Roadsideikebana

CONTRASTING AND COMPLEMENTING

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 05:17:05 +0200

Two weeks ago I posted an ikebana I had made for a 'lockdown-cancelled' workshop to be led by Emily Karanikolopoulos. Emily had set a combined exercise which was to make an ikebana which took into account both the shape of the vase and also the colour of the vase. Each of these requirements are separate exercises in the Sogetsu curriculum. I am returning to that theme today. For my first attempt at the exercise, I decided to use some of the Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha, that is abundant at this time of year.

As you can see from this photo it has rather a lot of large leaves that I had to remove so that the bright yellow was the dominant colour. This was to take into account the colour of the vase, which has a purple appearance.

The vase in question is glazed with alternating, fine red and blue lines which, at a distance, makes it look purple. It is also a rather thin walled vase...

...so I made a crossbar with a forked branch called a kubarigi. My method of setting the cross bar is unconventional. Because I did not want to put any pressure on the walls of the vase, I have wired the branch onto a vertical fixture that is standing upright in a kenzan. I did this because it enabled me to elevate the materials above the rim of the vase with the intention of them reflecting one half of its almost parabolic profile.

This is the finished ikebana. I have added two stems of drying Papyrus sedge, Cyperus papyrus, for the depth of colour that they add to the bright yellow blossoms. The vase is by the Western Australian ceramic artist Pippin Drysdale.

Because the yellow mass did not seem to me to be sufficiently dense for the visual strength of the vase, I made a further attempt at the exercise.

This time I used the curving lines of the virtually leafless Strelitzia Juncea. I thought its strong lines would make a good contrast to the the bold rectangular geometry of the modern vase I chose.

The vase has a deep blue glaze and is perforated with two square holes that are glazed white. Over a couple of days I was keeping my eyes open for some orange flowers that I could mass as the contrasting colour opposite blue on the colour wheel. Then I had one of those 'A-ha' moments when I noticed the Tangelos on the kitchen bench; a great colour and shape contrast. I have added a small lemon at the back to lift the orange colour.

Click on this link to see photos of the Victorian Sogetsu Branch members' response to this exercise.

Greetings from Christopher
11th September 2021

HANADAYORI

Sat, 04 Sep 2021 10:07:02 +0200

Earlier in the week the weather was very warm with a couple of days in the mid-twenties. Beautiful spring weather with only a little breeze. The mild weather enabled me to finish the retaining wall repair which I mentioned in last weeks post.

I am pleased to report that the project was completed without any further damage to my wardrobe or person. (Thank you for your messages of sympathy and mirth.)

I am particularly pleased with the result as I now have a flat space for a small number of potted plants on the brick surface. The pot in the photo above has Haemanthus coccineus, which is recovering well from being divided a couple of seasons ago.

As the weather continued sunny and warm we took the opportunity to have a walk in the Iron Bark Basin reserve.

Being still under Covid restrictions, mask wearing when outdoors is still a requirement.

We were both surprised to see this Scarlet Robin. Although these small birds live in woodland such as Iron Bark Basin, it is a long time since we have caught sight of one. In the photo above the robin is looking to the right and its beak is just noticeable against the branch behind.

In this photo the bird is looking straight at the camera and you can see the white patch above its beak.

Two weeks ago I gave a recipe for the preservation of materials at the bottom of the posting. These are the same Acanthus leaves (over two weeks old) with a mass of Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha, added to the vase. I picked the wattle five days ago and gave it the same treatment. It has also had the advantage of being in a cool space.

Recently I offered to make and photograph an ikebana in response to a request posted to the Hanadayori online exhibition. Members of the public were invited to request ikebana, with no parameters set. 'Andrea' requested an ikebana based on an anime character, Gojo Satoru, and that the colours used should be black, white and blue. In my research I discovered that "...Gojo Satoru is a special grade jujutsu sorcerer..." with astonishing powers.

He seems to be able to fly at great speed and attack 'the baddies' with curses that defeat them.

This was my first ikebana response to the request. I created an inverted wire mesh cone that stands on its apex to which I have added black lines to express movement at speed. White Chrysanthemums suggest his hair. Blue Rosemary and Sea Holly for the colour of his eyes and his clothing that sometimes seems to be blue.

I made this second more conventional ikebana based on the same ideas a few days after the first, when I was able to purchase some blue irises from the florist.

I really enjoyed this challenge of ikebana by request and encourage you to now to view online: "The flowers you have been waiting for are here".

