Blossoms struck by indoor lightning. (Moorings--The World of United Nations Peoples).

The April sun stood high in a powder blue sky.

"All this to see flowers?" A young man trudged alongside his girlfriend and frowned at the line that stretched down Eastern Parkway for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's 20th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival. I smiled as the couple passed.

That might have been my attitude weeks earlier. After taking Ikebana classes-the japanese art of flower arrangements--with Nobue Miyauchi at the United Nations, my view changed. Each style-shiyoka, moribana, nageire and chabana--required strict rules for its creation. I signed up for moribana. Students were instructed to bring scissors, flower wrapper and towels. When I arrived, five classmates bustled about tables adorned in white paper. Shipping boxes lined the rear wall. Nobue, a Japanese woman with a long, black ponytail, was surrounded by flowers in ice water and branches wrapped in brown paper. "Come in. Set up."

"We have to choose a kenzan and vase", a participant who'd taken the shiyoka class explained. The kenzan or "flower frog"; a heavy pronged disk, must be placed in the centre of the vase. Branches and stems are driven into it to anchor the flowers.

Nobue described how floral arrangements symbolize nature. "There are nine important branches (three main, six assistants). Each one has meaning." Her fingers grazed the top of the branch. "Tallest branch same as highest point of mountain: snow." They darted gracefully between the spaces of flowers and stems, moving downward. "This is like a stream." She caressed the rim of the vase. "This bottom is the sea. You understand?"

She unwrapped a tall cutting from a cherry blossom tree. "Three most important branches: 7-5-3." The diagram on our handouts showed the 7-5-3 pattern of lengths for the main, vice and complement branches. The assistants were shorter. Nobue pointed out which branches she would choose to complete the pattern. "Cut here. Beautiful." She reached for the purple hyacinths and snipped many leaves. "Must have balance. Not too much green."

After the demonstration, we returned to the tables to design our own masterpieces. Clueless, I had brought office scissors. Heavy-duty garden shears were needed to cut the dense cherry blossom bark. At times I had to pound the trunk into the kenzan. As we worked, Nobue complimented us. "Very nice." "I don't like mine," one student lamented.

"Which is front?" Nobue studied the arrangement. 'Too cluttered. Wind must be able to go throught."

She cut excess foliage from the assistants and gouged the side of a discarded cherry blossom trunk. She handed the flowerless branch to me. "Lala, you do it." I was good at breaking branches against the table's edge. Just before the piece snapped, she stopped me.

"OK, good." She positioned the half-broken piece horizontally on the kenzan. It was uncanny how natural it appeared; as if lightning had struck the branch.

Nobue struck a pose to mimic the flair and charisma of the flowers. She added her expertise to everyone's arrangement. Branches that jutted forward created the most "drama". At the end of the class, we took pictures with our creations.

In the nageire class, students worked with dogwood and freesia. The lengths of the branches followed the 7-5-3 pattern, but the kenzan wasn't used. To anchor the flowers, the arranger had to build a lattice of sticks, fitted inside a black rectangular vase. Only one side of the vase could hold the flowers. Frames collapsed and anchors failed. Wails of frustration signalled nageire's difficulty. "It takes two to three years to master technique." Nobue encouraged. "Don't worry".

Later she gave tips on keeping flowers fresh. "In the morning, afternoon and midnight, I add ice. It's' better than changing water. Always we have to give love. It's like a baby. Cut stems every day or take off skin. It's easy to get water."

I missed the table decoration, freestyle and chabana classes. Nobue had invited me to the Festival to see more exhibits of her work. "Every branch has a meaning' ...", her voice resounded throughout the 300-seat auditorium as she was completing the last of seven displays. Soft music played in the background as she explained the technique. "This is front", she turned the vase slowly to a thunderous applause.

I felt lucky to have received one-on-one instruction from Nobue. From her I learned that every tree, flower and plant mirrors the universe and that magnificent beauty can be found" even in a single blade of grass. I ambled down Cherry Walk-a winding path of over 40 varieties of flowering cherry blossom trees--with my head thrown back. A shroud of cotton-candy puffs hid the sky and bathed my eyes in pink That drama was worth the wait.