Cymbidium orchids, anthariums, dogwood, white and umbrella pine, moss, brasilia,pom poms.
Exhibit at Ikebana International's Annual Show in the lobby of Price Waterhouse's headquarter.
Being my first attempt at a large arrangement, I was lucky to have a co-creator (Maye Smith-Beauchamp) and a mentor (Mel Furukawa), making the project more afforadable and fun. One of the requirements was that it had to be viewable at all angles. Which view do you like: front or back?

dancing spirea

Spirea is commonly called 'bridal wreath". Isn't it a perfect name? Tiny, dainty white flowers dot slender, arching shoots. Swaying gracefully to the gentlest of spring breezes, they seem to say, blushingly and coyly, "Won't you dance with me?"

Yesterday was Good Friday. I always wonder, what's good about it?

I chose a flowering dogwood to commemorate the day, because it is said that the 4 reddish marks on the tips of the flowers represent Christ's blood on his hands and feet. Kind of morbid, but the Granny Smith apple-green color of these flowers are so refreshingly pretty, it hardly matters. Complementing them are tiny daffodils, giant tulips and ruskus leaves. The tulips are so huge, I wonder if they used steroids? I opened up two of the tulips manually, just for fun. They look like completely different flowers, don't they? Do you like tulips closed or open?

Pine is revered in the East as the noblest of all evergreens. In Japan the pine stands for longevity, steadfastness and perseverance. "Matsu", the Japanese word for pine is a homonym of "wait", reinforcing the steadfastness symbolism.Also since pine needles are typically depicted as two needles joined at the base, Japanese wedding florals will often include pine.Being such an auspicious symbol, no wonder the pine is ubiquitous in Asian gardens, art and culture.

In this arrangement I chose pink Lilies to serve as a counterpoint to the powerful statement made by the two pine branches. In the end, it felt like a mating dance to me, with a great display of strutting gestures and coquettish charms.

Living Sculpture...

...is how someone once described Ikebana.
Art in 3-D with live plants and flowers as sculpting medium.

This simple arrangement is composed of just 2 elements:
agapanthus flowers and New Zealand flax leaves. I was going for something that felt airy and open---like an atrium. Yet, as I was finishing it, I wondered if there was too much open space. So I tried more flowers, but even adding one made it feel cluttered.

My sensei liked it and said, once again, "the simplest arrangements are the most difficult". Today's lesson was "Leave well enough alone" The trick: when is it good enough?

Today was a precious day: filled with sunshine, friendship and flowers at one of my favorite places, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Signs of spring were everywhere there. Like these clusters of cheerful crocuses. Imagine a huge field carpeted with these delightful flowers, birds chirping, and children gleefully rolling down grassy slopes. If it weren't for our seemingly interminable, blustery NY winters, would we relish such days as much?

"Ya can't please all da people all da time", as the saying goes.

But for the last 3 years, I've been trying to do just that, as the florist for the Eagle Warehouse, a turn-of-the-century building with 85 cooperative apartments. The residents reflect the wide variety of units within: Not a single one identical. So, every week, I try to offer a different kind of arrangement.

Being Brooklynites, most of them are not shy. I get feedback, good and bad. I've even gotten love letters (in the first year when my identity was kept anonymous)!
It has been a great laboratory for experimentation, and I feel very lucky to be retained by them.

This week's arrangement was done for the lavender lovers, a pair of sweet ladies on the third floor. Gladiolus, Leucanthos, and Scottish heather in vintage Japanese rattan baskets.