Why I Oughta...

My first (ever) Ikebana arrangement was just two sprays of Disneyland (Floribunda) roses stuck into my flower frog.  That was back in June .  It wasn't, well....great.   But, as they say...the only way you get better at something is by doing it again.  And again. So, I'm doing just that:  making my second Ikebana arrangement with a Lisianthus, a leaf(let) from a Dark Side of the Moon Astilbe and a spray of Sun King Aralia.  In a vintage McCoy cereal bowl.  Below is a shot of it: In this case, I have a subject, object and secondary stuck in the kenzan (flower frog). The subject is supposed to be the tallest stem - so I'm calling the chartreuse Sun King leaf the subject. The object is "the queen".  That you place in the front/center.  That's the Celeb 2 Metallic Blue Lisianthus. And, the Dark Side of the Moon Astilbe leaf(let) is the secondary.  

The past few seasons, I've been making cut flower arrangements in jars and vases for the countertop in our kitchen and to give them out to family and friends.  But, over the past few years, I've been reading a little bit about the concept of Ikebana - which is Japanese flower arranging.  This page on KonMari has an overview of Ikebana that includes this top-line description : Ikebana is the centuries-old Japanese art of arranging flowers. The practice, which roughly translates to “making flowers come alive,” uses carefully selected blossoms, greenery and other flora to convey a specific feeling or emotion to an observer – just as a painting or sculpture might. KonMari is Marie Kondo .  The decluttering person.   Architectural Digest has this "Ikebana 101" post that lays out some of the history and practice.  In it, they highlight one particular school's approach to Ikebana that uses three types of stems:  subject, object and secondary.  In low bo...