So, we had some extremely hot days recently, the type of days we gardeners dread. I've spent an inordinate amount of time watering and covering my most vulnerable plants with sheets to protect them from the searing sun. Alas, this was not enough because there were also very strong winds, which are every bit as destructive as the sun. My hydrangeas are very precious and, although I lost many, I'm happy to say that I was able to save some of them.
In anticipation of the extreme weather, I went out the day before and cut quite a number of materials and brought them inside to arrange.
I cut the seed heads of arum italicum pictum in the arrangement, above, not because I feared the weather but because, as soon as the seeds ripen to an orangy/red colour, the birds eat them. I'm hoping that, with time, they will change colour in the container. The leaves I used with them are aspidistras cut in half lengthwise.
I cut the seed heads of arum italicum pictum in the arrangement, above, not because I feared the weather but because, as soon as the seeds ripen to an orangy/red colour, the birds eat them. I'm hoping that, with time, they will change colour in the container. The leaves I used with them are aspidistras cut in half lengthwise.
Our strelitzia nicolai had produced many flowers, which were too high to cut. Left on the plant they look quite unsightly when they dry up. Sam and I used an extendable saw to bring them down. When cutting fresh flowers we have to be careful not to damage them, not so with the dead ones.
Anyway, we removed eight of them and I asked Sam to throw them in the gardening bin. However. that didn't sit well with me, so I went and retrieved the ones that were least damaged. I removed all the dead flowers and scrubbed the 'beaks' with a scourer sponge to remove the dried, slimy secretions that are stuck on them. I then polished them with oil to bring out the deep green colour. Then I had to decide how to use them. Below are two arrangements with what I call the 'strelitzia nicolai beaks'. In the first I used two black containers and placed them so that the large 'beaks' were facing the same direction. I used some of my rescued hydrangeas as two masses.
For the next arrangement I chose a tall metal container because I wanted to place the material draping downwards. I was able to place the curved agapanthus flowers draping downwards, also.
Two days later the strelitzia produced its white and blue petals.
In my last post I included a photo of an arrangement with a strelitzia nicolai flower and a leaf. I had split the leaf in half lengthwise to use in that arrangement. What was left over I used in the arrangement, below. The glass bowl is a very dark blue and I chose the orange kniphofia (red hot poker) to contrast with the blue.
Once the kniphofia died and the leaf was still green, I wanted to make another arrangement in that bowl. With an abundance of flowers, I thought I could make a maze-zashi arrangement. That's an arrangement that uses a variety of materials - five or more. The flowers that I used with the leaf were agapanthus, crocosmia, clivia and roses.
Mary had her first private lesson for the year and came up with a very big and dynamic arrangement. She used two tree philodendron leaves and removed parts of each one to create the look of one leaf with a split in the middle. Fortunately, there was an agapanthus in the garden with just the right curve for the stem to sit behind the stem of the philodendron.
Emily
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