Bamboo culm sheath and bromeliad flower

Hello all,

I think I was always meant to study ikebana as is evidenced by a number of vases suited to ikebana that I bought long before I knew anything about this art form. I bought the little vase, above, in 1988 in Athens, three years before I started ikebana.

My grandchildren usually pay no attention to my arrangements. They seem to have accepted them as part of the furniture. Except for the arrangement, above, which is more that a metre tall, requiring 15 stems of Green Goddess lilies and which caught the eye of my granddaughter, Hermione. She said she liked it because it looked like a water fountain.

I made this arrangement because my rhododendron demanded it.

And now for some class work. The two arrangements, below have the theme - 'Keeping in Mind the View from Below'

I used flowering elm branch and rhododendron
flowers in this wall arrangement. 

Aurelia used freesias and alstroemeria leaves

I set the senior girls the theme from book 5 - 'Composing with Branches - A Two-step Approach'. First we created a composition using cut branches that could stand alone. Then, we introduced an appropriate container and fresh materials to complete the arrangement.

The two photographs, below, are my attempts at this exercise. I found a rather large elm branch on the ground and used it by cutting the thicker parts, creating a base and adding the finer branches at the top.  Thereby creating a type of mass. I tried many containers before I settled on this one. Most of them looked too heavy, whereas this one, with the opening in the middle seemed to fit the bill best. The clivias just finished it off.

Bredenia used thick contorted hazel branches with clivias and
alstroemeria leaves

Lucy used dried pine branches with flowering elm

In my absence my stachyurus came into full flower and I almost missed it. However, I managed to get this one arrangement from it.

I leave you with this arrangement which epitomizes  spring.

Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum and Dutch iris

Bye for now,
Emily