15th March, 2021

 

Hello all,

At our last class my student Shaneen gave me two very long bird's nest fern leaves and the challenge was on to use their full length. The container I selected made it extremely difficult to secure the heavy leaves so that they did not tip forward or backwards. But I can be very stubborn and, after an inordinate amount of time, I did. The luscious, white, belladonna lily complemented the frilly leaves very well.

The Ikebana International Mumbai chapter had a virtual exhibition. There were two themes, the first was Spring or holi, Festival of Colours. And the arrangement, below, was my contribution. It was not easy to find spring materials at the end of summer but I managed to get some freesias and we can always get Dutch Iris. Also, my Viburnum tomentosum shrub had a few white blossoms, completely out of season, which helped. One large branch of the willow had lost most of its leaves during a particularly hot day and, subsequently, brought out new ones. It looked just the way it does in spring.

I had done a second spring arrangement to give Mrs. Agarwal a choice. This was the one not used. I used more of the willow with Iris and freesias in a self made container.

The second theme was to use Mitsumata or any other painted material. This was much easier. I used a painted palm inflorescence, cosmos and amaranthus.

If you would like to see the exhibition go to https://youtu.be/ZLy5en5Dc3E

With an abundance of agapanthus, I can't help trying new ways to arrange them. Here's another one.

For the wall arrangement this week, I used mahonia, pink roses, pink sedum and red crucifix orchids.

I have to share with you a minor success. You will remember my covering some of our fruit with net bags that I made. Well, our small apple tree was laden with fruit but I was not able to cover all of them. As a consequence, all the uncovered ones disappeared long before they ripened. The ones in the bags, however, grew so big that I had difficulty peeling the net bag away from them so that I could harvest them. 

There is an interesting story to this apple tree. Many years ago, Vicky and I were travelling in the country when we came across a very small apple tree growing on the edge of a precipice, barely holding on and laden with ripe apples. Of course, we collected some of this unusual variety and brought them home and we all loved them. We went back in winter, when the tree was dormant and collected some branches, which we had grafted onto a strong rootstock. We, thus, managed to propagate the tree that did't look like it would survive and now we, each, have a lovely tree in our garden.

Our harvest!

Bye for now,

Emily