Congratulations to the Wa Ikebana committee and the participants in the project.

Greetings from Christopher

4th September 2021

BUSY IN THE GARDEN

Sun, 29 Aug 2021 10:25:09 +0200

The 'treated pine' timber planks of the retaining wall on the terrace had been leaning progressively forward in recent times. I decided they needed to be secured properly with "U-shaped" steel posts into which the ends could be slotted. In the process I found that the back of the planks had rotted significantly even though they looked intact from the front. So the job grew.

A fair amount of earth had to be removed and new timber planks purchased. This time I had the sense to line the back of the planks with heavy-duty black plastic designed for in-ground garden ponds. The process required cutting one of the metal posts in half with an angle grinder. Who would have thought that the sparks from the grinder could set one's trousers on fire!

Laurie caught me unawares toward the end of the job. In a fresh pair of trousers! I am looking forward to reducing the size of the garden bed behind the retaining wall and laying some brick paving there, on which I might place some pot plants.

Some days earlier we walked along a section of 'footpath' where the adjacent house owner has planted a variety of acacias. I particularly like the one on the right hand side in the photo for its long tapering stems that are covered with blossom that is progressively smaller toward the tip of the branch.

Meanwhile, in our garden...,

the South African Daisy, Osteospermum, has produced its annual show of massed flowering. I am fairly sure when we bought the original pot all the flowers were purple. As this photo shows most have reverted to white.

Next to the daisy is a tall red flowering Callistemon. One flower is visible on the right side of the photo about half way up the shrub. Its flowering has just started and is what I needed for this week's ikebana.

Also required are some green lines. The Umbrella Sedge, Cyperus alternifolius, in the conservatory grows tall in its warm sheltered environment. The tallest stems are about two metres long, but a bit thin rather than robust.

Last Monday we were to have a Sogetsu Victorian Branch meeting with a workshop led by Emily Karanikolopoulos. Emily had set a combined exercise which was to make an ikebana, which both took into account the shape of the vase and also took into account the colour of the vase. Each of these requirements are seperate exercises in the Sogetsu curriculum. Because of our current lockdown restrictions, the workshop could not be held and it was decided to post photos on our website of ikebana made by members at home. This has yet to be achieved. However, I will provide a link when I am able.

I have used a rectangular, slab-built ceramic vessel with a green glaze. The Umbrella grass stems reference the shape of the vessel and the red Callistemon contrasts with its colour. I had to employ some mechanical support for the flower on the left to situate it within the space created by the Umbrella grass stems

Greetings from Christopher

29th August 2021

BLACK WHITE and GREEN

Sun, 22 Aug 2021 05:13:11 +0200

When we began to establish our garden 36 years ago, there were more shrubs than trees. Many blocks around ours still did not have houses on them. There were very few dogs and cats in the neighbourhood. The dense shrubs and reed thickets in the creek gave the many small birds some protection. Now there are houses on all but the very occasional block and most gardens have larger trees. The cat and dog population has exploded.

Our early garden was populated with small birds like this New Holland Honeyeater, but they gradually disappeared.

Now, the changed environment suits larger birds in the garden and the smaller birds have migrated to the clifftop heath where they have greater protection in the low growing dense shrub. This recent photo taken on the clifftop heath gives a glimpse of the Honeyeater's yellow wing patches.

On a rare vacant block in the township, a pair of Masked Lapwings commonly know as "Plovers" are once again trying to raise a chick. They may be successful because the block is completely fenced.

* * * * *

In the world of ikebana I showed you this photo last week...

...when the potted irises produced a single flower. At the time I was delighted to have such a beautiful blue bloom. However, I thought the ikebana was not well balanced in terms of the volume of the flower compared to the leaves.

So I was especially pleased when the irises produced another flower before the first had withered.

In my Geelong class Tess made an ikebana using White Narcissus from her garden. So that she would not kill the bulb, she told me she only took a couple of leaves from each plant. Obviously they have propagated well. Having such a lot of leaves she was able to make a contemporary style ikebana. A mass of leaves sweep across two black suibans with a focus of a single stem of the white flowers.

Coincidently I had made an ikebana at home with the same colour combination, green leaves and white flowers in a black vase

This is a side view to reveal just how far forward the large leaf projects, which is not obvious in the photo from the front.

I have used white Incurve Chrysanthemums, and the dark green leaves are Acanthus from the garden. The flowers are "peeping" from the side of the vase and are sheltering beneath the larger leaf above.

