan. "We're getting to touch flowers, we're getting to pull them apart. We get to do all of the things that when you see those beautiful displays you want to do, which is touch them and see how they go together."

Adan said flowers come in all different shapes and forms, so having hands-on learning opportunities to make a display can be a great educational experience.

"Some of the petals are soft," Adan said. "Some of them are a little more spikey, but that's something that you won't necessarily get from something you get from just looking at something, so we're involving all of our senses."

The Festival of Flowers runs through Sunday.