My Ikebana for All Seasons

DECEMBER 2010 AMERIKEBANA WITH ORANGE WINTER BERRIES

2010-12-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

There is a low bush between our neighbor's property and ours that produces tiny orange berries around November each year. With the coldness of the season, the bare branches on our front yard trees, the frost on the oxalis buds, I decides to create a spare moribana using only two sprays of the fruiting bush. It reminds me of one of those old fashioned photographs showing xmas satsumas.

SUMMER 2010 FREESTYLE AMERIKEBANA W/ BLACKBERRY & MINT

2010-06-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

I went back to traditional Ikebana with this arrangement by implementing 5 different plant materials: fiddle head fern, monkey flower, mint, dandelions, and blackberry blossoms. Summertime means heat and dry weather in California. These plants are examples of drought resistant greenery from my yard.

MAY 2010: AMERIKABANA WITH CYMBIDIUM AND CALLA LILY

2010-05-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

It's been raining a lot recently so I haven't had a chance to reap the benefits of all that free water on the local plants yet. I finally had an opportunity yesterday. I chose a simple display for the end of May. My cymbidium orchids are going crazy right now with multiple sprays of flowers. I usually won't cut an orchid's flower, but there are so many of them this year. Just one won't be missed.

AMERIKEBANA FOR MARCH 2010, CALLA LILIES & CAMELLIA BRANCH

2010-03-08T13:21:00.001-08:00

After the February rains, both the calla lilies and the camellias have burst into blossom. The Ikebana practice I follow stresses using local plant materials, so I never go any further than my own back yard. I arranged these in a "spreading" pose; the arrangement gives me the feeling of the abundance of new spring growth.

AMERIKEBANA WITH BLACKBERRIES AND ROSE HIPS

2009-09-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

I took the top photo and then changed angles. At first I couldn't figure out what that orange glowing ball was in the camera viewfinder. It's of course my Tiffany dragonfly lamp. I used blackberries which are all over my backyard, a clipping of vinca, three-o'clock leaves, a lovely orange swollen Gertrude Jeckel rose hip, and two other trimmings from backyard shrubs. This whole arrangement really gives me the feeling of autumn's approaching.

SIMPLE MORIBANA WITH FUCHSIA FOR SEPTEMBER

2009-09-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

Just a sprig of fuchsia and a long shallow vase. It looks very nice at the end of this dark wooden cabinet where the Buddha hangs out.

SUMMER AMERIKEBANA WITH FUCHSIAS

2009-08-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

I was taking a break from editing my novel (which I just finished writing after 3 years) when I realised that I haven't been practicing my ikebana as much recently. I went to the patio and clipped off a stalk of fuchsia and then went about gathering a couple sprigs of three-o'clocks, 2 different kinds of dandelions (tampopo), and a prickly oak-shaped plant that was growing by the mailbox. The final arrangement has the feeling of the lushness of summertime.

ROSE BUD AMERIKEBANA FOR SUMMER TIME

2009-06-01T13:11:00.001-07:00

Although the rose in true Japanese ikebana is thought of as a New Year's flower, when it is typically displayed along with a fragrant pine branch; in California, summer time is rose time. This arrangement includes, calla lily, a bright red climbing rose, Camellia leaves, Gertrude Jeckel rose leaves, a bright fuchsia geranium inflorescence, a wonderful native budding shrub branch with rose colored berries, and a snowy blackberry flower. I make these displays for my partner's Buddhist shrine. Directly to the right of this dish is a golden, Tibetan Buddha.

SUMMER AMERIKABANA FOR JUNE 1ST

2009-06-01T13:03:00.001-07:00

It's June 1, 2009 and the cymbidium orchids have been blooming in my front yard. I decided to create a "summer time" display from plant materials readily available in my yard. This ikebana includes cymbidium orchid, rose leaves, fiddle head fern, camellia leaves, a yellow-flowering native shrub, and a tompopo (dandelion.) I also wanted a low, creeping display which spread out the way that summer and its heat does when it is upon us. I love this shallow black ceramic dish I purchased in Japantown from an ikebana store. The only problem with a dish such as this is that it makes disguising the kenzan pin-bed more difficult.

AMERIKEBANA WITH CALLA LILY AND MONKEY FLOWERS

2009-04-27T11:44:00.001-07:00

I did achieve a true ikebana ideal with this composition: seven different plant materials were used to create this arrangement. The calla lily is balanced nicely by the two shafts of foxtail. Both rose and vinca leaves were used to fill in the bottom along with the monkey flower sprig with its twin golden orange flowers. A lone garlic flower stalk emerges from the white flower bud sprays and is back lit with the wonderful (unknown) native plant with red and emerald leaves.

LATE APRIL IKEBANA WITH VINCA AND ROSE

2009-04-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

I am beginning to think that I should really call these floral arrangements "Amerikebana" because I still have a decidedly American sensibility about flower arrangement. But I think I have absorbed much of true Kozan school ikebana. I used the hearty pink camelia as the central focus of this piece, with the creeping vinca and its wonderful purple ridged with white flowers and two unopened climbing rose buds. The roses will open in a day or two and the vinca vine will lengthen, too.

