JAPANESE MAPLE, HELLEBORE, CAREX & DWARF DAFFODIL
With the vernal equinox it is officially spring. To celebrate, a sculptural curation of branches just unfurling their first leaves
MARCH
INGREDIENTS
Acer palmatum ‘Katsura’ (Japanese maple)
Spiraea japonica (Japanese spiraea)
Rubus fruticosus (blackberry)
Rhododendron (azalea)
Deutzia x hybrida ‘Mont Rose’
Helleborus ‘Molly’s White’ (Christmas rose)
Hedera helix (ivy)
Narcissus ‘ Elka’ (miniature daffodil)
Oxalis spiralis vulcanicola ‘Gold’ (volcanic spiral sorrel)
Carex buchananii ‘Red Rooster’ (leatherleaf sedge)
VESSEL
Aesme Studio ceramic ‘Seika’ bowl
Kenzan & chicken wire
NOTES
We all associate yellow with spring, orange with autumn, but they are the predominant colours of both seasons, at least in our garden, and we often find ourselves reaching for rusty, golden and bronze tinged leaves as the season begins in late March. This arrangement starts with one single briar of Rubus fruticosus (blackberry) - the leaves are lime and apricot, spotted with a dusky raspberry pink and I take it with me through the garden in search of other materials within the same colour families. The Deutzia branch catches my eye on the way - a gorgeous backwards ‘S’ shape that I affix to the kenzan so that it waves around like a wand over the lower flowers and leaves, as it naturally behaves in the garden. Each ingredient is grouped to evoke the individual plants with the tiny dwarf daffodils gently placed last, along with small pinches of moss to cover the chicken wire.