Acanthus leaves are especially beautiful for their glossy dark green and symmetrically lobed form. Unfortunately, they have very sticky sap and wilt quickly if not treated correctly. Here is the solution to keeping Acanthus leaves fresh. Prepare a tall vase with warm water (40 degrees C) to which is added 10ml of white vinegar per litre. Re-cut the stem under water and rub the cut until the stickiness has gone. Then place the stem deep in the prepared water. Leave for at least an hour, in a cool dark place if possible. If it is to be arranged in a kenzan it would be wise to gently bind the end with florists tape or an elastic band as it will curl like split celery. The arrangement above is still looking fresh five days after it was created.

Greetings from Christopher.

22nd August 2021

GRASS TREES BLOOM in the ANGLESEA HEATH

Sun, 15 Aug 2021 04:39:50 +0200

During the week we were taken for a walk through some coastal heathland by our friends Heather and John. They live in Anglesea, the next town along the coast west of Torquay. The area is famous for the heath and open woodland forest, on the north and west of the township. The Anglesea Heath covers an area of 6,700 hectares and is particularly well known for the great diversity of its wildflowers, including a large number of terrestrial orchids.

The impetus for the walk was the sighting by Heather and John of a large number of Xanthorrhoea australis, that were all in flower; a particularly spectacular sight. It is unusual to see a lot of these plants flowering all at the same time. The clue to this phenomenon is on the right of the photo. The blackened trunk of a Messmate, Eucalyptus obliqua, is the result of a small 'controlled burn' to reduce the fuel load in the undergrowth. Both the Messmate and the Xanthorrhoea are fire-adapted species. Xanthorrhoea responds to fire by producing flowers, and thereby many seeds.

We were surprised to see a small number of flower spikes that were contorted, presumably because of damage as the flower spike was starting to form. I am guessing that it may have been caused by insects.

As you can see most of the flower spikes are quite straight.

However, this one must have been damaged very early in its development. If you look closely you will see that it has formed a spiral of one and a half anti-clockwise revolutions.

This photo is poor quality because it is a small section of a much larger image. It shows a flock of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos perched on the flower spikes and feeding on the seeds. In the full photo I can count seventeen individuals.

This photo shows some of the Heath where a variety of small flowers are starting to bloom. It is adjacent to an area of open forest. The Wikipedia article states that "...Heathland is favoured where climatic conditions are typically hard and dry, particularly in summer, and soils acidic, of low fertility, and often sandy and very free draining."

On our walk I was surprised to see a lot of the white form of the Australian Common Heath, Epacris impressa.

In the Ironbark Basin area, where we more often walk, the pink form is much more common and the white rare. The pink form is the state flower of Victoria.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, in our garden the first of this year's blue Dutch Iris, Iris x hollandica 'Imperator' has appeared. The bulbs of this Iris were given to me by a neighbour. Not trusting the soil in our garden I planted some in a pot with a 'water well' and others in the open garden. Those in the garden are about one third the size and have not flowered. The blue is so wonderfully intense that I have used it for this week's ikebana.

Having only one flower I have set it with three leaves of New Zealand Flax that I have split and folded into narrow triangles. The olive green of the flax is a good foil for the blue of the iris. The Shino-glazed suiban is by the New Zealand ceramic artist Elena Renka.

Greetings from Christopher

15th August 2021

YELLOW and PURPLE

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 09:19:30 +0200

Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed the Clematis microphylla, coming into bloom along the paths among the sand dunes and cliff tops. It is a fairly vigorous climber and covers smaller bushes, making a creamy yellow canopy. In recent years it seems to be much more abundant. In my childhood it was not present. However where we now live, about 300 metres from my childhood home, is a suburb that was created in what had been grazing farmland. It was bare of all but grass. Prior to the development of farms, this part of Victoria had been open forest and grassland.

The Clematis is obviously a robust plant growing, as you can see on the cliff tops, where it is exposed to salty winds.

This close-up was taken among part of the mass in the first photo. I have often wondered whether the current presence of this plant is a result of garden escapees or just a natural return of a plant that had disappeared when the land was cleared in the 19th century. We planted C microphylla on our fence some years ago and now it is self-seeding elsewhere in the garden.

The charming little flowers make an interesting subject for a cascading ikebana.

I have arranged two stems of the Clematis, having first removed almost all of the leaves. For textural contrast I added an Aspidistra leaf and a white 'Incurve' Chrysanthemum, as a focal point. The tall glass vase works especially well for such fine material as the Clematis.

