Saturday Matinee

Early this morning I was happy to notice the Creamfruit ( Roupellia grata) plant showing off its white flowers ( see inset). This plant was bought from Kuching a couple of months ago. When pruned the plant seems to grow into a beautiful shrub and may exhibit a climbing habit if left unchecked. To match it I gathered as many flowers and colourful bracts as I could.

On the list are the heliconias ( 4 varieties), gardenia ( 2 varieties) and the lilium or pink lily hybrid. Today's special I thought. Make the composition as colourful and striking as possible.

Arrangement # 143

Today being a Saturday, I would like to name the composition as ...Saturday Matinee.

To be equal or be fair? Is the question.

Arrangement # 105

How judgemental can you be? Well today, my attention is focussed on three kind of flowers.

On the top echelon are the parrot flowers ( heliconia psittacorum) recognizable by their narrow bracts of orange or pale red colours and one of them above has red flowers with green tips.

The middle rank is occupied by the golden netbush ( pseuderanthemum recticulatum) which have an intricate web of golden veins. But I what I like most about it is the golden yellow colours of its young leaves.

On the lower level is a collection of two fragrant white flowers of the gardenia (gardenia jasminoides) and jasmine ( cape jasmine) respectively.

It is almost impossible to give equal emphasis to everything or every person. I mean, each thing has its own unique qualities and positions or stations . Perhaps the act of allocating ranks is a natural thing in life. Therefore it is no point to give equal treatment. In the final analysis it is the fairness of treatment that counts, especially when it comes to dealing with people or personalities. Probably each according to his or her own needs is the best axiom. Therefore my composition today is called....Above all, Be Fair

Red Hibiscus, White Ginger and Wild Banana

Arrangement # 99

It's the Queen of the tropical flowers. The red hibiscus ( Hibiscus rosa- sinensis) is Malaysia's national flower. I saw them a plenty at my garden this afternoon. Besides the red variety I came across too the light orange variety, that is two tiered with one smaller bloom hanging down from the bigger flower like a Japanese lantern. The latter variety has a dark red tinge colouring at its core.

Hibiscus do not release any fragrance. But no worry. I plucked a stalk of the white ginger ( Hedychium coronarium) and more stalks of the white gardenia flowers ( Gardenia jasminoides variegated) to add a lure of scent to the presentation.

Finally I am thinking of making the display look tropical. Therefore I took the variegated wild banana leaves to provide the exoticness to the presentation and placed them in a Sarawak flower vase. This vase has the native Iban design carved on it.  As a signature to the presentation, I let the vase sit on a young coconut frond. That's it, the tropical look is there. Imagine swaying coconut leaves, distant shores ( of course beaches too) and nature in abundance. A perfect tropical getaway.

The Queen of tropical flowers now casts an impressive display of tropical sight seeing, a romance under the tropical skies and Oh! what I call ...ATropical Galore.

Fragrant White Flowers

Arrangement # 96

White fragrant flowers. This seems to be the theme today. I collected blooms of the  gardenia, plumeria and spider lily and have them tugged inside a yellow drinking glass, the ones you can plenty at the RM2 shop nowadays. I chose yellow to reflect the yellow core of the plumeria bloom.

Then I accentuate the height to match the over topping spider lily flowers by inserting the colourful orange bracts of the heliconia.  Composition-wise I am happy and would leave the display at that. Pure and simple , without any pretensions. All the blooms chosen are fragrant, some ooze out a sweet soft scent like the spider lily (Hymennocaullis caribaea) while the plumeria ( Plumeria obtusa) sometimes called the Great Frangipani produces a strong and quite heady scent.
Today people in Malaysia plant the great frangipani in modern contemporary gardens to get back to traditional roots and for the aroma therapeutic effects it is believed to offer. For example, soak the gardenia and jasmine flowers in a towel and place it around your head, in no time your headache is forgotten. Hmmm....can try that. For the perfumery I have at my room right now, I name the composition...Perfume Blossoms.

Pure Gossip

Arrangement # 88

Imagine a girl, a lady or a woman so lovely, kind-hearted and pure of heart as adorable as the gardenia!

She is beyond superlatives. Her qualities radiate as much as her fragrance gravitate one towards her.

She is the topic of conversation.  Everyone in the kingdom wants to know  what she eats, who she's with, what she has to say about anything. She's being circulated throughout the blogs of the world.

Hot topic. Hot conversation.Hot personality.

Is she real? Or just .....PURE GOSSIP?

Heliconia sassy pink beauty

Arrangement # 78

From yesterday's composition I now add the fragrant blooms of gardenia and jasmine and finally the crowning beauty of the heliconia sassy pink bracts.

The jasmine(jasmine mutiflorum) is synonymous with sweet fragrance and many of today's refreshers ( car, home or office) make use of its essence for their fragrant flavours. And the gardenia too are chosen for its fragrant and pure white flowers.

