Leaves in a Contemporary arrangement (Leaf Manipulation)

Materials: Sensevieria Leaf( Tiger tail), Mums, Baby's breath and Rose
I bought a dozen roses two weeks ago, after I used some of them, I kept it in the garage. They are still very fresh surprisingly. Also I have a new book "Leaf Manipulation". I wanted to try to use my house plant leaves and roses in this kind of arrangement.

Materials: Boston Fern and Rose
Container: Local artist hand made ceramic vase

New Year Arrangement

Materials: Bamboo, Pine, mum and roses.(12/20/2011)

These materials are commonly used for New Year's flower arrangements in Japan, especially pine and mum. Be sure to make the tip of the pine needles face upward or forward to express dynamism. The bottom picture I did in class, but my teacher said the bamboo sticks were not tall enough, so I rearranged it and added the third tallest one right after class.

Free style

I like to use this wood panel from last October and arrange it differently. I secured the branch on top of wood first and wrapped some bitter sweet around them. It gives you a natural look; then I arranged flowers (small mums, a rose and some green) on both side using dish kenzan. (12/20/2011 in class)

Orchids in December

C. Percivaliana "Summit"
It's called "Christmas orchid", always blooming on time for Christmas.

Bllra. Tohoma Glacier "Ithan" AM/AOS Fragrant
I've had this orchid for a long time. It's a vigorous plant with big, dramatic flowers and blooms every year.

The 2nd orchid from left(Blc. Toshie Aoki "Carmela"), right one(Slc. Final Touch "Mendenhall" AM/AOS) and the one at below picture( Onc. Sunlight "Hilo Honey") are my new collection, I bought them with my award gift card.

In the morning, my house is filled with a pleasant fragrance from the blooming orchids.

Merry Chrismas

Christmas Arrangement
Materials: Red Winter Berry, white Poinsettias, Holly and silver paint sprayed vine and Hydrangea.
After class I rearranged it at home by adding silver hydrangea. I like this composition much better than the one I arranged in class.

Below: Basic Slanting Style: Azalea and Chrysanthemum. (12/9/2011)

BCOS 2010-2011 Show Table Awards

The Bucks County Orchid Society usually gives out show table awards for windowsill and greenhouse growers at every May's banquet award night. Because I was so busy and I didn't attend many meetings up until now (the November meeting), the president of BCOS handed me these two awards, which are from May. I was so surprised and happy. Everybody gave me an applause! and I received a $50 gift card to Parkside Orchid Nursery, which it's very nice that I can purchase new orchid for my collection.

Because I like its green color, so I bought this very young orchid plant (much cheaper than the mature one) from New York Orchid Show. After three years, it is blooming for the first time. I am happy.

Combined Styles and Free Style

Nageire and Moribana
I did this style two years ago in book#2. The composition this time is much more beautiful than the previous one. (11/22/2011 class)

I love bittersweet and I like to arrange it using my new flea market found container. (11/22/2011 class)

Simplified Arrangement

My simplified arrangement has been trimmed to its limit in class, after a class discussion under the guidance of my teacher. Unfortunately I didn't take the picture before it was trimmed for comparison. The discussion--taking note of every single berry and leaf--was fun and was a very good lesson too. (11/22/2011 class)

Camellia

The camellia is one of the most commonly used flowers in Japanese floral art, but in the United States we hardly see them used in the ikebana arrangement. Maybe the camellia is hard to get, also its flowers tend to fall off easily and do not stand up to transport. But I love it, so I planted a hardier species in my garden a few years ago. It has survived two harsh snow storms already. I am thrilled that I can use it today. The arrangement looks simple and elegant.

Orchids in November

This Thursday is our Bucks County Orchid Society meeting. I have missed two meetings already. I am going to bring four plants (below) to the meeting this time to compete. Hopefully I can get some awards!

Pot. Mysteve Natsumi. It has more flowers than last year.

Milttassia "Xenia" (Milt. Bluntii '4n' x Milt.Clowesii '4n) fragrant in the morning.

Brassia Winter Wonderland " White Fairy"
My blog shows that it bloomed for the first time in January 2010. Now I'm posting it again in this month's blooming orchids. It has 8 flowers and is much bigger than last time.

The left was divided from the same one that I posted last month(please check it). But this one bloomed a month later.
The right is Mitassia Charles H. fitch "Izumi"(I found its name from this month's Judge).
The orchids above are all fall bloomers.

Composition with Pumpkin

Compared to the one below, I made a few little changes to this arrangement in today's class.(11/8/2011)

Left was my original arrangement, I did it before the class.
Right is my teacher's center piece arrangement.
Below is my arrangement using a pumpkin as a container. (11/8/2011)

He is so adorable

What does the Ikebana have to do with this cute little boy. Are they related?
Oh, yes! These Ikebana materials were collected from his home during my stay in my daughter's house taking care of him for a week, while his parents and sister (3 years old) went to Disney World for a meeting and vacation. So we, the grandparents and grandson, had so much fun and quality time together. He is such a cute one year old boy. I am posting this picture proudly to share with you.

A piece of wood panel, front and back. (9"5x13"5 )
Hurricane Irene damaged a big hollow tree on my daughter's neighbor's front yard. I asked the worker who was cutting the tree for this interesting piece of wood, thinking that I can use it for Ikebana. Below is my arrangement. The beautiful Azalea branches were from my daughter's garden. You can turn the lazy Susan base to view it all around.

Orchids in October

Miltassia" Spider orchid" name unknown. Vigorous and easy to flower. (9 flowers in total)

It's mid October now, and the weather is getting colder. It's time to bring all my "vacation site" orchids back into the house. Before I do, I have to check and clean each one of them. I was surprised to find that many orchids have been in spike or in sheath already.

Onc. papilio Mendenhall " Hildos"
I posted this orchid in August. After I enjoyed its beauty for about a month, it faded and fell off, but another bud started to form, and it's in full bloom now. I wonder how many flowers will bloom in this stem?

Four Different Styles of Arrangement

We didn't have any class all of September. It happened that I had these beautiful flowers, so I felt the urge to do some arrangements using them. Here are the four different styles.

Naked weeping pine branches (I stripped all the pine needles), St. John's-wort and roses.

Trimmed azalea branch and sunflowers

Willow, pine, and chrysanthemums

Abstract design- rose( in tube) and broken leave

"Summer Laborers" Abstract Design incorporating garden tools

This is our MWGC member Jeremy's design which I liked the most. The meeting was held 9/28/2011. I didn't like my arrangement so I redesigned it at home (below). I don't know if it's abstract or not?

My Back Yard--Deer and Wild Turkeys

The mother deer and three fawns are always running around my back yard looking for food. Now, the mother's gone, and the three young deer are on their own.

The mother turkey and nine young chicks have been coming "home" every evening. They flew into the tree tops one by one and rest there through the night. It's fun to watch the action.