Ingredients:
Dead curly willow branch
Aurelian lily (gone to seed)
Aspidistra leaves
Hydrangeas
Upright arrangements are always challenging since they require the ikebana-ist to make their own special crossbar braces inside of the vase out of fresh branches in order to help arrange and hold the materials.
(Next time, I’ll take a picture of what that looks like since I forgot this morning. In this arrangement I used trimmed branches from a Japanese snowbell tree. Always keep it fresh and natural with Ikebana—no floral foam. We only use kenzen, special pruning techniques, and little crossbars made of sticks.)
The Hydrangeas came from my mom’s garden. She has at least 40 bushes so it was easy for her to spare a few.
Lastly, I had to share an autumn view of what our family lovingly calls “The Lion King Tree”. Yes, we know it is a Japanese maple but when my eldest niece was a child she insisted it looked like a tree on the African savannah. So now that’s what we call it.
I suppose looking at nature differently runs in my family.
LOVE this statement, Ann: “Always keep it fresh and natural with Ikebana—no floral foam. We only use kenzen, special pruning techniques, and little crossbars made of sticks.”
Yes, please do photograph that technique you Ikebana-ists use. Would love to learn your tricks!
I will definitely do this. I felt bad writing that without some photos and tips. It’s a key part of Ikebana so it needs to be included here too.