Thursday, November 12, 2015

The Ninth Moon Floral Design Showcase at Lan Su

Maybe you remember? This year I pledged to live in the moment and enjoy autumn...no thinking back to summer or looking ahead (with dread) to winter. So when I read that our Chinese Garden was celebrating "Mumvember" with a floral design showcase, well of course I had to go see what that was all about...

Bonus: 65 degrees and sunny, truly an amazing autumn day...

So Chrysanthemums, love them or hate them?

I tend to adore them as cut flowers.

But as plants...well, not so much.

Since I've decided to wholeheartedly embrace my inner floral designer I thought it would be fun to see what these folks had up their sleeves. Maybe learn a few tricks, see a few cool things...

There were 26 arrangements spread throughout the buildings in the garden, I'm only including those I found interesting in some way. This is Reflections of the Moon, by Greg C. Lum. There were mirrors under the moon shape which reflected a "hidden" message: "The autumn air is clear. The autumn moon is bright." I love the moon shape and even though I don't understand the Senecio radicans draped over I do like it. I wonder though, am I the only one that sees dried up crackers or cut pieces from a toilet paper roll in the middle of the moon?

Autumn Bride, Erik Witcraft

I loved this one, A LOT. I just wish the hard materials weren't white - all I could think of was PVC pipe (which it may have been, I didn't touch it to find out).

This is only a small part of the creation Vertical Garden, by Red Williams. While I didn't care for most of it, I thought the floral earrings were brilliant - as was the (admittedly odd) paring of mums with kangaroo paws.

Moonlit Tree, by Frank Blanchard

Stems twisted around a larger branch, oak galls, moss...good stuff!

I especially loved the single blooms in glass water vials.

Letting Go, by Emily Farnworth. There's a lot going on here, too much for me actually.

But the wall of cut Equisetum and the inclusion of Ricinus communis leaves and pods was fabulous.

Out from the Thicket, Jessica Munn. I studied this one for quite awhile. The structure was amazing. A flat base with a single Echeveria, that long golden tube and then the basket woven from (I think) palm fronds which contains multiple flowers. Terribly creative...

That crinkled wire turns up in a number of arrangements: for example Autumn Bride above, where it binds leaves together and in the next entry (below) where it's pulled out across the top of a "road" made of tiny mums. Does it have a significance?

The Silk Road, Lin Petrus.

This one was hard to photograph, heck they were all hard to photograph but this one was even worse than the others. The tree-like branch with the flower petals hanging from it was quite lovely and I really like green ball of tiny mums and the road flowing out from it.

Moonlighting, Gina Thresher. I loved everything about this one...

I'm not a fan of snow, but this reminded me of a beautiful snowy, starry night.

I hope those white leaf skeletons are real. I wanted to touch them to see but didn't want to be attacked by the hidden security guards.

Talking to the Bones, Nico Bella

What can I say? Ornamental Cabbage and Kale...

Flight, Coree Ryan. The "swooshy" palm fronds were fab...

They were braided up the backside...how cool!

Hidden Moon, City Moon, by Linda Golaszewski

Metal tubes, I will have to copy that idea.

If you read yesterday's post over on the plant lust blog then you already saw these lanterns. Just in case you didn't I'm sharing them here, they were an unexpected and lovely touch for Mumvember.

And a couple more random mum images, because they were all around the garden and I took many many photos...

Back to the arrangements! Rustic Radiance, Marianna Coes Smith

It was sort of a twisty tornado around a candelabra frame with flowers, ferns, moss and succulents.

Moonlight Garden, Zara-Ann Lee. Another one with a lot going on, all very detailed and gorgeous. I wish I would have gotten more/better photos of this one but the room it was in became a mob scene right after I snapped this image and I needed to get out...

Here we have a palate cleanser...too many bright flowers? Soak in the nearly black and white image for a few seconds...

Okay, onward! Weigi (Go), by Michelle Koeppe. The writing on the leaf talks about this being representative of a game of strategy. Overall I didn't care for it but I really appreciated some of the individual pieces.

The final entry, Memory Lane, Michelle Dummer. Nearly impossible to get an over-all shot of this one was built right into an interior window opening.

So much detail...

I stared at this one for quite awhile but I'm sure I still didn't see all there was to see.

So that's it for the formal designs. Just a couple more mum photos...

And a final, mystery arrangement. No number/name/label. I wonder if this was a contribution from the Lan Su gardeners? It just might have been my favorite...

To end - just a bit of bad news for anyone planning a winter visit to Lan Su, the garden will be closed for a couple of months for repairs. The Japanese Garden is also closed at the same time, slim pickings for those needing a bit of garden magic in the winter months...

