Flowers Again!

The other day when I had my first flower arrangement done, I was yet to get the other set arranged because I missed out and short of a vase. And last week, made a point to buy the vase, and started arranging. Somehow it looked uncomplete to me, maybe because I see some empty gaps, so I decided to buy some filler flowers, like the tiny white little bunches. So, head out to the florist again during the weekend, and ended up buying a few more petals.

Naturally I have to buy a couple more vases to house the flowers.

Once I got the fillers, I continued to finish-up the arrangement. Somehow I still feel unsatisfied with the result. Maybe I should just take out the fillers and leave it as it is? Or maybe I need to rearrange it further and this time cut the stalks, instead of just bending it (shortcut..!!) to fit the vase and use the foam as professional florists do..hahaha.

Lillies, and Cala Lillies

Ok, the third arrangement. Going by the book this time, I have to use the foam. Cut the foam to size, and stuck the flowers in. Actually this is another shortcut job, as I did not buy loose petals, but two ready-made hand bouquets to stick in a vase. But....it doesn't work and it looked weird. So, no choice but arranged it accordingly. Still doesn't looked right.

The attempt to 'copy' the hand bouquet.

So, out of desperation, I have to loose it out and try to arrange it using the book I bought. It doesn't have the selection that I wanted, but enough for me to follow some 'rules' and principles.

Pink Roses...sweet colour!

Haa.... Now the last one. Phew..!! This time like a pro, used the foam and cut the stalks. And again, using the same principles. You need to arrange the main flower first, then the secondary ones, and lastly the fillers and the leaves. In fact, (tell you a secret..!). The flowers I bought were an attempt to replicate the ready made bouquet at the shop which costs about Rm220. I chose the same or closest flowers available there and try remember the arrangements.

Initial result, it still looked weird. And I also cannot remember how the bouquet from the shop looked like. I had to gaze.....d it for about half an hour. It was nice, but lots of gaps, doesn't look full or complete. Doesn't make sense to buy more flowers for a medium small vase. Flipped through the book again. What was wrong? (Somehow I didn't read the book, just look at pictures and visuals..couldn't be that, right?) Aaahhh...then it struck me right in the nose. The stalks I cut were still too long. Haaah!

Patiently and obligingly I started to cut all the stalks one by one..again. My hands hurts as they're quite thick wires covered with plastic. In fact, I cut them all apart this time, and not leave them in bunches, which was another shortcut attempt. And finally, its done!

Well, I suppose all of them look decent enough, if not gorgeous! Once I'm up to it, I'll go back to the green vase and rearrange the lillies the way it should be...and no shortcuts!

Cactus in a Bowl

Cactus as an ornamental plants is rather new to me. I haven't been paying much attention to it until a time when I saw this beautiful cactus display in a glass container which looked like a miniature green house at either a gift shop or a garden exhibition. They were beautiful! And that's about the interest level that I have in these cactuses.

Ok, so I got this glass bowl from the florist during the weekend, and the small cactus plant from Cameron Highlands in June. If I'm not mistaken, all the eight cactus costs about Rm10 and the stand is Rm5. Its a trial buy, to see if this cactus plants from a cold climate could survive here. And they turn out to be okay.

Now I'm ready for the next step. So I'm going to transfer all the small cactus plants into the glas fish bowl.

I start by filling up the bottom of the bowl with small white stones. I see some ready made ones even make it colourful with green or orange, but in this case I prefer whites.

Then I plan on the layout of the plants in the bowl, and rearranging it to the most suitable positions pleasing to the eyes.

Empty the pots and arrange the plants according to plan. At this stage, we can still change the positions.

Fill the bowl up with the soil to cover the neck of the plants.

Add some decorative pebble stones to make it look 'natural' and artisitic.

There! Now it looks like a miniature desert. The one I saw at the shops have all the black soil covered with another layer of white stones, but I kind of like this look. I may or may not buy more stones to do this. :)

Next step would be maintenance. Here are some tips online.

Cactus plant care

Potting
Cactus should be placed under adequate sunlight.
They should be sowed in pots having a good drainage system.
Remove one inch of soil form the top. Replace it with gravel.
The soil should be a mixture of sand, peat and perlite.
Cactus growing vertically should be sowed in container whose diameter is half the height of the plant.
Cacti that are growing breadth wise should be grown on containers, which are having 2 inches of diameter extra than the plant.
Recently sowed or repotted plants have more chances of getting rot.
The soil should be dry enough while the sowing or repotting is been done. Watering should be done after a week so that the roots are healed within the time.

And lastly, a word of advice from a non-expert.

Hello...! Happy cactussing! Meow, meow!

Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!

My first successful (I think) attempt at flower arrangement!

I am so proud of myself...hahaha. This is the case of 'get into the basket in a lift and press the button yourself'! Just like gardening, I used to limit my own capability, that I'll never be good at flower arrangements. I always envy those who can effortlessly create a beautiful masterpiece out of the floral pieces. Not that I want to be a professional florist, although that is not a bad idea, but I'd like to create one or two I can call my own.

Actually the one I did was fairly easy. Nothing to shout about. You just get some combinations of stalks of sticks, and flowers on sticks, and just stuck them into the flower pot. That's all!

And in view of the coming Raya festival, I decided that my house needs more floral touch, as the only decent bouquet that I have is over 7 years old! And that was from a hand bouquet I received as a welcome gift. Then I just got the old white vase and stuck it in without any foam inside. If there's a strong wind, the whole bouguet will fall off...hahaha.. no kidding!

Then I got this 2 pastel pale rustic looking flowers from a wedding door gift, I just don't have the heart to throw it away, so I stuck it in a small decorative basket and it became another floral piece until now. 5 years old!

Another simple arrangement was an idea from my friend when we went to a floral shop, bought 3 stalks of red tulips, a simple glass reactangular vase and glass pebbles, and walah..! 3 years old!

Another is a 12 years old basket arrangement, still beautiful but I put it in my powder room, I'm not even gonna show the picture here.

And last June when we went to Cameron Highlands, I was persuaded to buy some dried flowers, which I just stuck in the vase. It looked funny and unkempt. Only this morning I rearrange it nicely, and cut some stem off so it fits in the vase nicely. Not a professional result, but I think...OK la...

Yesterday when I bought the stalks, I also bought some ready made flower arrangements in case the one I intended to arrange doesn't look presentable.















There's another set of flowers that I need to arrange, but I haven't got a suitable vase yet. And there's a fish bowl that I am yet to arrange the small cactus plants from Cameron Highlands later. And I got this book on floral arrangement and hopefully in future I will be making my own bouquets instead of buying ready made ones.