Pumpkin Delight

Arrangement # 61

This morning I had a marvellous time tending to my small garden here in Kuching. Though it is still in its formative stage, there are lots of plants that I planted months ago that are showing their true colours right now. Of particular interest is the Sassy Pink heliconia which I made a cutting . I was thinking of displaying it differently. Thus I made use of the unique unglazed earthen ware piece which I have kept for more than twenty years and brought here to Kuching as a decorative living room piece. I could very well remember that is the kind of water pot that people in Kedah, West Malaysia called 'Labu Air' and used to sell them to visitors as sovenier items. In fact I bought this particular pot years ago while on a family holiday trip to Kedah and Langkawi Island. The word 'Labu' in Bahasa Malaysia refers to the pumpkin fruit. This pumpkin fruit shaped vessel is used to store drinking water in Kedah.

Next , I went around the beds and saw ixoras flowering together with a couple of yellow and orange bracts of heliconias shooting into the garden air. The leaves and red stalk of the sealing wax palm ( Cyrtostachys renda) though still small, is used in this display for its tropical look and stiff leaves. Finally to add height and structure to the composition, I used the spider plant leaves ( Chlorophytum comosum) which have about 30 cm length of grass-like straight leaves with white edging. Normally the spider plant is used as a hanging basket plant. To add a little bit of interest I threw in two leaves of the alocasia species at the back of the pot.

For an enchanting and a memorable arrangement I call this composition...Pumpkin Delight