Amaranthus and 3 different hydrangeas

Hello all,

The work in the garden is continuing, despite niggling pains in the back and shoulder. We had booked a green waste collection through the council because we needed to do some serious pruning. And prune we did!.

Most of my ikebana this week is as a result of said pruning. I had material in abundance and, if classes were running, I would have offered much of that material to the students. So, it was left up to me to do it justice.

One really big job was to remove the flower heads of the agapanthus. I did that and, a conservative estimate was 300 stems. The difficulty was not in the cutting but in my getting to them in the very densely growing patch. Walking through the plants and keeping my balance was a challenge.They, then, had to be bunched us and tied to make it easy for the people collecting them. This ,of course, applied to all our prunnings.

I could be accused of overusing my curved agapanthus stems but I just can't throw good material away. So, please don't judge me. Looking at the photograph of my arrangement, below, I noticed that it addresses a number of themes - Using 2 Containers, Colours in a Similar Tonal Range and Curved and Straight Lines.

Agapanthus, mahonia flowers and New Zealand Flax

As delicate and ephemeral as the mahonia flowers are, the leaves are the exact opposite. They are very tough and long lasting, even without water. They are, also, extremely prickly and can only be handled with industrial strength gloves. I had planted my mahonia tree for the leaves, the flowers were an unexpected bonus. When my willow tree cracked and fell, it squashed the mahonia branches so that they are now growing horizontally. I photographed part of the remaining willow branches, which rest on the ground with the mahonia peeking from underneath.

Mahonia leaves in glass container

We, ikebanists, often go back to a completed arrangement and make changes. Usually, the photographs I post are of the final product. I thought I'd share some examples of the progression of my work. I removed the leaves from the stem with the flowers, which I used in a previous arrangement and, rather than throw them away, I made an arrangement, below.

Initially, I felt the the strength of the container necessitated the strength of the 2 mahonia leaves. However, seeing it photographed, I felt it needed adjusting. I removed one leaf and was satisfied.

Another example of the changes that I made after taking a photograph, is this next arrangement with conifer branches. There were very interesting curves on the branches, which I wanted to feature in this wall arrangement. I had pruned back quite a few of the superfluous stems and the arrangement looked good in reality. When photographed, however, having lost the depth, it looked somewhat messy. I, then removed many more of the subordinate stems to reveal the beauty of the branches. The russet coloured chrysanthemums were from the garden of my sister-in-law, Toula, who generously invited me to help myself to the them.

And here's another example. A large branch had broken off from our fig tree. I whipped up this arrangement using part of the fig branch with the leaves removed and using more of Toula's chrysanthemums. I felt it needed some greenery and I reached for some pine, which was sitting in the bucket. Looking at it the next day, I was not pleased with the pine and replaced it with the alstroemeria psittacina leaves.

By the way, you may have noticed that I often use the alstroemeria psittacina leaves for a green mass. That's because they are ideal for that application. They may look soft and delicate but, in fact, are long lasting, sometimes as long as two weeks. I highly recommend growing them and am happy to give bulbs to anyone able to come pick them up. However, I strongly suggest you do not plant them in the garden but grow them in a pot because they will take over the garden.

Here's another arrangement with the fig branch. The brown sedum, which picks up the colour of the thick branches. was left at my doorstep by my student, Shaneen.

Bye for now,
Emily