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.