8th November, 2021

 

Hello all,

With the easing of restrictions, we were able to resume classes last week, much to everyone's cautious relief. The theme I set for the advanced students was from Book 5 - Arrangements on the Table. There are a quite a number of points  that need to be taken into consideration when making this arrangement, which are clearly explained in the book and which make it a more challenging arrangement than one might think.

My example, above, was for our large dining table (3 metres long) and measured 1.3 metres in length but I kept it quite narrow to allow for food paraphernalia around the base. I, also kept it low enough so as not to obstruct diner's view of each other. The colour of the timber table is almost black, so I kept the colours to a subdued pallet and avoided fragrant flowers. I used sansevieria, smoke bush (Cotinus 'Grace'), arum lilies and on the other side I also used a white and yellow mollis azalea.

Because the festive season is not too far away, I offered to students, who are still studying the curriculum to, also, do this arrangement. Wendy took up the offer and made a striking, modern arrangement, using a strelitzia nicolai leaf, heavily trimmed and curved and flag iris and roses in a ceramic suiban.

Lucy chose to decorate a boardroom table, so she made an arrangement much wider than the rest of us. She used golden elm branches with white and pinky-red roses in a ceramic container. 

Nicole used acacia aphylla stems, sprayed white, blue ceder, plectranthus argentea and roses. She went for silvery colour palette in her materials with the accent of pink in a ceramic suiban.

Vicky's arrangement was also quite long and narrow. She used dogwood branches (cornus sibirica alba), geraniums and iceberg roses in a ceramic suiban.

Shaneen's curriculum theme was 'Fruit and Vegetables'. She used a pineapple, cabbage leaves, lemons, egg plants and a capsicum in a self made, ceramic bowl.

One of my favourite trees is the Portugal Laurel and it is flowering at the moment, with its sprays of white, fragrant flowers. Later these flowers will become green berries changing to deep red-purple, almost black. I used the flowers in the wall arrangement, which is in the entry of the house, welcoming any visitors with their sweet fragrance. The roses are my beloved altissimos.

There is a clump of Green Goddess lilies growing between the rainwater tank and a wall and, therefore, quite protected. The flowers are particularly beautiful with strong contrast between the green and white. However, because these flowers resemble leaves, I struggle to find complementary materials to go with them. I usually arrange them on their own in some way. I've done the same here because I wanted to feature the beauty of each individual flower, thus my only addition is some black coloured wisteria.

Bye for now,

Emily