This winter, when the Cootamundra wattle Acacia baileyana was at its peak, I missed the opportunity to use it in my ikebana. We were away for a week and then a period of persistent rain damaged much of the blossom.

However, the prostrate form, which we also have in the garden, is growing in the shelter of a large Angophora costata and some of the flowers were still good condition today. I decide to use it as the main material in a second ikebana as I had bought some purple Statice, Limonium sinatum a couple of days before.

I have used the Acacia branches for the main lines of the ikebana and the Statice as a contrasting mass. This conforms to one of the Sogetsu curriculum exercises, being an ikebana using materials of contrasting colours; yellow and purple being on the opposite sides of the colour wheel. The intensification of the colours can occur with only a small amount of the contrast. The straight-sided ceramic ikebana vase is a deep blue.

Greetings from Christopher

8th August 2021

WINTER IN THE GARDEN

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 04:46:31 +0200

A few weeks ago I had an early morning walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens Victoria, Melbourne garden and was delighted to see that the various members of the narcissus family had begun to flower.

This mass planting has been set around some of the playfully sculptured branches, that I showed last Christmas, of the fallen White Oak, Quercus Alba.

It is a great spot to see daffodils that have been planted under the trees on the Oak Lawn. I caught this Narcissus, King Alfred, beautifully illuminated by a shaft of sunlight. Its bright yellow was a joy to see on a cold winter's morning.

In our garden it is the Cootamundra Wattle, Acacia Baileyana, that provides a mass of cheery gold in the middle of winter. This particular one is A. baileyana, prostrate form, which eventually develops a domed appearance when its branches start to grow taller, then arch over.

This photo shows a very flat, spreading patch of stems that have grown away from the main plant, passing underneath other bushes to find some brighter sunlight.

The red Flowering Quince on the side fence seems to have produced more flowers this year than last.

Usually the flowers are scattered along the stems and hard to photograph. This cluster has a much higher visual impact.

Last Thursday I was able to commence classes in Geelong for Term Three as the Covid density restrictions in the community facility class rooms permitted us to meet. It was a pleasure to get together after the six-week break since the end of Term Two.

At the class, Ellie's exercise was to make an ikebana in a tsubo vase (spherical shape with a large opening). She has used a horizontal crossbar which is one of the three fixing techniques for this type of vessel. Her branch material was beautifully fragrant cedar. (Some of you may know its name, possibly Calccedrus decurrens). Her flowers are yellow Chrysanthemum and a yellow form of Wax flower, Chamelaucium.

Tess's exercise was to make an ikebana in response to a work of art, in which there should be a communication or dialogue between the ikebana and the art object. Tess has used bare branches and three Red Hot Poker, Kniphofia, flowers in a black ceramic vase. Her art works are two small bronze sculptures from China.

My ikebana this week uses the red Flowering Quince from the garden and some white Narcissus, from a friend's garden. After making the ikebana shown last week, which emphasised some curving lines, I had a spare straight branch. This branch had grown vertically with some short side branches radiating sideways and a very nice cluster of flowers that I did not want to waste.

I suddenly had the inspiration to place it in an especially narrow trough-like vessel by Hiroe Swen. I have only used this vessel a couple of times, because it is far too narrow for any kenzan and requires ingenuity to fix any tall stems so that they don’t fall over. I laid the branch at a shallow angle using one of the side branches for additional support within the vessel. I then placed the narcissus parallel to the principal stem in two small masses with a space between them.

Here is the same ikebana from the right hand side, with the main line coming forward. As I placed it in the niche that I walk past into the kitchen it is necessary for both views to be satisfactory.

Greetings from Christopher

1st August 2021

PLENTY OF PINK

Sun, 25 Jul 2021 07:17:39 +0200

The winter flowering plants are a delight to the eye during our current spate of cold and wet days. Unfortunately, the rain has spoilt most of the flowers on the Cootamundra wattle, Acacia baileyana.

However, the Japanese Flowering Quince, Chaenomeles japonica looks lovely. This beautiful white one was given to me by my ikebana friend Joan. It is quite slow growing in our garden, so I am reluctant to pick any yet.

The red variety that I planted at least thirty years ago has spread along the side fence line in a most satisfactory way giving me a supply of flowering branches for winter ikebana.

This fern has also been growing for many years under a large Eucalyptus, which had to be pruned quite hard a couple of years ago. It became burnt over the summer as a result of losing its leafy protective cover. As you can see it has recovered well this year.

