Pomegranate, strelitzia and agave

Hello all,

After many years of coveting a pomegranate tree, I finally have one, thanks to my friend Parthena, who gave it to me two years ago. And, I'm proud to say, that it is doing well and has produced the fruit in the above arrangement, as well as a few more.

The weight of the fruit makes them difficult to arrange. As with all heavy fruit, we tend to arrange them close to the container and, therefore, close to the centre  of gravity. In this case I wanted to use the long stems, so I had to devise a method of securing them.

The photograph, above, shows how I hammered two horizontal sticks onto the two stems of the pomegranates. I made sure that the structure fits snugly into the opening of the container, making it quite stable.


Winter arrangements -

The first of my Kamo-Hon-Ami camellia and my
persimmons 

Bare ornamental pear branches, eucalyptus and
nerines

Three arrangements in a new wall container, which I bought at the International Flower and Garden Show. It was sold as an outdoor planter but lends itself very well to ikebana.

Branches with yellow berries (I think it is duranta erecta)
and lisianthus 

Flowering mahonia

Siberian dogwood and Japanese anemones 

Two arrangements using the technique 'Jika-dome' - Direct fixing.

Ornamental pear branches, camellias, berries and my pomegranates

Plane tree branches and hydrangeas. I made this arrangement in a glass
vase so that the bending technique could be visible to the students

In a recent post I wrote about our weeping willow tree that suddenly fell. Although we were able to retain a good portion of the tree, quite a lot of it went through the chipper. One small stump was forgotten and I discovered that it produced a shoot. And the limbs that have been retained are, also, producing new shoots, in the middle of autumn, no less.

This is one of the limbs that is now resting on the ground and,
together with other such limbs, is holding up the tree. Notice
all the new shoots

I wrote this post earlier than my usual fortnightly post because I'm flying to New Zealand tomorrow. I will be visiting Christchurch and Wellington to run workshops with the Sogetsu groups there. I'm really looking forward to this, as New Zealand is one of my favourite places. And what better way to spend a few days there than immersed in ikebana with like-minded people.

Bye for now,
Emily