24th October, 2022

Hello all,

The arrangement, above, requires no explanation. I simply used two of my favourite materials, wisteria and Altissimo roses, in my self made vases.

I began the class last week by demonstrating the traditional way of arranging flag iris. This is quite prescriptive and there are many rules but the end result is of a beautiful, naturalistic arrangement. I used one stem of blue and one of white iris and leaves. I finished it with two sprigs of Japanese maple.

There are some relatively young, golden ash trees in Lucy's street, which had been pruned recently and Lucy collected a car full of cuttings for all the students to use in class. Opportunities like this must be taken advantage of, as it allows people to use materials that they may not, otherwise, have a chance to use.

My arrangement, below, is in a large, heavy, glass container allowing for part of the stems to be inside while the bulk of them is outside. My strelitzia plants are producing quite a few flowers and, I think, they work well with the up-side-down branches.

Vicky placed her branches up-side-down, also, in two ceramic vases and stunning, Altissimo roses.

Jenny challenged herself by creating the lesson 'In a suiban without a kenzan'. It's not visible in the photo but her branches are well balanced without resting against the wall of the container.

Because Bredenia's branch was long but not very full, she added a smaller branch to the top part to add volume. In her tall, ceramic vase she used euphorbia and chrysanthemums to complete the arrangement.

Nicole also joined two branches to create volume and added nandina domestica nana in a mass. She tried adding more floral materials but they looked superfluous. All the colours work so well that, we felt, there was no need for anything more.

Lucy's arrangement was, also, quite big. With her branch she used giant euphorbias and waratahs. A teenage boy in her street, whose family has a farm, sells the waratahs to raise money for his school. 

Mary's curriculum lesson was 'Vegetables and/or Fruit in an Arrangement'. She used a large skewer through the leek, which she inserted into a kenzan. Once the leek was stable the other vegetables were easy to secure.

Vicky brought me a large branch from her deciduous, white dogwood, which looks absolutely stunning when in flower. I rushed to make an arrangement because they are a bit past their best. Lucy's waratahs came in very handy. The dogwood flowers look as though they need thinning. I'm here to tell you that I removed a large number of them and, to prove it, there's the photo, below.

Bye for now,

Emily