Camellias and Japanese flowering quince

 

Hello all,

My Japanese flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) is always late to flower. Driving around my neighbourhood I see many vibrantly coloured shrubs in other people's gardens but not in mine. I was visiting my elderly aunt and uncle last week and asked if I could have some cuttings from their shrub. I couldn't wait to come home an arrange them. White camellias seemed the most obvious choice for accompanying material. I managed to make three arrangements, which require no explanation.

This arrangement appeals to me so much that
it gives me goosebumps

At our last class Shaneen's arrangement was 'You in Ikebana' and she chose materials that she grows in abundance and of which she is particularly fond - papyrus and billbergia saundersii flowers'

Dianne's revision lesson was 'Freestyle Arranging and Sketching', where students are required to make an arrangement and, after studying various aspects of the materials, to sketch part of or all of the arrangement.

Dianne used Garya Eliptica, with its pendulous catkins and leucadendrons in a ceramic container with many openings.

Her sketch was quite impressive.

Wendy's theme was 'Showing Lines at Base'. In this composition the tension between the materials and the container is emphasised by the trimming of stems to create clean lines as they enter the container. Wendy used a camellia and branches of a tree that is unfamiliar to me. If anyone knows its name, I would be grateful of an email to let me know.

Mary is also doing revision. This time she made an arrangement of 'Intertwining Plant Material'. She used wisteria, dietes leaves and leucadendrons in a ceramic vase.

I had a rather large branch of black pine (Pinus thunbergii), some of which I used in an arrangement in my previous post. I still had a large piece left and couldn't bear to let it go to waste. So I trimmed and trimmed and trimmed and it still looks very full. But my hands were sore from the prickly needles and I got tired in the end and stopped. I used with it the last of my hydrangeas in a heavy ceramic container.

Bye for now,

Emily