1st May, 2023

 

Hello all,

My Kamo-Hon-ami camellia always began flowering in April. This year, along with all other flowers in the garden, it is about three weeks late. A weather issue, obviously but I was delighted to find two opened flowers this morning.

A few weeks ago, my student Mary Sutherland gave me a bunch of gorgeous, dark purple lisianthus. They had a somewhat droopy habit and were a challenge to arrange. I settled on a tall, black vase and added this orange, metal objet d'art (for want of a better word).

The object sat well on top of the vase but was so heavy that I felt it could do with some securing. I utilised the lip on the inside of the vase to secure a horizontal fixture, to which I wired the metal.

My clematis had been all but destroyed by someone who  did some gardening for me. So, imagine my delight when Sam showed me two flowers lying flat on the ground. They had to be picked and arranged immediately.

A single plant of cosmos self seeded this year from last years planting. It fell to the ground and the flowers were facing sideways. Arranging it was a challenge. I needed a tall vase so the flowers could hang down. This metal one was just right. Then I needed accompanying material to go with it. I wondered around the garden for a while before settling on the geranium.

My wisteria is hell bent on climbing the nearby trees. I'm constantly removing vines from the trees. The piece that is in the wall arrangement, below, was wound around the trunk of my gingko biloba. I had to climb a ladder to unwind it so that I could use it. I didn't have the heart to cut it, so I let it hang almost to the ground. I added a couple of amaranthus and orange/gold chrysanthemums.

A stunningly beautiful, yellow nerine (lycoris aurea) appeared in a pot that looked like it held only soil. It was so pretty that it just needed to be put in a vase. Still, I looked for some greenery to put with it. I trimmed a mahonia stem leaving only two leaves 'hugging' the flower.

Closeup of nerine 

The palm frond, below, is very long lasting. This is the third time I've used it in an arrangement. I'm fond of this container but it is quite a challenge to balance the materials so that they don't fall forward or backward. I bent the stem of the frond to go into the container and reach the water and wired it to a horizontal fixture. I, then, wired the two agapanthus stems together and attached a horizontal fixture to them also. The end result is a simple arrangement with complicated mechanics.

My agapanthus are lovely when in flower but deadheading them is quite a chore. This year I employed a couple of strong men who completed the job in under an hour. We discarded the straight stemmed flowers but I kept some of the curved ones - always fun to play with.

Bye for now,

Emily