The long pendulous stalk of heliconia sassy pink provides the balance to the composition i.e. to top heavy flowers are balanced by a strong pink long cascade of equivalent mass of bracts.

 Because the pink bracts stay outstanding infront of the brown jar,in an already rich arrangement, I would therefore name this composition...Pink Beauty.  

Explosive Desires

I have more time this afternoon to walk around the garden. To my excitement I saw a rounded shrub of Jungle Geranium (Ixora coccinea) flowering . Thought I," Hmm..How to show its rich orange colour, so condensed and exuberant?". Then I stumbled upon an area where I planted the silhouette plants ( Dracaena marginata tricolour), with its dagger-like leaves shooting into space and in multi -colours too.While I cut the tip of its young colourful foliage the idea of 'explosion, reaching out and indeed bursting of energy, desires and passion ' zoomed passed my head. In a nick of time I was busy composing " Explosive Desires" for that's what I thought the concept of the presentation ought to be.

Arrangement # 38

The idea of explosive desires kept me thinking, "What if you are feeling on top of the world and feeling its heaven up there? What about the reality? One cannot be too confident and therefore I thought the composition needed grounding on reality. Therefore I chose the heliconia bracts that are strong orange in colour to provide balance , resemblance and a much needed 'reality check'. Then again I thought if the show has to go on, Why not share the sweet sucess with the fragrant gardenias?. They aren't in the composition to steal the show but sharing the excitement of the moment.

Arrangement # 39

The above is the final result of the my eagerness to have the explosive desires in check and sharing the sweet success as in the sweet perfumes of the gardenia.

Sassy White Flower Boat.

Arrangement # 31
You have to take this presentation in stride. First, an earlier presentation was based on the minimalistic notion. ( See Arrangement #30 below). Pure and basic purple bracts and white flowers of the heliconia, served on a banana leaf.

The above is the final arrangement, minus minimalism. Here I combine the virtues or goodness of sassy pink with gardenia. Thus I call this arrangement...Sassy White Flower Boat. Sometimes I feel minimalism has its place. When the idea is economy, then scarcity , basic needs and of course budgetary concern are of prime importance. It is good lifestyle for a change. That's why I thought the arrangement below is a complete piece by itself. But sometimes we need to spice our life ( a little bit) , then the concept of minimalism will no longer applies. Other concerns come into focus - e.g chaotic gaiety,
Arrangement # 30

I still love the above composition for its simplicity and economy .

White Flower Boat

Arrangement # 28

Today, I feel like stripping off all the extravaganzas, preliminaries, excesses and extras. Just remain simple and basic. Something modern people these days call being minimalistic. This
idea zipped through my head this morning while I was pruning some banana leaves . When I approached a banana tree that was fruiting , I saw at the very tip of the bunch of fruits was a beautiful flower spike. I started to peel off the deep purple bracts one by one , it struck me that they can be used as a container, albeit shaped like a tiny boat. On the way back home I passed a clump of gardenias. Looking pure , untarnished , an unspoilt beauty. How would one express it with the help of bananas? So I took the biggest banana leaf to be used as background, placed the gardenias into the two large bracts and thus my composition of the day.....White Flower Boat. ( And makes me go Bananas!!!!)

Sparkling Fragrance

Here's a variation of the jasmine flower basket from the earlier composition.
Arrangement # 16

The orangish pink lily flower and a few petals of red ginger would provide fire or spark of life to the whole composition. Thus for the purpose of naming it, I call the composition...Sparkling Fragrance.

Perfume from the garden

I must confess that I am a great admirer of gardenias. In my eco-farm I have planted rows of them along the farm access road. But two varieties that I like best are the common gardenia ( Cape Jasmine or known botanically as Gardenia jasminoides) and another species that is variegated as shown here.

The flowers of this variegated species have petals like the rose. They turn slightly yellowish upon wilting. I chose two flowers this morning and had my dining area perfumed in an instant.

Arrangement#7
I made the gardenia as the focus of today's arrangement. To add a jazzy touch, I included the end tips of a young coconut frond, red leaves of the 'fire brand' ( Cordyline terminalis) , and young leaves of the wild banana. To upscale the mood, I added the golden yellow bracts of the heliconia lobster claw species.

It has been narrated that among the Tahitian islanders, if a man wears a 'tiare' ( Tahitian gardenia) on his left ears, it means he is 'quite content' romantically, If on the right ear, he' is looking' and if on both ears,'has someone and wants more'. In Sarawak however, the Malay girls like to collect the petals and broadcast it over the bed or under the pillow to enjoy its heavy fragrance.

There are about 200 known varieties in the world andhere in Malaysia the gardenias were initially introduced from China. For that matter the gardenia flower is sometimes called 'Bunga Cina', meaning'Chinese flower.'

Gardenias love semi shade. Be generous when watering them and will respond you in kind if you dress it in rich compost and fertiliser. These simple acts will be rewarded with abundant flowering.