CALIFORNIA POPPIES MORIBANA

2009-04-19T13:20:00.001-07:00

These are all native plants, including our state flower, the California poppy. I used roadside plant materials: Annis, purple sweet peas, California poppies, and lovely red Valerian (which is really pink). All of these plants are typical of California in springtime. This arrangement stresses one of the key ideals of the Japanese Kozan school of Ikebana: using plant materials which are nearby, not imported or store bought varieties.

APRIL LUPINES! MORIBANA STYLE

2009-04-19T13:17:00.001-07:00

After the first springtime rains, the lupines arrive. I feel like Miss Rumphias, if you know that charming book. I wanted a simple display with the inflorescences left as they are. These are wonderful, California natives.

MARCH MORIBANA KOZAN STYLE

2009-03-07T15:03:00.001-08:00

I have this purple flowering vine invading my backyard, a native vinca. It makes a lovely ikebana subject, though. I didn't alter the stalks much; I left the tendrils to uncurl at their own urgings. You can see one of my new raku vases I picked up at a local antique store.

"UPRIGHT" MORIBANA SPRING 2009

2009-02-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

I threw my Ikebana caution to the wind and tried to make a standard 7 plant-material moribana, as the Japanese do, using only what I found in my yard (which is the Kozan school way.) The Daikagura, or camillia, and the Jack-in-the-Pulpit Calla lily are both the main features of my front yard, so they are the most prominent in this display. I also found and used a creeping ivy tendril, a fiddle-top fern sprout, a lush, leafy vine, a branch off of neighbors hedge which has broad white bottomed leaves and that also reaches into my yard , and sprig off of a bright yellow, flowering bush. This arrangement is part of my partner Peter's Buddhist shrine.

"SPREADING" MORIBANA SPRING 2009

2009-02-28T10:48:00.001-08:00

I have an Oxsalis (so-called Lucky Clover, which is really a bulb, not a true clover) infestation in my front yard. These clover-like invaders make it impossible to have a lawn, however, each spring I am rewarded with these wonderful, jaunty yellow flowers on their fleshy stalks. I decided to balance this against my other annual, Daikagura, or camellia. Unfortunately from this camera angle, I can see the kenzan, the metal pin bed, peeking out of the shallow rectangular dish- which can't be see when standing over it.

FEBRUARY 2009 IKEBANA BY ANDREW DEMCAK

2009-02-11T21:11:00.000-08:00

It had just stopped hailing when I went outside to look for materials to create my ikebana. There was a delicious, mid-winter-spring chill in the air. Immediately I was drawn to the cool, broad leaves of the Calla lily and its graceful, sallow blooms. My favorite of the two Camellias (with pale pink blooms, unlike its showy, red-petalled neighbor) was glistening with rain water when I found a bud that was partially obscured by the waxy, emerald leaves. I was particularly interested in this half-opened flower as it represented the promise of spring, which was still a few weeks away. I didn't alter much of the original plant material, just a few leaves were trimmed to reveal the lines.

BIRTHDAY IKEBANA: UP-RIGHT STYLE MORIBANA

2008-09-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

I had some Baby's Breath left over from a congratulatory rose I received, so I used that as a starting point for this display. By adding magenta Three O'clocks from my yard and a sprig of ripening tangerine-colored berries, I wanted to celebrate my "showy" and "ripening" sides as they relate to the coming autumn season. I liked the contrast that the Baby's Breath provides with its stark white flowers, sort of a yin-yang between the blossoms, leaves, and berry colors and the clipped simplicity of the tiny white blooms. I used my warabi-te scissors to trim back the leaves and buds to reveal the lines of the branches.

SEPTEMBER MORIBANA BY ANDREW DEMCAK

2008-09-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

I placed my kenzan (metal pin bed) just to the left of center of this little cinnabar vase. I wanted to work with a creeping vine. At first, I believed it would be a cascading arrangement. But after I cut the vine with my warabi-te scissors and saw the stem-cut, I realized that this would make a lovely, upright arrangement. I loved the shapes of the leaves and the positioning of the flower and buds. I only removed a few leaves near the base to reveal the true silhouette of the vine. One of my dolls from the Edo period just happened to be on top of my chibi-tansu which proved to be the perfect location for this ikebana in moribana style.

AUTUMN 2008 IKEBANA BY ANDREW DEMCAK

2008-09-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

I base my ikebana practice in the post-Meiji Kozan school whose chief philosophy was "to capture natural plant forms and silhouettes and arrange them comfortably and freely." This is my first "Autumn" arrangement: I tried to capture the feeling of the end of summer with the suggestion of green acorns juxtaposed next to a blossoming cane with such lovely, emerald green leaves. I also hint at autumn with the dried onion flower sticking up from the base of the arrangement. My little kokeshi had to come out to inspect the flowers.