15TH JANUARY, 2024

Hello all,

The strelitzia reginae leaf in the above arrangement had been used in another arrangement but was still in good condition when the other materials died. Therefore, it had to be used again. I'd been deadheading the roses and came across a few useable flowers on the 'Lolita' plant..I had the idea of using the leaf low with flowers peaking from underneath but the length of the leaf required a very long suiban.Since I didn't have one I used two, wooden, triangular suibans instead.

The aeonium Arboreum has developed interesting curves and I've been meaning to cut some. I needed an arrangement for the entry to Sam's office and I wanted something long lasting. Hence the aeonium. I cut the stem, below, and looked around the shelves of containers for inspiration. I picked this coppery coloured bottle, mainly for its colour. However, when I placed the stem into the opening it was quite snug and I have a great aversion to arrangements that looked squashed in. 

....So back to the shelves and another choice. The opening of this Graham Murphy container was bigger allowing some space around the stem. Then, I trimmed some unnecessary  stems, thus emphasising the curves. Finding a way to make it stay upright was far from easy.

I would categorise this as an arrangement using only one kind of material because I could not think of any other material that would be suitable or necessary.

The flowers on the calla lilies are finishing (I could only find two) but what I found fascinating are these leaves that have mutated to create frills on the edges. All the other leaves are normal, except for these three.

The tiger lilies (lilium lancifolium) have grown taller than two metres so that some of them have fallen, resting on rose bushes near by. I had to shorten the stems, considerably, to use them in this wall arrangement. Looking around in the garden for complementary material I couldn't go past the agapanthus. This is an arrangement of 'Colours in contrast'.

My student, Cym, has requested some summer lessons because work commitments prevent her from attending during the year. We decided on revision working on the same theme on two, consecutive lessons. That theme being 'In a Suiban Without a Kenzan'.

In the first arrangement she used two branches of Japanese beauty berries (callicarpa) in flower and two stems of crocosmia.

In her second arrangement she used nandina domestica stems and agapanthus.

Bredenia was, also, keen to have a lesson and she used the opportunity to make an arrangement to take to a lunch, to which she was invited. She used variegated New Zealand flax, hydrangeas and anthuriums in a spherical container.

Bye for now,

Emily