Roadside Materials for Ikebana

This is an unknown roadside plant that I picked up as my Ikebana materials, and I added Daisy, Day lily leaves as shown in the first picture. A week later I changed Daisy to Toad lily in the same ceramic vase.

Slanting Arrangement

Materials: Viburnum, Day lily and driftwood
Container: Silvery ceramic

Ikebana for Fun - Using Gladiolus

Katy gave me a bundle of Gladiolus from her garden, I kept them in the basket (not an Ikebana arrangement). I used the flowers to compose an "only one kind of material" arrangement in the two moon shape containers. ( Thanks! Katy)

Orchid Cactus or Epiphyllum

Orchid Cacti are also know as Epiphyllum. The word Epiphyllum in Greek means "upon the leaf" and the flowers appear to bloom directly on the leaves. The species is native to the jungles of central and south America as well as Mexico.
A friend of mine gave me this purple red orchid cacti plant a few years ago. She said it's a more compact plant than the white one and the flowers can last at least a couple of days, not like the white one that I had long long time ago. It grew so big and vigorous, and bloomed many flowers with strong perfume. The flower opens as soon as the sun goes down and stays open all night , then closes in the morning. Very often, all you can see is the wilted flowers in the morning. So, what the heck! I said no more to this plant, and that is the end of it.

I don't have this plant any more. This picture is from magazine

July Orchid Bloom

Usually I have less blooming orchids in Summer, and some of the flowers are short lived. But this Lady Sleeper orchid I post here has been sequentially blooming for one year without stopping, the buds are produced one after another. Occasionally, it's rare to see the two flowers blooming together like a pair of dancing shoe. It's so pretty!

Paphiopedilum. "Pinocchio"

Phalaenopsis

Phrag. "Don Wimber"
Deformed flower and short lived

Cattleya. Alliance. First time
bloom

Encyclia. "Green Hornet"

Dendrobium

My garden (4) - 2014 Summer

I remembered this time of year, I had many beautiful Hydrangeas posted here, but now I have none, only leaves no flowers. I think because of last Winter's coldest hash weather. So far, the summer is not too bad, no heat wave yet. The Day lily, Stockes' Aster, Toad Lily and Daisy are all blooming beautifully.

Ikebana Exhibition for TAC / EC (3)

Our Ikebana arranging group (10 people) had been working very hard to get ready for the exhibition before opening to the public. On July 4th, 5 certified teachers plus our Sensei held several Ikebana demonstrations and ran a workshop. We had 17 people participate. At the end, we had nearly 40 pieces of arrangements for display. We had many visitors see our exhibition with compliments.
I should say it was a successful event under the leadership of our Sensei. It is truly "Friendship through flowers" indeed.

This is my demo piece (Dried wood branch). Emphasized  the beauty of  wood
and three elements "Line, Color and Mass"  By Lynn Lee 

Allium and silver sprayed Allium seed pot aroused a
great deal of interest for the viewers.   By Lynn Lee

By Chih Huang

By Mary Swierczynski

By June Wu

By Betty Tsai  

Using garden net.  By Betty Tsai 

The hardy Orange branch (she grows her own) painted black
 with white Calla lily.  By Lititia Chen

By Doris Liu

Workshop Piece 

By Chih Huang. 

By Sensei  Meei- Huey Lin

By Anna Liao

By Doris Liu

By Tuanhwa Cheng

Demo piece, glass and contemporary arrangement.
By June Wu

2014 Taiwanese American Conference / East Coast - Ikebana Exhibition

... continued (2)
There were more than 600 people coming from all over the East Coast of the US to the beautiful East Stroudsburg University, PA (near Mount Pocono). Not only to celebrate Independence Day, but also for the Taiwanese American Conference East Coast (TAC/EC). This was a good chance for families to unite, catch up with old friends and meet new people. There were all kinds of programs and workshops of your choice to participate, and updated information from our homeland Taiwan and news around the world. This year's theme was "America's Security and Taiwan's Freedom." And the complicated relations between Taiwan and China were discussed. Especially, Taiwan's upcoming election this November, which is very important for Taiwan's future.
In addition, our Ikebana group, under Ms. Lin's leadership, played a very important role, to decorate the stage's flower arrangement, to arrange flowers for exhibition, and to demonstrate and give the Ikebana workshop. To keep all the materials as fresh as possible for 5 days was not an easy task.
We used a lot of sunflowers; not only are they beautiful summer flowers, they also echo Taiwan students' "Sunflower Movement", insisting on Democratic Values and Self Determination for Taiwan.

Here is the entrance of the cafeteria. I designed the whole look with poster and wood. (7/3 sunflower wilted, 7/5 changed to another look.) By Lynn Lee.

Right side of  Stage, designed with Sensei's custom made wooden fans,
behind the fans is my house plant (to keep fresh all the time).  By Lynn Lee

Left side of stage, designed with bamboo. By Lititia Chen

By Sensei  Ms. Lin 

"You in Ikebana" By Ms. Lin

 Use two beautiful tree barks, design By Jun Wu

By Mary Swierczynski

Side view. by Ms. Lin

By Vivian Fu

Demo. piece: Fruits and Vegetable. By Chih Huang

By Alice Chen

Poster Preview for TAC/EC 2014

This year's annual Taiwanese American Conference East Coast (TAC/EC), will be held from 7/3 to 7/6/ at the East Stroudsburg University, PA. The big day for our Ikebana exhibition is approaching. Our Ikebana class has been busy preparing for months because our Ikebana Exhibition and Demonstration is an important program of the convention. Please see the poster I designed for our group. The arrangement below is one of my planned designs to be used for display for that day, but is subject to change depending on whatever materials are available. This will be my first demo as a certified (4th grade) teacher. I am looking forward to the event. (1) ..to be continued.