A blaze of flowers

The theme was FIRE: "Ignite"!

I made a few notes on what was used in the flowery, twiggy Ikebana sculptures exhibited at the Museum of Nature last weekend, where three of my friends and I were visitors:

photo from ottawafood.blogspot.com

• pine twig with cones and two orchids
• wild vine, driftwood, hollow tree trunks
• painted onion seed heads on a "tree" of chopped red reeds, like matchsticks
• coals planted with sea holly painted red, palm leaves and mulberry branches
• ginger flowers, dogwood twigs, birds of paradise flowers
• ginger flowers, gladioli, golden rod, carnations, statice, monstera leaves
• fire-coloured alstroemeria with coppery, wiry ribbons. Vases from tins and pipes covered with shiny, copper-coloured wrapping paper
• a pair of antlers with orange roses
• peacock feathers, pebbles, parsley ...
• hydrangea roots, stripped, pointing upside down and painted red (not spray painted either; the artist, whom I knew, told me it took ages) with blackened logs and tropical flower heads (these pointing upwards)
• yellow and maroon calla lilies with palms, orchids and driftwood
• leather fern, calla lily, pussy willow, white carnations, leucadendron ... in 3 white pots

While we were at the museum, we explored the Mammal Gallery too, and I discovered that musk oxen don't belong to the ox family at all, really; they are rather an enormous kind of sheep. Their scientific name, ovibos, means "sheep-ox," so there you go!