June Class and Pot Luck Lunch

We've done a lot of practicing and relearning basic styles of arrangement this year. Lessons for June were FREE style. Anything you would like to create. After we finished two arrangements in the morning then we had pot luck lunch to end our yearly class with Hata Sensei. July and August are our Summer break. 
Lesson 1: Cross bar Fixture (Jumonji-dome)
Material: Snapdragon, Solomon seal, Philadeldrum and kiwi vine
Ceramic container with cross bar inside to hold materials.

Lesson 2: Free Style with new or challenging container
Material: Bittersweet vine," Lemoinei" mock orange. St. John wort and caladium
Container: One tall bamboo basket and the other round one made from bamboo too. They are my new containers. I thought it would be prettier to put them together as a whole arrangement.

June Orchid Blooms and BCOS Awards Program

Tonight, June 21 was the final BCOS meeting before Summer break. We had a pot luck dinner along with our annual awards ceremony. I brought two Oncidium orchids to the show table. One of our members who is green house grower, her Sherry Baby oncidium had so many stems with hundreds of flowers. It is a big plant and so amazingly beautiful (the 3rd picture below). This year I missed monthly meetings so many times therefore I didn't expect to get any awards.
After dinner, every one got a flowering orchid to bring home as a party favor.

My sherry Baby Oncidium

My Oncidium "Pacific Panache"

A member's Sherry Baby oncidium

Part of Show table

Party favor, Dendrobium (miniature)

Using New Containers for arrangement

I purchased these bamboo basket containers separately at different times, they are well made and very pretty. The first one is 17inches and half tall, the water holder tube inside is only 2 inches in width. So it is difficult to insert the flowers or branches. Choosing the materials is a bit challenge. The 2nd container is 4 inches and half in diameter. Itself is already an art form.   

Crape myrtle, Solomon seal, kiwi vine and peony

lily and Solomon seal

Free Style Arrangement

Free style yet basic variation. All the materials were picked from my garden. There are the Crape myrtle branch, peony and lantern rose / ceramic vase     

Hydrangea branch, peony and lantern rose. drift wood added beside the ceramic container.

 

Without knowing what kind of materials we were going to use, everyone in the class must complete their arrangement within 25 minutes. Surprise! The materials were one hosta leave and one lily stem. They were provided by teacher Meei-Huey Lin.   

The beautiful and fragrant flowering branch (I don't know its name) and azalea with bamboo basket.  

March, April and May Orchid Blooms

It is a pity that my orchids have fewer blooms these months compared to previous years. I was so busy with other things that I forgot to water them. It might be that they dried out for too long. They really need your attention and care.
Now all my orchids are outside in a shady place, so I will let Mother Nature take care of them.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate.

Cattleya, compact plant

Onc. Mtdm. Issaku Nagata

Phalanopsis

Oncidium

My lady slipper orchid (Pinocchio) has been
blooming since last July.

Two Oncidium orchids are waiting for bloom

Arrangement Using "Found Object"

This month, we are continuing our studies of the basic style with the lessons: Variation #3 Upright Style Moribana (1st lesson) and Nageire (2nd lesson). The third lesson is a freestyle arrangement using "Found Objects," anything we can find to create Ikebana.
For example, Hata Sensei used a plastic egg carton to create a beautiful arrangement for her demonstration(first picture).

Hata sensei's other demo arrangement

My arrangement using a piece of plastic fence

Classmate's arrangement

classmate's arrangement

My granddaughter made these paper flowers.

Basic Style Variation #3 Moribana

The 11th World Ikebana International - Okinawa Convention Center

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan, consisting of many islands. Before Japan annexed the Okinawa islands in 1879, it was an island nation, a kingdom called Ryukyu Kingdom with its palace structure very similar to China. Ryukyu kingdom paid tribute to China for several hundred years until Japan's annexation. The island endured the most severe fighting during WWII, before US invaded Japan.
My husband and I took a short trip to Taiwan after the convention to visit our relatives and friends. The trip from Okinawa to Taiwan only took an hour and half, which is much closer than Tokyo to Taiwan.

Convention Center site at the Ginowan Harbour.

Ginowan Harbor with small park

Fishing boats in harbor

Small park in harbor viewed from hotel balcony

Harbor viewed from hotel room

Okinawa Convention (3) - Member's Arrangements

There were so many beautiful, unique, big and small, simple and complex arrangements displayed in this World Ikebana International Convention. Here are just few of them: