In A Vase On Monday – Form and Flower

40 Replies

In A Vase On Monday – Form and Flower

Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share an arrangement using materials collected from our gardens. Like much of the United States my state of North Carolina  has been in deep freeze, literally setting records for number of consecutive hours under freezing.

Soon these snowy sidewalks and unfriendly temperatures will be just a memory. By Friday we should see 66 degree Fahrenheit. While waiting for that promised warmup I turned once again to the holiday Hippeastrum (amaryllis) featured in last week’s Monday vase.

At that time the amaryllis sported 4 blooms, sadly it was down to one yesterday. After cutting it from the bulb, I stuffed the inside of the stem with cotton to help it absorb water and placed it into a small Ikebana holder. I fashioned foliage for the normally bare-stemmed flower using bright green and white striped leaves from a Warneckii ‘Lemon Lime.’

For inspiration I chose a special sculptural form to serve both as container and focal point for today’s design.

In A Vase On Monday – Form and Flower

Our multi-talented daughter is the artist. Now an architect in L.A. she also is a fine woodworker.

The outer casement of her box is mahogany—surface carvings add texture and depth.  A drawer insert made of zebrawood slides opens from either side, revealing three deeply carved pockets (though not pictured, the middle one has a lid).  Because of the dual openings our daughter named this piece, “ambi.”

The Ikebana holder nestles comfortably into the leftmost pocket.

In A Vase On Monday – Form and Flower

The three large red seedpods seemed necessary to complete the design. 

In A Vase On Monday – Form and Flower

Materials

Flowers
Hippeastrum (amaryllis)
Seedpods of unknown variety
Foliage
Dracaena deremensis warneckii ‘Lemon Lime’
Container
Carved Box, mahogany and zebrawood

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting each week. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.

40 thoughts on “In A Vase On Monday – Form and Flower”

  1. Christina

    Your daughter is indeed very talented but I know where she inherits it from! What a very clever idea to use the beautiful box as a holder for the Amaryllis.

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    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Oh, thank you Christina. We’ve had such pleasure following her artistic endeavors, which started very early in her childhood. Glad to see you back blogging. I was planning to write if you didn’t have a vase today. Sounds like you enjoyed the holidays and a rest from blogging can be a good thing sometimes.

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  3. Cathy

    I so enjoy seeing your creativity, Susie, and how lovely to have such a creative daughter too. I look forward to my girls having the time and energy to be creative again once they have more time, which hopefully they will. Your vase today is both simple and complex at the same time, encouraging us to think ‘outside the box’, which today is actually INSIDE. Those seed pods are wonderful and look so tactile – but you don’t know where they are from? Thanks so much for sharing your refreshing vases each week

    Reply ↓
    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Thanks Cathy. There never seems to be enough time unless we grab it in the present. Our daughter doesn’t have a woodshed currently but is brimming with other ideas and projects, so it’s fun to see what happens next. Hope your daughters find that time again too. I adore those seedpods. Bought them at the floral section of a food specialty shop in town–have never seen anything like them offered again.

      Reply ↓
      1. Cathy

        The Girls both have young daughters at present – but I have a garden and rarely spend time on other creative projects these days, so there is a leson for me in there too…

  4. Linda from Each Little World

    That makes a stunning vase! How wonderful to have such a creative daughter and to have an object that she made that can be enjoyed on many levels. We are warming up here. Compared to what we’ve been having it is balmy, but it is still winter and only 30 degrees. A strange and disturbing winter, weather wise and otherwise.

    Reply ↓
    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Enjoy the warmup in weather Linda. We have several pieces like the box that our daughter couldn’t fit into her car when she and husband moved across country, and we enjoy them everyday.

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    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Thank you very much Peter. It’s not always possible to fuss over the composition when I photograph my vases but I did work on this one. Have a good week.

      Reply ↓
  6. susurrus

    I love the composition, the seedpods and your daughter’s carved box is wonderful. There is something of an optical illusion about the composition, with the seeds being unusually large and the box barely allowing room for the bulb, which my eye assumed would be there in the top shot.

    Reply ↓
    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Ah, interesting. I don’t think the bulb itself could have fit, but you’re right that would have been a logical way to display. The seed pods are about 5-6 inches long.

      Reply ↓
  8. Kris P

    Your daughter’s wood piece is wonderful, Susie! I’m also fascinated by the fact that you stuffed the Hippeastrum stem with cotton to keep it hydrated. (If my Hippeastrum ever decide to bloom, I may try that too.) Your unexpected pairing of the flower and the wood piece is delightful.

    I’m glad warmer weather is on it’s way. We’re on rain-watch here – only 0.01/inch so far so I’m trying not to get excited despite the forecasts that predict our first significant storm in almost a year.

    Reply ↓
    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Hi Kris, I picked up that cotton ball tip from a floral show demonstration. In my case I think the bloom is too far gone for the cotton to help, but it should help with water absorption and help keep the stem from collapsing. Hope you get that rain!

      Reply ↓
  9. Cathy

    A fabulous combination of flowers and artwork – your daughter has inherited your eye for beauty Susie! I am also intrigued by those seedpods, which seem huge! I love the addition of the ‘false’ foliage for the Hippeastrum flower, and the idea of using cotton wool in the stem too. 🙂

    Reply ↓
    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Thank you Cathy. I love those seedpods and have tried for several years to find a way to work them into an arrangement. This is the closest I’ve come. When shaken you can hear something loosened inside, they’re smooth and delightful to the touch.

      Reply ↓
  10. theshrubqueen

    I love the box, my husband, retired architect, loves woodworking as well. They appreciate planes more thn the rest of us, I think. Those seedpods are mad cool and the arrangement inspired.

    Reply ↓
  12. Beth @ PlantPostings

    That is pretty close to perfect, for so many reasons–the fact that your daughter made the holder, the shape and form of it, the large seedpods, the striped foliage, and the flower itself! Wonderful!

    Reply ↓
    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Thanks Dorris. I think the red of the flower and seedpods worked pretty well with the box. Would be fun to see what other combinations might work.

      Reply ↓
  14. Annette

    Well, it’s plain to see where she’s got the talent from! This box is just awesome and who could have created a more suitable still life with it than yourself, Susie. It’s always a delight to meet creative people and get to know their work. Thanks for sharing your daughter’s. 🙂

    Reply ↓

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