• Job: Director of show design, Southeastern Flower Show, Atlanta

Photos by KARL W. RITZLER/Special (ENLARGE)

Chuck Henry relaxes amid the flora at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where he is a member.

(ENLARGE)

• What I do: Even on the coldest days of winter, everything's coming up flowers for Chuck Henry.

As director of show design for the Southeastern Flower Show, he's responsible for the look of one of the nation's top juried flower shows, scheduled for Jan. 30 to Feb. 3 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

"The flower show is a great source of inspiration in the winter," said Henry, 49.

He's sown the seeds of this year's show, starting with helping develop the overall theme, "Imagine That." He is coordinating the entrance to the show as well as the rest of the floor plan. He collaborates with nonprofit organizations and vendors, books the speakers and works with exhibitors "to go beyond the obvious and take advantage of their creativity," Henry said.

He also oversees the work of about 2,000 volunteers and taps into their base of knowledge about plants and shows, he said.

Exhibits range from container gardens — something that can be grown in a patio urn — to massive, monochromatic displays of flowers that are designed to "pop" against their backgrounds.

On a limited basis, Henry still runs his own floral-design business, which specializes in weddings and other events. He ran Chuck Henry Designs full time for 18 years before taking the flower show job this year.

While the show is less than 50 days away — "But who's counting?" Henry said — he's already discussing show strategy with the chairman of the 2009 show and sketching out themes for the next several years.

• What got me interested in this: "My job did not exist nine months ago," Henry said. While he had been a volunteer at the show for 14 years, he was involved in it "just for the pure love of it. I have an innate love of plants . . . and nature."

He attended the Philadelphia Flower Show, the nation's premier event, this year and began looking at the Atlanta show in a different way. He especially noted the Philadelphia show's years-long time frame to solicit sponsors, arrange for internationally renowned speakers and exhibitors, raise funds and produce the show.

Within three days of returning from the Philadelphia show, "I walked into the [Atlanta show] office with my ideas," he said. "This is how we grow. . . . Like a relative, you want it to thrive."

The show's board of directors asked him to put it in writing and to include a job description for a coordinator.

"That might be me," Henry thought as he put it together, even though he didn't intentionally create the job for himself. "Before I realized it, they were offering me the position."

The new job gives Henry "what I want from a job: the creative process. . . . I want to be creative the rest of my life."

Henry used to move plants from the woods to a garden near his boyhood treehouse in Williamsburg, Va. That love of plants continued after he grew up and moved to Atlanta.

• Best part of my job: "The continuous creative process," Henry said. "I always need to develop new ideas. That's what they hired me for."

• Most challenging part: "I haven't found any downs yet," he said.

• What people don't know about my job: "It's year-round," he said. "People think you can put a flower show together in three months."

• What keeps me going: Thank-yous from volunteers.

• Preparation needed for this job: You have to be a multitasker to plan several years' shows simultaneously, and you have to love working with people.

"It's essential to know plant material and flowers," Henry said. "And you always have to have a Plan B" for situations such as bad weather or a smaller-than-anticipated budget.

Henry has a bachelor's degree in music education from Barton College in Wilson, N.C., and has taken postgraduate courses.

While teaching music at an elementary school in Bremen, he began teaching Williamsburg-style holiday floral design at a community center.

He taught for three years and then came to Atlanta to work with a florist, where he got on-the-job training in floral design.

After four years, he started his floral-design business.

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.