Batik on leaves

Arrangement  # 97

A late afternoon walk around my garden today revealed the gorgeous blooms of the ixora flowers.  I came across two shrubs of the species. One was the orangy variety and the other light yellow in colour.

When I was looking for some matching green foliage, my certain mind was moved or rather changed by a striking clump of a caladium hybrid  which has batik-like effects on its leaves. I mean the cracks and accidental lines and spots reminded  me of batik painting  technique. I wonder why Malaysians haven't name this after their batik craft. I for one would like to propose a common name for it..why not pink batik?.

The ixora coccinea, sometimes called jungle flame or jungle geranium, have tubular flowers. The yellow variety is also referred to as ixora lutea. Both grow abundantly in my garden.

Next I needed  a plant that will provide drama , movement and signature to the display. My choice ,if you have guessed it correctly is a string of heliconia sassy pink bracts which I made to circle around the perforated flower vase.

To promote the use of the caladium hybrid and the Malaysian batik art, I propose today's composition title ...Pink Batik. 

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.