HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hello and a happy new year to everyone.

The photo, above, is of the 'Vasilopita' we had yesterday. That's a traditional, Greek, New Year's bread, in which is placed a coin. It is, then, divided equally amongst the family members, with everyone hoping that the lucky coin will be in their portion. This year it was in Lucy's piece, the theory being that she will be lucky for the rest of the year.

After the family left, having devoured the 'vasilopita' with copious amounts of iced tea, I started thinking about the blog and realised that I had very little material for this week's post. I went into the garden looking for materials and inspiration. Fortunately, there was plenty of both. It is unusual for me to start making ikebana without any theme or idea or, even, a container to start with. I enjoyed this process and quickly had a number of arrangements ready to photograph.

I have eight pots of sansevieria, four that live on the balcony and four in the bathroom. The particularly cold weather we experienced this past winter affected the plants on the balcony. They were looking quite 'ratty', so I removed a number of the affected leaves and, after tidying up the pots, I swapped them with the bathroom ones, which have done so well up there that they are now flowering. The leaves that I had removed were in the bucket and became the start of the arrangement, below. I used with them the creamy-yellow calla lilies and, because this type of arrangement can look a little two dimensional, I added the vine. The stainless steel trough was a gift from my former student, Margaret Wilson.

The clematis had brought out a few more flowers, after its first flush had died, all of them facing the neighbour's garden and, therefore, had to be cut and brought inside. Both arrangements look very simple but, I can assure you, they were not simple to create.

This elegantly shaped, variegated agave leaf was perfect for my creamy-yellow calla lily. Strong mechanics had to be employed to secure the heavy agave vertically in my self made, ceramic container,

The golden elm (Ulmus glabra Lutescens) is always good value. The branches, often, have interesting shapes and their luscious, golden leaves last quite well in an arrangement. I was looking for a way to display my one and only agapanthus 'Black pantha' flower and the space created by the two elm stems seemed ideal.

I was delighted to see the first two gloriosa lilies fully open and ready for ikebana. However, their short stems are somewhat limiting. Growing nearby is the wisteria, which I cut and removed the leaves from the leaf stalks to create a spiky but delicate structure.

To quote the late Peter Cundall, my guru from Gardening Australia, 'That's your lot for the week'.

Bye for now,

Emily