SIMPLICITY

Hello all,

It is spring in Melbourne and my garden is doing its darnedest to make up for the winter bareness. I've been inundated with fresh spring material that is crying out to be cut and arranged. However, my mobility is still quite limited due to recent injuries and the way to get around is to limp very slowly around the house and garden. But I will not be deterred from taking advantage of all this wonderful material, much of which I planted months ago and which is very short lived. Hence my decision to focus on simplicity.

I should point out, however, that simple does not always equate with easy. In fact it often takes a great deal of effort to make something look simple. Below is one example. At first glance, one could be forgiven for thinking that I merely placed the tulips (grown by me) in the little vases. But, with the hole much larger than the stems, the tulips flopped in one or other direction. I had to devise a method to keep them upright.

And here it is. I inserted a piece of wire into the bottom of the tulip stem and carefully placed the wire and stem into the vase. The wire helped to stabilize the stem and stop it from falling forward.

For this next arrangement, I used stems of the arum lilies that I had shaped whilst they were growing. Otherwise they would not keep the curve, they would kink, instead. The container is one I made many years ago.

Variegated agave and crucifix orchid
(The two agaves are wired inside the vase)

Magnolia liliiflora nigra

The first of my neighbour's roses

Variegated agave and Dutch iris

Green Goddess lilies
(Wired in 3 places to keep this shape)

Spirea cantoniensis and rhododendron

Rhododendron.
Many stems and leaves had to be removed to reveal these interesting shapes.

I leave you with this cute little arrangement, which was very easy to do thanks to the container with the three holes.

Bye for now,

Emily