These are my first real attempts at arranging cuttings from the garden. This is one i tried to do a silver gray theme.
Tropical Display
Very nice.
What are the purple cuttings? left and right?
rj
I know sometimes less is more, i figured i should stop before i ran out of room in the vase. I especially like the fan palm frond in the back that i cut down to about a quarter of its original size, but i kept the points that i trimmed rolled up to make a vertical feature. I also hated seeing the stalks so that's a A.Gageana leaf under water.
This message was edited Apr 4, 2007 2:32 AM
RJ, the left is a bromiliad bloom from the garden the first i ever got and i figured i could appreciate it more often inside, usually I dont like to cut flowers but it was located in a spot that wasn't totally visable from the path, Im not sure if it will open more or not. The right one is a Mona lavander flower.
This message was edited Apr 4, 2007 2:23 AM
I love both!! Your second arrangement is so interesting. I love how yo put the leaf in the water, I wonder how long it will last without rotting. It would kill me to cut off my leaves of my tropicals though.
That chaise you have in the background sure looks special too! I love that color.
I should say the first flower i got on that particular bromiliad, since the one i bought it wit died 2 years ago, we're on a water watch here so ive cut back on watering and i think that nmay have been its incentive to come up
Thanks Kell
Most of the plants were picked out of the trimmings that i did in the garden today. Our rainey season will start soon and thing grow like crazy so i always trim back about this time to give everything some room
Very nice- good ideas. I'm with you, don't like to cut too much, but things are a plenty it appears this year..so may do some of that. It would nice to see pictures of your tropicals in the garden...looks like you have some neat ones.
Kell, we're hanging out in the same places!
Kell, that's actually the reverse of the leaf in the water and the front is actually a bit sun damaged, The chaise is 18th Century Italian, my partner is an antique dealer so we like to mix old with more modern antique furniture from 20s-4Os
mostly Continental European
I'll try to snap some tomorrow, not a whole lot in bloom but good leaf structures textures and colours going on.
Yes...that's what I like is the leaf structures and patterns... I plant leafy plants as an undergrowth to a canopy of papaya, sugar cane and Brugs..
The alocasia ..the little zebra looking ones...do you do anythings special with those? My best luck is ignoring them.
The dark green one ?, it's called Polly i think, and its actually a baby I bought and stuck in a hole and forgot about it, all of a sudden its going crazy. so yes it probably likes to be left alone.
This message was edited Apr 4, 2007 3:14 AM
The lighter one is a caladium"Christmas" i think and they die off in the summer heat then pop back in spring.
I have a whole bunch of them. I recycle the potting soil, and I notice one day abou t20 of them growing. They seem to like the dry conditions.
WOW 18th Century Italian, I have good taste. LOL how very cool for sure.
Hey Rj, i want to know if you live in zone 9A why you can grow more tropicals than I can? And you Celt, no fair in zone 11.
Ya know...I had it saying zone 9b before...I don't know how it changed..
It's tropical here...We are in a region called Tropical South.! Rainy Season, Dry Season...
Here's my latest today, my minimalist approach.
This is the ends of a Bismark palm frond that i had to trim. I cut it up for another display and these are the pieces that were left, tied rolled and left in the sun to wither a bit, coupled with a silver begonia and river rocks. Now im having fun. The house is being shown tomorrow (for sale) so im not spending money on flowers this time.
You have a great sense of style. Very nice. And I love the wall color too. Where are you going to move?
We have a rainy season and a dry season too, Rj.
LOL, I know Kell, I was playin withcha
LOL Rj. And I was thinking NO FAIR! lOL
Neil, you're a natural! Great job- as good as any I saw at all those trade shows for all those years.
Neal
These are very fun arrangements. I really like the different textures of the leaves. Do you notice how the flowers catch your eye and pull your attention away from the foliage? my opinion: I think you should switch the flowers in the first vase. The weight of the arrangement will be more centered, with the more delicate and open form flower pulling your eye to the left. The way it is now, I am focusing on the left and not at the bulk of the arrangement. Just a thought...
Thanks all,
Phrago, I see exactly what you mean , thank you. i've had modifications on both of them as the days went on and have taken the flowers out all together so now it's mainly just foilage, which makes it less dramatic but more mmmmmmmm calming (maybe)
I was looking for a cut flower forum to get some help and feedback and surprisingly there was none so there's a thread started to drum up enough support for a new one.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/709366/
please join in if you wish
Neil
This message was edited Apr 6, 2007 12:17 PM
Kell
Im moving to Ft Lauderdale this year
The color was a nightmare, I really wanted orange and must have tried 20 but they all looked like safety cone orange or too vivid, I finally found this one and its actually a brown shade but reads as orange, I think it was called burnt gold or something like that, and it took 4 coats, but finally worked.
Thanks for the compliments
Neil
Here's my latest variations, It's been a very difficult week and I'm just trying to keep my mind occupied and relieve some stress and i don't have any energy to be in the garden.
The flowers in the big one didn't last more than a day, so now it's all about foilage.
Neil, you are very much creating sculptures with live materials- very nice, remind me of modern Asian designs. I worked as a designer for 20 years, and have found at home I try not to "design" with flowers so much as just cut the stems the same length and plop in a vase. But its really hard to stop myself from shifting things around to be just so, lol. Your arrangements are excellent expressions of creativity and bringing the garden indoors; the only thing I would suggest, just from "training"(for what thats worth, lol), would be to use elements in odd numbers, avoiding too many 1s. If you get one of each of too many really interesting forms or textures, it can become visually chaotic. In post#3358871, making the 3 aroid leaves at the lip of the vase the same variety would be an example of this. But, like I say, they are great as they are :)
Oh, and on orange wall color! A friend of mine painted his family room "orange juice", and it was great! It truly was the soft, golden orange color of real orange juice. That's my plan for my family room at the new digs! He's since changed his colors and wont mind the copy, lol.
Gemini Sage, I cna see what you mean. How ever, I was thinking that two taller verticle stems of something placed in the center would pull the structure together. It reminds me of a chinese junk...
Phrago, yes, in most of the design styles it would be united with taller elements, but various forms of parallel design like above have been very popular in contemporary design in recent years. Designers are always trying to find ways to "break the rules" lol.
Gemini,
thanks for the input, i understand exactly what you mean. Ill see if i can spare multiples of something. I just kind of went around the garden and took one of everything with no actual design in mind. I didn't want to take too much from one single plant ( and leave a hole). I think next time ill start a basic structure and then chose the foilage insted of the other way around.
Phraco i like the junk image i think I'll run with that
LOL, I know what you mean- I can't stand to take too much off any babies!
ok, ive done my last messing around with them, i can get a little obsevvive as you may have noticed. Im uploading the last adjustments now, and one last one that i adjusted while thinkingf about the nautical theme.
Gemini i like it much more with 3 the same leaves at base
And this is my Green Schooner, the "sail" a split leaf philo is a non variegated leaf that came from my Monstera Variegata so it had to come off anyway, but worked pretty well. im finished playing with the others but any suggestions on thios one are appreciated, i do want to keep it all green with just the Alocasia polly leaves for contrast, and i cant spare any more of them (LOL)
Neil, that is awesome! I would'nt change a thing.
Thank's
I think when i move id like to take some lessons, i sure there's somewhere up there that can help.
Got our new forum!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/bringemin/all/