The (Rea) Wee-ding Cultivator: Lafcadio Hearn on Flower Arranging

Lafcadio Hearn writes:

'I have come to understand the unspeakable loveliness of a solitary spray of blossoms arranged as only a Japanese expert knows how to arrange it - not simply poking the spray into a vase, but by perhaps one whole hour's labor of trimming and posing and daintiest manipulation - and therefore I cannot think now of what we Occidentals call a "bouquet" as anything but a vulgar murdering of flowers, an outrage upon the color sense, a brutality, an abomination.'

Britta thinks: Why judge so harshly? I see beauty in many bouquets - as well as in a single spray of blossoms. And sometimes nature is a wonderful expert in arranging its offers - here in front of a shop in Berlin.