I have used the fern and the red Flowering Quince in this ikebana, emphasising the flowing lines and the asymmetry of the design. The irregularly-shaped, celadon-glazed vase is by Graeme Wilkie.

* * * * *

Photograph copyright: @soul_tradr

On Saturday of last weekend the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International was to have a workshop, with Ema Shin as the guest speaker. Unfortunately, because of a sudden Covid lockdown, the workshop had to be cancelled. Ema is a Japanese born and trained artist who works across a variety of media including wood block printing, weaving, embroidery, tapestry and paper making.

As members of the I.I. Chapter we were encouraged to view Ema's work on-line in preparation for making ikebana in response to her art practice. When I looked at her work I became particularly conscious of the shades of reds, pinks and oranges, as well as the textures of the fabrics she uses. With these characteristics in mind...

...I suddenly noticed the intensity of the pink in this variegated Bougainvillea in the conservatory.

Here is a close up of a small flower surrounded by vivid pink bracts. Some of the flower heads I used were quite pale, having faded and become papery.

I also needed some bright red and maroon, for the lines I wanted to emphasise. I began the process by crocheting red wool onto a small side stem of a dried branch that I had used previously. This turned out to be very difficult and slow so I changed my method to simply (!) winding the wool around the branch. One and a half hours later I was pleased that I had begun this part of my preparation before the workshop. When the workshop was cancelled I decided to finish my plan rather than waste all that effort.

Here is my finished piece. I had decided that the finished work should still maintain the feel of ikebana. To that end I had determined I should keep most of the dry branch exposed and only emphasise one line with the red wool. The soft fading pinks of the Bougainvillea made a good contrast to the branch and the black ceramic vase.

Others of my colleagues also finished their ikebana and the photos have been posted on the I.I. Melbourne Chapter Instagram account.

Greetings from Christopher

25th July 2021.

MORE GUM NUTS

Sun, 18 Jul 2021 08:03:45 +0200

Last week I posted some photos from the first part of our week travelling around regional Victoria. On the fifth day we went to Echuca on the Murray River, Victoria's border with New South Wales. This town is particularly well known for the paddle steamers that became the major form of freight and passenger movement on the river from the mid-1800s. Paddle steamers were ideal on the river because of their shallow draft and the plentiful supply of wood along the river.

River banks and flood plains are the habitat of the River Red Gum, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and it is seen widely across the continent. This 'log buggy' on display at the port of Echuca is extraordinary, being made of Red Gum except for the axles.

The huge section of tree trunk has a circumference of approximately 5.4m (diameter approx. 1.88m).

We were delighted that we were in time to catch the late afternoon cruise on the PS Adelaide. It has the claim to fame of being the world's oldest wooden-hulled paddle steamer still in service, which began in 1866. I did not get an opportunity to photograph the PS Adelaide. The steamer in the photo is the PS Emmy Lou. It was built as a tourist vessel and began service in 1908.

I took this photo at the turning point of our cruise and thought it looked like a classic view of the Murray River.

* * * * *

In the garden back at Torquay I decided to do some winter pruning.

This is a two metre high, red flowering Corymbia ficifolia that was planted two years ago in our garden. It had flowered well last summer. However, because it is still developing I decided to remove most of the seed pods so that it would put its energy into growth not seed production. These are the same gum nuts that I combined with the autumnal red hydrangea two weeks ago. Having a rather large quantity of such beautifully coloured material I decided to use it in this week's ikebana.

This is the first version of the massed ikebana that I made as soon as I brought the gum nuts inside. The little clusters had very short stems, so I chose this slab built vessel by Janet Keefe from Ontario, Canada. The vessel has two slit-like openings on opposite sides. The leaves are from the same tree. I had made this quickly but was not happy with the form of the mass. I felt its form was too large and regular, and covered the vessel rather than related to it.

A week later the materials were still looking fresh and I had time to make this re-working. The mass is narrower and related better to the form of the vessel. I have also re-positioned the leaves to make the ikebana 'tighter' and also angled the vessel so that the split at the back is visible.

Greetings from Christopher

18th July 2021

SOME PERSONAL HISTORY, NATURAL HISTORY AND ART

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 03:27:54 +0200

This week Laurie and I have taken a short holiday travelling around the central Victorian goldfields area. This is the area where several early discoveries of small amounts of alluvial gold were found in 1850 -51, leading to the Victorian Gold Rush.

