Photos:
TravelinaGarden, April 2016.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
The Art of Chabana: May.
Material: Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus', Aquilegia vulgaris, Polygonatum multiflorum.
Container: Basket.
Summer cannot be far, there were crickets singing in the grass last night. Henry Mittwer, the author of the book The Art of Chabana, confirms. In his short introduction to this glorious season, he muses on how the sound of insects clearly distinguishes summer from the 'silent winter'.
For May, the first month of summer, he provides an interesting list of seasonal flowers, including Kerria japonica, Wistaria floribunda, Lamium album and the least known Chelidonium japonica, Lathyrus maritimus, and Disporum sessile. Sometimes, he lingers on their common names in Japanese. The Symplocarpus foetidus, for example, is called 'meditating flower' or 'zazen-so' because its spadix suggests the idea of a monk absorbed in meditation.
For the quiet room of the tea ceremony, the exuberant flowers of the Chelidonium japonica and the Wistaria are preferred in bud, and for the latter is better to remove some of the leaves and keep just a few blooming flowers. Flowers for the Chabana should be short lived, always in odd number and each of different colour and shape. The best way is to arrange the stems in the hand and then put them all together into the vase. Cutting non-woody stems in water to avoid the contact with air is a good practice.
For May, the first month of summer, he provides an interesting list of seasonal flowers, including Kerria japonica, Wistaria floribunda, Lamium album and the least known Chelidonium japonica, Lathyrus maritimus, and Disporum sessile. Sometimes, he lingers on their common names in Japanese. The Symplocarpus foetidus, for example, is called 'meditating flower' or 'zazen-so' because its spadix suggests the idea of a monk absorbed in meditation.
For the quiet room of the tea ceremony, the exuberant flowers of the Chelidonium japonica and the Wistaria are preferred in bud, and for the latter is better to remove some of the leaves and keep just a few blooming flowers. Flowers for the Chabana should be short lived, always in odd number and each of different colour and shape. The best way is to arrange the stems in the hand and then put them all together into the vase. Cutting non-woody stems in water to avoid the contact with air is a good practice.
May ‘is time for green leaves and the refreshing season of early summer'. I chose an old basket for the sharpened leaves of Mischantus sinenses 'Gracillimus', the arched Polygonatum multiflorum and a pink Aquilegia.
Photos:TravelinaGarden
Further reading:
Henry Mittwer, The Art of Chabana: Flowers for the Tea Ceremony, Charles E. Tuttle Company Inc., Tokyo, 1974.
Link to the previous post:
The Art of Chabana: April.
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