Class Title: All Green – Foliage Only
Staging: Bench 50cm maximinum width height unrestricted, judged from front
The most important thing to remember when a specific colour has been mentioned in the Class title is that everything must be that colour including the container. A very useful tool to have in your kit is a colour wheel. This will give you the shades of a particular colour and also show you what are tints and tones of that colour. The tints and tones may not be used unless the schedule includes them.
Although its a bit hard to see in the photo, the green bottle inside the glass vase(clear glass can be used in any “colour” design) is actually an empty Asian beer bottle featuring a character on the front. I decided this lent itself to a bonsai style placement of foliage.
In the base of the outside vase is a kenzan (or pinholder) which holds the pieces of conifer foliage in place. This is covered by water and then some green glass buttons. To ensure I didn’t lose marks in the judging I have covered the brand name on the bottle with a decorative placement of a section of agapanthus leaf (wrapped around the neck of the bottle.
Judging feedback: The judges felt this design needed more height. By placing another branch of foliage at the back of the design, stripped of the foliage except for a top knot, the bonsai theme would have been continued as well as giving the design the height it lacked.
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Class title: All Green
Staging: Bench 50cm maximinum width height unrestricted, judged from front
This is another take on the one colour design. Remember that when a colour is nominated for competition the container must also be this colour. In this particular design, flowers could also be used so they, too, need to be green.
The watering can is the container for this collection of foliage and a single green banksia flower (it looks yellow in this photo). My design idea was to make it look as though they had all just been collected fresh from the garden.
I have kept similar plant material together in a type of modern mass arrangement with some material coming down over the watering can to break up the expanse and therefore dominance of this non horticultural item. The spout has been unscrewed so that agapanthus seed heads can be placed there. The spout is suspended at the back of the pouring arm by wedging a foliage branch in it then draping this across the arm.
See the aspidistra leaf at the front that has been looped up into itself? I did this because it was touching the bench if left hanging down and you must not have any horticultural material “supported” by the competition bench.
Judging feedback: The front of the design was too stark and the judge recommended that I should have had the aspidistra leaf hanging down………I pointed out it would touch the bench and we both just laughed!
Point to remember: Unless the schedule defines what horticultural material must be used, the choices are broad. For an all green design I could have used beans, asparagus, celery, peas as well as green chrysanthemums. If the schedule had said All Green: Foliage Only, I could have considered some succulents for additional texture in the design.
