EMILY IN TOKYO: 4th October, 2021

Hello all,

Well, we're into the second month of spring and the plants in my garden seem to be in competition with each other as to which one will flower first and most prolifically. I can barely keep up because I want to make arrangements with all of them since I won't get another chance until next year.

The clematis is absolutely amazing this year. It is growing over the lilac and keffir lime trees, which it has almost obliterated with its large flowers (20 cm in diameter).

The difficulty with this material is that, because it is a vine, it is difficult to untangle from whatever host it is growing on. Also, it grows downwards making it necessary to arrange it draping downwards. If, as a teacher, I was correcting the arrangement, above, I would have suggested to the student to remove one or two of the flowers. However, I din't have the heart to do that. I guess it's a case of 'Do as I say not as I do'.

Before I go any further, last week I wrote about the upcoming Zoom demonstration by Master Instructor Kosa Nishiyama. I wrote all the details but forgot to include the the following:

Meeting ID - 84165022590

Pass code - Sogetsu

If you don't, already, have the Zoom app, you will need to download it.

Also, for my Australian readers, we are on daylight saving time, therefore, the demonstration will be at 5.30 Eastern Australian Daylight Saving Time. I do hope you will avail yourselves of the opportunity to watch a demonstration by a Master Instructor.

Covid necessitated another one of our proposed exhibitions to be moved on line. This was planned for September and our group was to join the Wa Exhibition. The organisers did an excellent job of putting together the on line exhibition, which I invite you to visit by clicking on this link https://bit.ly/WaMelbourne2021

I contributed two arrangements to said exhibition:

Agave in very large fish bowl container

Spiria and arum lilies in ceramic container

Like the clematis, my viburnum opulus (snow ball tree) is laden with flowers. The arrangement, above, is from the lesson 'In a Suiban without a Kenzan'. This was particularly challenging because the stems are very long (about 1 metre) and quite top heavy making balance quite difficult. The strelitzia reginae, which is resting on the stems is also quite heavy. It is important when making this arrangement not to rest the stems against the walls of the container. It should be able to stay upright on its own.

I thought it would be interesting to show you just how much material was removed from the branches before they were arranged.

All through winter I was admiring a large, deciduous tree (name unknown) across the road from our house. Its bare branches were covered in bright yellow lichen. I can't tell you how much I coveted those branches but they were too high for me to reach, even with my extendable cutter. Well, as luck would have it, a large branch fell a few days ago and the opportunity could not be missed. Of course, now it has leaves but I trimmed it heavily and made sure that the flowers were kept tightly in the centre of the arrangement, allowing the lichen covered stems to show.