As promised, another bouquet that was nature inspired. Actually the materials are gathered from the woods around my parents home in the mountains in the western part of Virginia. I found so many little mosses and lichens,their growth aided by an usually cool and wet summer, and it was a pure delight. Little pieces of treasure all around, slowly revealing small gems of color and texture. Lovely red begonia blooms grown by my mother, they were such a joy to use. She was thrilled that I used them and I cut pieces of them to take home and start my own plants (which made her so happy). The strange coincidence was that I had brought her rooted cuttings of my periennial begonias from my garden to transplant into hers. Delicate lichens and mosses were used to cover the underside of the bouquet, and I wrapped the handle with the soft leaves of lamb’s ear. The experience of searching for enough material to make this was interesting, I really kept my eyes wide open and used things I might not otherwise think of. At some point there will be another bouquet, and yes I will also be posting new ikebana for all to see!