This map shows the 'gold triangle', an area roughly between

St Arnaud, Ararat, Ballarat and Bendigo. Some of the still visible results of the huge wealth generated by the gold finds are the grand public, and private, buildings that were built in that period. The town centre of Bendigo is a particular favourite of ours.

This week we also went to St Arnaud for the first time. I was really fascinated to see this huge, leafless Cotoneaster that was covered in clusters of berries. It was growing beside one of the many early banks that proliferated in the late 19th century.

Here is the grand Town Hall at Eaglehawk, which is 6 kms north west of Bendigo.

Of course there are many smaller modest buildings. The surprise in this one is...

...the very elaborate ornamental lychgate for such a small cottage.

In 1852 at the age of 17 my great grandfather, Frederic Taylor James, arrived in Victoria from the UK and, after a period in Melbourne, walked the 153km to the gold diggings in Bendigo. Four years later he married Maria Smith and built a house on this site, above, where they brought up their 10 children. The current house dates from the late 1800s.

You can gauge the age of some of the private gardens in Bendigo by the height of the trees. This Cabbage-tree Palm, Livistona australis, now soars above the house below. The European colonists were fascinated by the flora of Australia and many larger old gardens feature plants like this and the Bunya Bunya pine, Araucaria bidwillii.

However, they also loved the familiar flowers from 'home'. An example that caught my attention was this rose bush with a large number of beautifully coloured rose hips...

...and one fully opened flower.

This is the Teddington Hut Camping area, the starting point for our walk in the Kara Kara National Park. The forest is dominated by a variety of medium sized eucalyptus trees with a sparse understory of acacias and other smaller shrubs and is described as one of the most intact remnant Box and Ironbark forests in Victoria. These eucalyptus trees have the characteristic of producing flowers throughout most of the year. As a result the forest supports abundant, nectar and pollen eating, bird and insect life as well as small mammals. We saw (and heard ! ) flocks of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos as well as two pairs of Kangaroos that we had obviously startled.

I saw this Rainbow Lorikeet in a private garden feasting in a Western Australian Eucalyptus Caesia...

...and then, this Kookaburra in the later afternoon light. The abundance of bird life is the principal subject of the murals by Andrew Bourke and Jimmy DVate in the small town of Wedderburn.

I was quite amazed to see the whole façade of the Uniting Church painted with this colourful mural.

To the right side of the church is this mural on the rear wall of the next building.

The side wall of the adjacent supermarket has very large mural facing the main street.

This is a detail of the left hand side of the photo above.

Finally ikebana.

I made this ikebana three months ago when the hydrangeas had started changing to their autumn colouring. A single flower and leaf is combined with a bare branch from the Coastal Tea Tree, leptospermum laevigatum, in our garden. The ceramic vase has two side openings. The autumn flower is contrasted with the wintery looking branch.

Greetings from Christopher

11th July 2021

Congratulations to Ash Barty !!

SEED PODS and FLOWERS

Sat, 03 Jul 2021 06:00:06 +0200

This week as I was finally pruning the Hydrangeas I discovered three flowers partially hidden under some of the remaining leaves.

This one particularly surprised me because it had obviously developed very late and still had not fully opened because of the onset of wintery weather. It was completely hidden under other leaves and against a brick wall that may have been keeping it slightly warmer than the surrounding air. In this photo you can see that the tiny pink flowers have not opened but the usually pale pink sepals have already started to turn green before developing their autumn colouring.

When I brought this flower in I removed all but one of the leaves and quickly placed it in this simple, dark green ceramic vase. This ikebana is in the style of a chabana, tea ceremony arrangement. In chabana, the materials should be simple, reflecting the season, and placed very quickly in the vase without the use of usual ikebana techniques for fixing the materials ( Shozo Sato * ).

The second of the three flowers was entirely green. However, the third one, above, had developed its autumn colour and surprisingly had not been damaged by rain. I have circled a section that shows a sepal has remained green where it has been sheltered by the sepal above - which in the photo is the one on the left.

When I brought this small flower inside...

...I realised that its colour was very close to that of the warm pink of seed pods on the Red Flowering Gum, Corymbia ficifolia, which was planted in our garden about two years ago.

This is a Corymbia in flower. This tree is in an adjacent garden and the small group of open flowers are out-of-season, being really rather early.

In my second ikebana I have combined these materials making a mass using the two remaining Hydrangea flowerheads and a bunch of the Corymbia seed pods. The branch extending to the right, which I cut from our Corymbia, has kept its natural shape. However, I have removed about two thirds of the leaves.

