Happy New Year

Wishing you a wonderful and healthy year in 2016!
Here is an arrangement celebrating the new year in Ikebana style.
Silver painted bamboo, pine, mum and nandina are my major materials for New Year arrangement.

December Orchids Bloom

I have missed four BCOS meetings since September, so I wasn't able to display my orchids at our show table. My blog gives me a reason to record my orchid blooms.

Pot. Little Toshie 'H&R' (compact plant)

Cattleya, very fragrant. Blooming in time for Christmas

Onc. Sherry Baby

Still blooming over a month

Holiday Arrangement - Merry Christmas (2)

Merry Christmas and happy holiday to all of you!

Holiday arrangement - Merry Christmas (1)

The materials and container are perfect for a Christmas holiday arrangement. The first one I did in the class, the second one I rearranged at home to use less materials. (12/8/2015)

How to condition the poinsettia: Burn the cut end for few second and dip into the cold water. This way the flower can last much longer. My poinsettia has been used for more than a week.

Free Style - Using Paper as an Important Element

I used flower wrapping paper which has a colored dot design and I found tissue paper to match it. The carnations, mums and cymbidium's long leaves, all their colors coordinate well. (12/8/2015)

Free Style - Simple Arrangement

The banana leaf has been air dried for over a month, it is naturally curved like that. It looks heavy for this simple design so I choose a single mum and a ceramic container to incorporate it all. (12/8/2015)

Simply arranged with  Nandina berry, it and the
container match well together. (12/17/2015)

November Orchids Bloom

The Cattleya orchids are usually blooming in winter months. Some of them can bloom more than 4 weeks, and some wilt in less than three weeks. I am so happy that I have had orchids blooming almost all year long.

Cat. Hawaiian Lighting. It had three flowers last year.

Blc. Hwa Yuan Beauty 'Pearl" AM/OSroc. 

From left: the 1st and 3rd have faded, the 2nd and 4th are still
 blooming now. (11/30/2015)

Slc. Final Touch "Mendenhall' AM/ AOS

Slc. very nice fragrant in the morning 

Division of C. Benice Foster (Lady of the night)

 This Dendrobium was divided last spring. Other one is budding now.

Surprised the third flower on the right appeared  2 weeks later.

A Rose Bouquet

We received two dozens roses from a family friend to my husband a couple days ago, wishing him a speedy recovery. He is doing very well and I am very happy to use these roses for an arrangement for this occasion. Thanks to you all!

My Meditation

"A Study in Texture"

MWGC held a meeting one week earlier than usual because of the Thanksgiving holiday. The little show's title is "A study in texture". The explanation was not easy to follow. It's said: "Textured plant material to be displayed on any vertical object with texture, such as a picture frame, a furnace filter and or screening". I finally understood. So, I found a piece of wood bark as a vertical object of the back ground, arranged with fresh plant materials; mum, horse tail and bittersweet, all have their own texture. I was so delighted that I did it right and got 2nd place.(11/18/2015)

Maple and Mum Arrangement

My husband and I were supposed to go to Taiwan to attend the 13th Asia Regional Ikebana International Conference, but we had to cancel the trip because of my husband's surgery (Herniated cervical disc). It was scheduled on 11/9/2015, the same day we should have left for Taiwan. After all, health is the most important thing. I wish all of my classmates who went to have a good time and enjoy the Ikebana conference there (11/12 to 11/15/2015).
Autumn's gorgeous scenery has gone. The beauty is always short lived. Shouldn't we cherish every moment of life?
Here is the arrangement for my husband's successful surgery and hopefully, a speedy recovery.

Hata Sensei's Class - Swapping Container and Material

In this class, the assignment was: To exchange your container and materials (must include line material) with your classmate by drawing a number (each one was assigned a number). What I got was a round container, grapevine, berry, mum and green leaves. I looked at all the materials in front of me, and I figured out how to arrange them. At the end, checked by the Sensei, she commented " it's good." It was a challenge and fun. ( 11/2/2015 )

 my arrangement with classmate's container and material

My container and material arranged by a classmate

Sensei changed the bright orange mum to this soft orange color leaves

Display at the Library of Haverford College

Once a year, we Main Line Sogetsu Study Group (Hata Sensei's Class) will display our flower arrangements at the Haverford College library as a tradition for the college's Parent's Day weekend gathering.
This is my arrangement:  Trifoliate-orange branch, mum, hydrangea and leaves in ceramic container. (10/30-11/1/2015)

This was my original design (arranged on 10/27/2015), I was supposed to display it at the library. But the materials could not last long enough, so I changed the whole arrangement to the one above.

"Stormy Halloween Night"

Halloween is right around the corner. At our MWGC October meeting, the subject of the Little Show is "Stormy Halloween Night". To make a creative design incorporating a pumpkin. I made a witch hat using cardboard paper. For the witch I carved a friendly pumpkin face instead of a scary one. Decorated with mums, pine and bittersweet. Is it cute?  

My design, got third place

First place, by Pat 

Arrangement and Decoration for Hakka Choir Concert

The extraordinary performance of the Taiwan Hakka Choir (30 people) came to town. Singing Hakka folk songs and some popular operas "La Traviata" and "Carmen". It's East Meets West, and Taiwan vs. Italy. Singing world songs in various languages. The audiences experienced the rich cultural diversity of Taiwan. The event was held in Stage One, Summit School, Walling ford, PA.
As a member of Greater Philadelphia Taiwanese Hakka Association and an Ikebana practitioner, I was asked to decorate the stage and flower arrangement. Taiwanese organization shipped to us three lanterns and a few very colorful, typical Hakka fabric, I used them for table cloths in the reception room and hall way.(10/18/2015)

It's a fall theme arrangement. I tried to pick some color from the
table cloth, it's not quite matching but very colorful. 

Reception table with program.
The Taiwan map is on the back wall

Hakka Lantern in the hall way

Two long Hakka flower banners on both sides of the stage.
 Two choir members were singing the opera "La Traviata".

Poster about the program event 

October Orchid Bloom

The temperature dropped near the freezing point at night the last few days. Fortunately, all the outdoor orchids and some house plants had been checked, cleaned and brought into the house already. They ended their Summer vacation, happily home again (indoor). It kept me busy for a few days. But I also discovered a few of my orchids have been budding and showing spikes, ready to bloom soon.(10/12-10/20/2015)

Dendrobiun, Miniature 

C. Mysteve Natsumi. Faithfully bloom every year this time .

C. Benice Foster Richare Mueller. Easy to grow and flowering,
nice perfume at night. "Lady in the night" is its name

Same plant as above, the pinkish color of the
 petals will turn yellow later on.

Oncidium. "xenia" strong fragrant in the morning 

Splitting Bamboo and making a Design

In the Hata Sensei's class, we learned how to split bamboo and made it as a structure for flower arrangement. Bamboo pieces were provided, about 3 feet long. We needed a special tool to split the bamboo (bamboo splitter). And the pliers,wire cutter,saw, hammer and gloves...were needed to make the structure. Of course, we brought some sort of container and flower materials of our own to accommodate our design and arrangement. Today we had more than 20 students attend the class. I only posted some of their work. (10/12/2015)

Sensei's demo arrangement

My design and arrangement

Student's arrangement

Student's arrangement

Student's arrangement

Student's arrangement