Become a Garden Rose Guru With Alexandra Farm's Designer Certification

The Alexandra Farms Certified Designer (AFCD) program is a must for floral professionals looking to sharpen their skills and expand their knowledge of garden roses. This established certification offers a well-rounded education, focusing on everything from understanding different rose varieties to perfecting care and design techniques. If you're a floral designer seeking to gain more experience and uplift your career as an informed and skilled creative in the flower world, keep reading to know everything about it.

Turn Your Love for Roses Into Professional Credibility With the Alexandra Farms Certified Designer Program

Join Jose R. Azout, president of Alexandra Farms, and floral designer/educator Holly Heider Chapple for a 12-part online course that will teach you everything you need to know about garden roses. You will learn all about these incredible flowers, from their history to varieties to the correct anatomical vocabulary. You’ll gain confidence in caring for and arranging garden roses, and the knowledge of how to better choose garden roses—particularly, to make a positive impact on the world through sustainable floristry.

Jose R. Azout shares:

"The program grew out of a desire to educate designers on how to use and get the most from our garden roses and to help them know which flowers best complement our garden roses. The course gives designers confidence in their ability to use the products. And they become part of the AFCD community. It's a great group where people share knowledge and feedback and connect over their love of floral design and garden roses. We think that if a bride comes to a designer, the designer can say, 'I'm a certified designer; I'm an expert at working with this premium flower', and it gives the customer even more confidence in their designer. It gives them credibility."

Floral designers who complete the program gain practical insights that are easy to apply in their day-to-day work. If what you want is to learn how to keep roses fresh longer or find creative ways to use them in arrangements, the program helps take your floral creations to a whole new level. It’s an opportunity to refine your work and style and add a credential that reflects your expertise and dedication.

This course also connects you with a growing community of like-minded designers who love working with garden roses. It’s a great way to stay ahead in the floral industry and get recognized for your work. To see a complete list of the AFCD Directory, head to Alexandra Farm's website. Floral designers from the United States, Canada, Colombia, and New Zealand have gained their certification and could not be happier with the incredible educational tool they've gotten their hands and minds on.

All the Information You Need to Know About the AFCD

Suppose you want to enhance your floral career with a trusted program focusing on skill-building and professional growth. In that case, the Alexandra Farms Certified Designer program is the perfect step forward. It’s about learning, growing, and bringing more creativity to your floral designs. What are the bases to know about it, and how can you enroll?

How Does the Course Work?

You will work through twelve chapters. You can access the curriculum online in both video and text format. The videos can be revisited at any time, and the text documents are available as illustrated PDFs. To progress to the next chapter, you must pass the chapter test—only for the first ten chapters. You may retake tests until you pass, and we’ll provide a PDF of useful info to help you study. The chapters of the course at a glance are:

• Chapter 1: What Is a Garden Rose?
• Chapter 2: Breeders and Growers
• Chapter 3: David Austin Wedding Roses
• Chapter 4: Wabara Roses
• Chapter 5: The Princess Collection
• Chapter 6: Alexandra Farms Deluxe Garden Roses
• Chapter 7: Rose Shapes, Forms, Color and Design
• Chapter 8: The Alexandra Farms Logo
• Chapter 9: Sustainability
• Chapter 10: Care and Handling
• Chapter 11: The Final Chapter: Graduation! Moving Forward as an AFCD Graduate

After completing the course, you will gain access to design recipes, special sales, early notification of new varieties, and the right to advertise yourself as an Alexandra Farms Certified Designer—AFCD. Building a community where designers can support each other in their work with garden roses and stay up to date on the latest news from the world’s largest grower of garden roses is one of the biggest goals of the program.

Extra FAQ's About AFCD

Although the course is very straightforward, here are some additional details about it:

Why choose the AFCD program?

This program has been developed to provide education on Alexandra Farms garden roses, the farms, care and handling, and how to design with garden roses - all under the guidance of a grower and a renowned designer/educator. The AFCD program is for designers, florists, wholesaler/importer staff, all other industry members, and those in the general public who are interested in their long-lasting, award-winning garden roses.

What are the most important highlights of the program?
The dynamic between the two mentors is engaging, and their conversations take them through the entire garden rose-growing process from cultivation to the flowers' final performance. It allows the designer to learn from a variety of angles: agronomy, sustainability, color, shape, quality, design, and what makes garden roses different from other flowers. It's a very conversational course, which helps students learn valuable information in a fun, casual way.

What makes it different from other programs?

The AFCD course is the only education program exclusively focused on garden roses and how to best work with them—from proper care and handling to creating an elevated floral design. It encompasses many topics that help students gain a significant amount of knowledge, enable them to work confidently with garden roses, and enhance their design and selling skills.

What is the importance of being certified by such a program?

The AFCD certification signifies that a student has the vast knowledge needed to confidently and skillfully work with their products. The team behind AF is continuously working to educate their partners and customers so they know how best to process, sell, and use garden roses in a way that makes them confident and resourceful. Because garden roses are a high-end, exclusive product, an AFCD certification helps anyone stand out in the industry. There is value in receiving specialized education on specific products, and they believe this also appeals to the end customer.

Best of all, besides getting your certification, you can do the course at your own pace, having the freedom to manage your time and flexibility. This program is made for everyone who loves floral design. Every florist will benefit from elevating their garden rose knowledge and joining a supportive community that can help them continue to grow. If you're ready to join an amazing program and get recognized as a garden rose expert, head to AFCD's website to get enrolled.

Photos by Alexandra Farms.