Welcome to ‘Foraging with Hitomi’, a new series of videos where we go out in the wild (or roadside in today’s case) and collect product to use in floral design!
Lately I’ve ben thinking of ways we could be more sustainable in our practices. One product in particular that I see many natural and sustainable alternatives for are plastic water tubes. I’ve already shown here on YouTube how you can use Equisetum as smaller water tubes (https://youtu.be/jmcp70G58r0), but the question is how can we replace water tubes for larger stems or multiple insertions? I know that a lot of designers have used Bamboo as a natural alternative, but it can be difficult to cut and sometimes has a tendency to splinter cause water leakage.
Well, today I want to show an alternative which because of it’s Invasive status, can be found pretty much anywhere! Polygonum cuspidatum, or Japanese Knotweed is considered extremely invasive, but is growing everywhere! In fact, in today’s video all the material was cut on the side of the road next to our flower auction in Vancouver, BC. The key with polygonum is to make sure to take the necessary precautions to not take any of the seedings and inflorescence from the site where you’re harvesting. Also, when finished with it at home… it’s important to make sure to dry the stems out completely before chipping or composting the material, as they can still root from the nodes. But if you’re careful and diligent with all these precautions, it makes for a perfect, easy to cut, green and sustainable alternative to plastic water tubes!!
Let me know if you’ve used polygonum cuspidatum in the past or if you have any other personal alternatives to water tubes! I would love to hear them!
Also, here are tutorials for mechanics and/or components that were mentioned in today’s video:
EQUISETUM: NATURE’S WATER TUBE – https://youtu.be/jmcp70G58r0
#Foraging #Polygonum #JapaneseKnotweed
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