Nancy Clarke, White House florist, dies

Nancy Clarke, an unflappable artisan who as White House chief florist navigated the tastes of the six presidents and first families she served, died Jan. 14 at a hospital in Richmond, Va. She was 66.

She had complications from a respiratory ailment, said her husband, Michael Clarke.

Clarke retired in 2009 after more than three decades at the White House. A former flight attendant, she began studying floral design when she was in her 30s and joined the president's floral staff as a volunteer during the Carter administration.

Fresh flowers, the most ephemeral element of home decor, play a vital role in the aura that presidents and their families create during their time in the White House.

Jacqueline Kennedy favored extravagant bouquets designed in the European tradition. Since the Obamas arrived, the White House has been bedecked in edgy arrangements with surprising touches, such as hot peppers and Brussels sprouts.

In 1985, Clarke replaced retiring chief florist Dottie Temple. Clarke's talent, Temple said this week, was her "wonderful sense of color" and "innate sense of proportion and style."

"Pleasing the first lady," Clarke wrote in a recently released memoir, "was more important to me than anything else."

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She learned that Nancy Reagan loved peonies above all other flowers, Barbara Bush liked lavender, Hillary Rodham Clinton admired tropical varieties, and Laura Bush enjoyed more traditional ones. Michelle Obama is partial to forsythia.

A stickler for decorum, Clarke arrived at the White House most mornings around 6 and often did her clipping and trimming in a dress suit.