The bottle-shaped ceramic vessel is by Sergio Sill.

Greetings from Christopher

3rd July 2021

* Sato, S. "Ikebana: The art of arranging flowers." Tuttle Publishing 2008

SOME MIDWINTER FLOWERS

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 05:10:32 +0200

The winter solstice passed last Monday in the southern half of the world. In the north, Midsummer's Day has a long history and was celebrated in many cultures. What I have learnt today (!) is that there is a modern tradition celebrating Midwinter's Day among workers on the Antarctic research stations. The first celebration was held in 1902. Have a look at the Wikipedia link above for more information.

I was a little late pruning the Cecile Brunner Rose this year and so, rather than cut them off, I left a small stem of buds that had formed.

This morning the first of them had just begun to open. These buds are particularly beautiful as they begin to open. The fragrance of the opened flowers is also delightful and has a slightly spicy note.

The first flower of my two potted Camellias opened recently (name unknown) and I could not resist taking a photo. At this stage I am not brave enough to plant them out in our very dry hydrophobic soil.

Joan's white Japanese Flowering Quince, Chaenomeles japonica, also started to open its first bud this morning.

Among the Australian natives in the garden the Cootamundra Wattle, Acacia Baileyana, is so covered in buds that the leaves are hard to see. Over the next couple of weeks it will become a mass of soft golden balls.

I was surprised by the Swan River Pea, Gastrolobium celsianum, which seemed to suddenly have flowered quite prolifically. This photo was taken with the sun coming through the beak-like flowers. In the garden it cascades down a bank beside the Cootamundra Wattle and a, now large, Coastal Banksia.

On the other side of the house is another red flower. The first of the Japanese Flowering Quinces that I planted. Because of its suckering habit it now extends for about three metres along the side fence. The intense red flowers on bare branches seem to emphasise the coldness of winter. Of course they make a beautiful subject for ikebana.

I have set four stems of the Japonica in an asymmetric naturalistic style, paying attention to the space that has been created in the centre of the ikebana. At the base, the green leaves are from the tall-growing Nandina domestica. The green ceramic suiban is by John Campbell who was active in the early 20th century in Tasmania.

Greetings from Christopher

26th June 2021

MAKING A MASS

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 04:28:36 +0200

The week before last saw wild weather and heavy storm damage in the east of Victoria. With large trees blown down over powerlines there are still many households without power. On the western side of Port Philip Bay there was little damage and much less rain.

However the wind from the south was ferocious. This view is from the Torquay surf beach looking west toward the cliffs of Jan Juc beach in the distance.

Bird Rock at Jan Juc was surrounded by white water.

A break in the clouds appeared as the sun was about to set.

A few days later we visited our friends who have moved to Anglesea, the next township along the coast.

The scene could hardly have been more tranquil. This is Point Roadknight viewed from the lookout at Anglesea and photographed just as a late ray of sun lit the rocks on the point. I have always thought this very sheltered beach looks like something you would see in a children's book.

Closer to the Anglesea river this Moonah tree, Melaleuca lanceolata, is a testament to the effects of the prevailing winds and nature's ability to adapt to the environmental conditions over time. Growing up in this coastal environment made me very conscious of the beauty of the flora, both large and small, to be found here.

Of course, we are also blessed with a considerable variety of birdlife. This Rainbow Lorikeet was feeding in an Olive tree in a front garden that we walked past. It is interesting that ,in this area, the variety of medium-sized birds in particular has increased over the last 60 years. What was once a bare sheep paddock is now a suburb with gardens dominated by Australian native plants (and a few exotics, like olives!).

Now to ikebana:

Last week I mis-identified Maree's branch material as Cotoneaster. Freya has kindly and correctly identified the plant as Pyracantha, which has the evocative common name of Firethorn.

This week I have been drawn to another prickly customer, Asparagus Fern, Asparagus aethiopicus. This plant is growing in our garden and had become entangled in netting over a small pomegranate. A branch broke off as I removed the netting and I thought I would use it in my ikebana.

Asparagus fern is often used by Ohara ikebanists to represent the ground in their traditional landscape style. As you can see, it grows in tight little tufts along grey stems, which have thorns. I wanted to use it to create a mass for my ikebana. When doing so with leafy material it is appropriate to manipulate it so that the stems do not show, thus concealing the lines of the stems.

