Autumn arrangement using mollis azalea, hydrangea and pomegranates
from Toula's garden.

Hello all,

Some years ago I made the mistake of planting Fluffy Ruffle fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) in a garden bed at the far corner of the garden. I now know how invasive it can be, as it had taken over the whole garden bed and was encroaching on other beds. So, when I organised a garden waste collection by the council, I removed almost all of the pesky things and got rid of them. But I would not deserve the term 'ikebanist' if I didn't keep some fronds to play with. Having this rare opportunity of an abundance of material meant that I could workshop it.  So here are the arrangements that I completed. There were others that were not successful but they were a very important part of the learning process. In this first arrangement I stripped most of the leaves because I wanted to feature the thin, dark brown stems that picked up the colour of the container.

Front view of wall arrangement with
hydrangeas

Side view of wall arrangement

For the next arrangement, I, also, stripped most of the leaves from the fronds to reveal the stems and curved them very carefully because they kink easily. I used crucifix orchids because they, too, have thin stems which I was able to blend in with the fern stems.

Here I stripped the fronds from both sides, leaving only a fraction of the leaves intact, creating a kind of hood over the container. Speaking of the container, this one is very old and hasn't seen the light of day for a long time. A case of 'out of sight, out of mind', as it was in its box on a high shelf in the store room. Flowers are scarce in my garden at the moment, so the last of my altissimo roses had to be employed here.

And the last one, using two containers with nandina domestica nana, green coloured in one container and autumnal colours in the other.

You may remember this arrangement using mahonia flowers from last week. Well, the next photograph shows what it looked like the very next day.

I decided that, rather than fight the constant mess on the table, I would make it work for me. I stripped a number of flowers and created a kind of carpet around my now re-worked arrangement.

I replaced the mahonia flowers with diosma and chrysanthemums.

My Kamo Hon Ami camellia is flowering beautifully, hence the following arrangement, with pine in a self made container.

Bye for now, 

Emily