Queen Palm Flower Spikes

It's the time of the year when palm trees starts to produce flowers, which is usually very annoying. When their seeds drop and get rooted on the ground, they form weeds called "nut grass". I'm more interested in its form and color. It's definitely unique.

I spotted a flower spray from my queen palm this morning. I was glad I could reach it by my ladder. It looks pretty, but quite messy. A lot of pollen. It's quite heavy. So I use it in a nageire way. I just made/got this ceramic container yesterday. A quite good match. Because in this kind of arrangement, you need a good heavy container.

The size of this arrangement is 30"(Length)x20"(Height)x20"(Depth)

Showing the lines at the base

Showing the lines at the base, what really happens is at the top part. When I walk around my neighborhood, I see a lot of bushes and trees are trimmed that way. So, when you pay attention what's around you, you can always get inspired.

As long as there are no leaves or small branched to distract at the base, you can arrange the stems in one bundle, or split them apart. It all depends on what material you use and their character.

Here, I use pussy willow as line materials. I thought the top part needs some green. I added two palm leaves. Asiatic lilies gave the color for focal point.

Colors of the Desert

It's hard to let people believe that our desert (Arizona) is colorful. From time to time, I want to do arrangements featuring only desert materials, trying to tell the story of the colorful desert.

In late Spring and early Summer, palo verde is blooming, with mass of small yellow flowers covering the whole tree. Looking closely, you can see the tonal variations all way to brilliant orange red color spines. Bouganvilla blooms year round. It also provides the mass of magenta or bright pink color. This arrangement features palo verde and bouganvilla.

Repeating form or shape

Repeating similar form or shape

Repeating similar form or shape in visual art is equivalent to music motif in opera or theater. It's important to repeat what you want to say. In ikebana, repeating similar form gives the single form a total different look.

The single form here is just a triangle structure. I made about 30 triangles from dry sticks. When I mass them together, no other wires are used. They just lean and balance against each other. Again, the flowers can be replaced by any flowers available. I use bouganvilla, which is from my front yard, just for convenience.

The second arrangement was the group effort of my students. It was fun to see them taking the challenge to place and balance the sticks.