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

22 comments:

  1. First of all, thank you for showing us this show. What I like about this post: your pictures of chrysanthemums only, pretty shapes, pretty colors;, that the growers and hybridizers have in the main left the colors alone, they are not garish but soft and muted; your comments and opinions about the arrangements (very welcome that you didn't ooh an ahh and accept everything as gorgeous); the lanterns are lovely colors. What I didn't like about the show: the arrangements are all much too contrived for me, I like Mrs. Miniver's style in the book where she sets a bouquet of chrysanthemums in a bronze bowl on an entry way table at least that's how I remember it. I am still looking to find that bronze bowl.

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    1. I understand completely your comment about them being contrived. There was a time when I wouldn't have been able to appreciate them at all for that reason alone, however I was expecting (welcoming) that this time. I wanted to see the structures and manipulation...I was not disappointed!

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  2. Thanks so much for sharing your photos, and your thoughts and insights. I'm wondering if the visible crimped wire is making a feature out of a necessary structural component that normally would stay hidden. They're all masterpieces, and I love how complicated they are. The palm basket is brilliant. In that photo with the leaf skeletons -- is that an unopened mum in front of them? It kind of looks like a Protea flower.

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    1. It is a Protea flower...there was a lot of style mash-ups, some worked (like this one) some did not. There was one with mums, Leucadendrons and plumes from pampas grass that sent me running. You might be right about the wire, thanks Alison.

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  3. I never thought that flower arrangements were my thing, but as you've been discovering their beauty this year, so have I (through your eyes). This is another wonderful example. Although I don't like everything here, it seems like every piece has *something* that's inspiring. Big smile.

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    1. Yay! Thanks for the comment Alan, I am thrilled to be able to share little bits of inspiration.

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  4. You've really, really captured the elegant structure of mums in the 'portraits' you shot. That's what's makes them so beautiful to me. You could just use one mum in a vase and it would be great. There'd be no question, debate or second guessing for me regarding my choice of the best arrangement: the simple persimmons and mums. Heck, take everything off that tray *except* the persimmons and it'd be a winner, too!

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    1. I did have a lot of fun shooting those "portraits" - oddly I haven't found myself buying any mums yet though.

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    2. Not that odd, if you mean plants for the garden. I happen to like the foliage if it is a healthy dense plant, but most of the really cool mums aren't very hardy. The hardy ones tend to be finicky in the garden when it comes to winter wet and drainage. The really large show mums have to be constantly maintained and kept to one flower bud per stem and a few flowers per plant. Great cut flower, though!

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  5. Well, that was just beautiful! I have to admit, though, that when the black and white photo came around, I was totally ready for it. Thank you for that. I also am quite befuddled over the braided palm fronds. That seemed like that would have taken forever. I wonder how they did that without them wilting? Very nicely done, I thought!

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    1. Maybe they braided them on the palm and then cut them off for use in the vase?

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  6. Enjoyed this post/show a lot. Sorry to hear that Lan Su will be closed for so long! I'm with you about mums , cut flowers-fab; plants- not so much. Although, when the plants are covered with flowers...

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  7. Ah, good idea to go to a floral show this time of year. To answer your question: It depends. ;-) In my humble opinion, Mums can look blah or old-fashioned, or lovely or interesting -- as you've so expertly demonstrated in this post. I agree about the "Go" display. The individual pieces are pleasant and interesting, but the overall grouping is "meh." Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Exactly! "blah or old-fashioned, or lovely or interesting"

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  8. Thank you for the beautiful post. In October, I was fortunate enough to visit the Lan Su garden. Portland is lucky to have such a gem in the middle of the city. Your photos of the single mums are delightful; mums themselves can be nice in a fallish way. I'm not a fan of over the top floral arrangements, they take away from the perfection of a bloom.

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    1. Indeed we are lucky, glad you were able to visit!

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  9. Those flowers are perfect for fall, and many of the arrangements are spectacular. So glad you're enjoying some perfect fall weather to go along with your garden visits.

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    1. That was an amazing day. Now don't get me started about yesterday. It was bone chillingly cold and wet...

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  10. I appreciate the time, energy and effort that went into these creations but most of them feel overwhelming to me. My favorites were Flight and Moonlight Garden. A few of those fabulous spider mums with some attractive foliage alone would be enough to make me happy.

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    1. Simplicity definitely has it's place...but like high fashion it's fun to take a look at what's on the runway every now and then.

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  11. I like the mystery arrangement and the green ball of tiny mums the most. And I think those lanterns look really nice in the chinese garden.

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