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.