13th September, 2021

Hello all,

Well, spring is in full swing and I love walking around the garden and seeing the new growth, which is accelerated this time of year. In the above arrangement I used viburnum plicatum tomentosum and rhododendron.

I've been having some sleep issues lately and been waking up before dawn. This is a colossal pain but I've enjoyed some stunningly beautiful sunrises. Above is the view from our balcony, which faces east, at 6.16 am.

Last year I planted some cineraria seedlings around the garden for the first time in decades. I love the blues and purples of the flowers, although not their propensity to attract aphids. I allowed some of them to go to seed and then scattered them around the garden beds, expecting some to self seed. Apart from a handful of seedlings that came up in one of my pots, there are none in the garden. But one did come up in this heavy, steel chain sitting on concrete.

Very near it is my pot of haemanthus lilies (Haemanthus coccineus). I cut three leaves, one from each bulb, so as not to deprive any one plant from storing up energy for next year. Whilst I was working on placing one of the leaves, it accidently split on me. Initially, I was annoyed but, then, I decided to use the split and changed my original plans for the arrangement.

Haemanthus lily, cineraria and crucifix orchid in self made, ceramic
container

This afternoon I was surprised to hear the door bell, since visitors are not allowed. I opened the door to a masked gentleman holding a luscious bunch of white flowers. A get-well-soon gift from my sister, Lucy and her partner George. Lucy chose white, disbud chrysanthemums and long stemmed gypsophila. A very good choice.

I have mostly used gypsophila as a mass in the past but with these I wanted to feature the stems. I chose the glass container so that the lines of the stems would be extended to the inside of the vase. Also, the glass, being colourless, it did not interfere with the all white look I was going for.To the non-ikebanists the arrangement looks as though I just placed the materials in the vase but nothing could be further from the truth. Firstly, a considerable amount of trimming had to be done to reveal the lines of the stems and to unclutter certain parts of the arrangement. Secondly, some discreetly placed wiring was required to keep the lines interesting. I trimmed all the leaves from the chrysanthemums so that their stems blended with the stems of the gypsophila.

I couldn't let all the trimmings of the gypsophila nor the crucifix orchids from a previous arrangement go to waste. So, an arrangement of mass and line came together quite easily.

I had two chrysanthemums left and looked around my studio for inspiration. The silver birch branches that I had used in a wall arrangement had dried in the shape they had whilst hanging downwards for some weeks, making them less floppy and possible to use them in a horizontal arrangement.

Just down the road from our house there is a row of very old cypress trees. On my walk yesterday I noticed a branch with an interesting line. I went back with a saw and collected it. Again, a great deal of pruning of superfluous stems and needles was required to reveal the beauty of the branch. The two strelitzias reginae both match and contrast with the vase. The orange petals contrast but the blue stamen, for want of a better word, match the vase.

Bye for now,

Emily