January 10, 2012 --- collards and aucuba

This is 1) a pine stick from my walk 2) collard greens leftover from Jan. 7 (when I discovered these young, blanched leaves tucked inside some older ones), 3) some geranium leaves leftover from another windowsill arrangement, 4) some aucuba berries, and 5) one bud from an aucuba twig. They are all arranged in a low, black plastic dish, and I love the way the trees outdoors are reflected in the water.

The most interesting thing I discovered in the process of creating this was the aucuba bud. (It's the pointy bud at the 2:00 position in photo below.) I had noticed how big and bulging they were on the shrub, but only when I brought some of the berries indoors and found myself wanting another botanical shape to add to this conglomeration did I appreciate how exquisitely formed they are. I pulled lots of the aucuba leaves off the twig to make this bud and the berries show up better.