Intellectual Flowering

Arrangement # 100

I was strolling around and about my garden this afternoon after spending a fruitful half morning of cleaning up my gardening store.  Next to where I was working this vigorous climber called the trumpet flower ( Bignonia magnificia) greeted me in colours of purple. The flowers are bell-shaped and in my garden it never stops to exhibit its flowers throughout the year. I have planted it to climb over the netting of my mini aviary.  What wonderful flushes of purple against a dark green mass of leaves. And what does purple reminds one?  Well for me it was my university's royal colour, the University of Pulau Pinang which later was renamed Universiti Sains Malaysia. Those were the days ( 1971-1973) when I felt extremely stimulated intellectually. You can say it as my era of intellectual flowering.

With a bunch of the trumpet blooms in my hand, I strolled again to search another to make a crowd. What a delightful surprise I got from the climbing oleander which I planted about two months ago. The climbing oleander ( Strophanthus gratus) has just flowered and I know that this is the first bloom ever to be produced from this only plant I bought from the Kuching flower market quite a while ago in my Bintulu garden. The white flower of the climbing oleander has a rosy purple tint to its petals. Finally to add accent to the display I added the colourful orangy and reddish bracts  of the heliconia latispatha and the heliconia psittacorum species.  Happy to recall of my youthful pursuits in the second year of University of  Pulau Pinang 's establishment,  I dedicate this arrangement to ...My Intellectual flowering. 

Bamboo Culm Compositions - 1

Early this morning I came across this beautiful yellow bambo clump. The golden yellow colour of the stem strikes me as something unique and of good presentational value.

Having cut one long stem from the clump, I then cut it into shorter lengths for use as a display container like below.

Arrangement # 80

I am pretty impressed by the gorgeous golden yellow colours of the bamboo culm and thought it needed some strong colours to match. The ones closest to where I was working were the bright red foliage of the Coryline terminalis or popularly known as 'Red Ti' in Hawaii, and some light purple blooms of bignonia.

The colours being strong and vibrant had much tension in them as they are placed together.

The upright character of the Red Ti seems to accentuate the dynamic tension between it and the drooping bignonia flowers. This calls for an immediate resolution.

I found the soft and mild green leaves of a fern nearby to be the saviour of theday.

Feeling resolved, I would like to call this composition....Dynamic Resolve.