Softening The Winter Blues by David Johnson How can you bring a little colour into your home, be creative and learn something in the middle of winter...inexpensively? To begin, get yourself an ikebana kenzan or "frog" as it is sometimes called. A kenzan is a weighted pad of needle-like nails. In ikebana it is used to fix flower stems, branches and the like in an artistic arrangement. The arrangement is then placed in a suitable vase or dish containing water, selected in the same manner as you would select containers and stands that compliment bonsai. Next, prune some branches from a flowering shrub or tree such as forsythia or cherry. Be sure to get plenty of flower buds (they are larger than the leaf buds). With this material, apply bonsai principles for the placement of multiple-trunked plantings: i.e., same species, different diameter trunks, different tree heights, offset placement of trunks (a bit tricky on a small kenzan), odd number of trees, trees moving in a similar but not identical direction, etc. With a little research from the TBS library, you may find more planting guidelines. The placement of the branches (now trees) is in fact an exercise in practising the arrangement of group and clump plantings. After you have made your arrangement or group planting, make sure it is stable and then place it in a suitable dish containing water. Monitor the water level because it evaporates quickly. The warmth in your home will force the flower and leaf buds to open. As the flowers and leaves open the appearance of the arrangement will evolve daily. Now you can enjoy the flowers of your forsythia or cherry twice; first in the middle of winter and then again in spring...and you wonąt even miss the few branches that you removed from your garden.