This weekend, I had the opportunity to check out the student exhibition at Ikebana Flower on West Pearl Street in Nashua. I spent more time examining the dozen or so floral arrangements than I did the whole of the Shanghai Museum in China. This may have been partly due to the massive gift shop at the Shanghai Museum, but they were still entrancing.

Ikebana is a Japanese word meaning "living flowers" and refers to the Japanese tradition of arranging flowers in beautiful and harmonious ways. There are several different schools of ikebana and many different approaches to arranging after you've mastered the basics, but based on the gorgeous student displays I saw Friday evening at Ikebana Flower, all arrangements have certain things in common.

1) They look so simple.

They're refreshing in their simplicity, actually - there's no baby's breath or ornamental ferns falling over the sides because an overzealous florist wanted to fill out the bouquet. The arrangement contains only what is necessary for balance and harmony. It may initially look a little sparse to an eye that's used to Western bouqets, but the more you look at it, the more you realize its completeness.

Wow. That sounded like some kind of Zen. And if you don't get that reference, you should read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. 

2) Because they're so simple, the flowers used become even more beautiful.

I am not kidding when I tell you that I spent five minutes staring at the inside of a single flower. Because there's less to see, so to speak, you look more closely, more deeply, at what's there. I had forgotten that the insides of flowers have just as much as detail as the outsides.

3) Gravity is optional.

There was one arrangement in a vase very similar to the above at the exhibition. I kept standing on my toes to try and see inside it so I could find out how on earth they got the flowers to stay like that - they looked like they were floating. Gail, one of the students, explained that sometimes they'll put a stick just inside the mouth of the vase and bend the stems of the flowers to balance them - the stems don't necessarily go all the way down into the vase.

That's a bit of a trade secret, by the way, so don't go spoiling the mystery for other people unless they ask you to. We'll just keep this between us.

For more pictures of arrangements, check out the gallery page at Ikebana Flower's Web site. 

4) All arrangements are subject to change at the notice of Mother Nature.

Gail, who gave me the insider information above and graciously took the time to explain to me the basics of ikebana, was a little surprised to see how her arrangement looked at the exhibition.

The flowers had all been buds when she selected and arranged them, but they blossomed overnight, changing the feel of her arrangement. It looked beautiful, though, and I wouldn't have known if she hadn't mentioned it. I guess this is why they call it "living flowers."

5) Teresa will never experience the joy of ikebana in her home because her cat is, shall we say, inquisitive.

Cleo treats the seed tray like a salad bar - I could've sworn I saw her with one of those little salad dressing spritz bottles the other day. I can just imagine what she'd do to a delicate, harmonious display of peonies. Curiosity may not have killed the cat, but it did very lovingly destroy my purple calla lillies.

You all, on the other hand, don't have my cat. If you're interested in learning the Sougetsu School of ikebana, check out Ikebana Flower's class schedule here. They take students at all levels.

I met Antoinette, the owner and instructor, at the exhibition, and she seems like a patient, encouraging individual, so don't let lack of experience hold you back from your ikebana dreams. Appetite of cat, yes, lack of experience, no.