The mass I have created is dense and a beautiful rich deep green. It was necessary to cut the stems into shorter lengths so that they could be concealed and to make the mass an irregular form, not a smooth ball. The contrasting lines are Coastal Tea Tree, Leptospermum laevigatum, from our garden. Yet another plant that twists into beautiful forms. The ceramic vase has two side openings as well as one at the top.

Greetings from Christopher

20th June 2021

WINTER COLOUR

Sun, 13 Jun 2021 05:16:00 +0200

On May the 27th, my students in Geelong each had a different exercise to complete. It was interesting to see the variety of ikebana created as well as the strength of design.

The exercise for Tess was an ikebana expressing movement. She chose 'Bubbling Over'. She has set her materials in two matching contemporary-styled vessels. The lines are Xanthorrhoea and the two masses created with Gypsophila.

Maree's exercise was Variation No 8, using two cylindrical nageire vases. The arrangement in each of the vases is a discrete exercise from earlier in the curriculum. They are combined to make a single ikebana. I think the branches with bright orange berries are one of the many Cotoneasters and the flowers, Proteas.

Helen M's exercise was to make 'Miniature Ikebana', a concept developed by the second Sogetsu Iemoto, Kasumi Teshigahara. Each miniature 'vessel' contains only elements of a plant on which the ikebanist has chosen to focus. They are not tiny individual ikebana arrangements. Instead the group is seen as a whole with multiple points of interest.

Helen had brought enough material and vessels to make a second set.

The exercise I set for Ellie was 'Inspired by Music'. When ikebana is made on a theme removed from the world of botanical materials, Japanese festivals or the seasons, they should be appreciated simply in design terms. The exercise I set is not a guessing game to identify the source of the ikebanist's inspiration. However, Ellie told us that her inspiration for this first work was the 'trial scene' from Verdi's 'Aida'.

This second work that Ellie created was quite abstract. Her inspiration was the third movement, Adagio, 'Eternal Memory' from the 11th Symphony of Shostakovich.

* * * * *

This morning I heard some noisy chirping in the garden...

...that, as I thought, was a few Rainbow Lorikeets in the large Banksia integrifolia by the garden path.

They were after the nectar in the many blooms at this time of year.

Also in the garden some of the leaves on the Hydrangeas are developing strong red patches before they fall.

One Hydrangea colours very strongly with the onset of the cold weather while, surprisingly, another produced a very late new pink flower. I think it has flowered late because I pruned it too hard last winter.

The two flowers from different pots were growing very close together. I thought they would continue to look lovely in a vase and last a little longer than on the bush. I have created a mass with the flowers and removed almost all the leaves. The ikebana vessel, which I bought in Kiso-Fukushima, is made from lacquered linen. I was told the inspiration for the vessel was the lacquered helmets worn by firefighters in the Edo period. The maker is Hiroyasu Takizawa.

Greetings from Christopher

13th June 2021

WINTER BERRIES

Sun, 06 Jun 2021 04:22:54 +0200

Wednesday last week was officially the second day of Winter in this part of the world. Victoria is back in Covid-19 lockdown, but fortunately Iron Bark Basin in the Great Otway National Park is within our travel restriction of 5km (now 10km). Laurie and I decided to break our routine and take our permitted daily exercise there.

When we arrived, I suddenly realised how summery the scene looked in the bright sunshine, in spite of it being fairly cool. Because the majority of trees in our landscape are evergreen, the signs of winter are much more subtle than many northern hemisphere environments. At this time of year there are fewer flowers and it is a little too early for the first of the wattles (Acacias) to bloom. In spite of the sunshine I found a jumper was required.

This glimpse of the sea was all the more deceptive of the actual season because the ground cover in the foreground has been slashed making the scene appear like a hot dry summer's day. In fact, the slashing of the low vegetation beside this part of the path has been done to prepare a fire-break for the next summer when the bush fire risk is our major concern.

A couple of weeks ago I had set one of my classes the exercise of making an ikebana arrangement that incorporated 'Branches with Fruit or Berries'.

Judy used branches of Pittosporum in a shallow black bowl.

Róża used three branches of lemons. Placement and securing the stems was quite a challenge because the vessel is narrow and wide.

Coralie used Nandina in her ikebana. Unfortunately the small berries are not easy to see in this photo.

Marion set a single branch of fig in this small shell shaped vessel. She then added two short stems with one leaf each to give the work depth to the rear and forward.

Marta arranged branches of small Pomegranates in a shallow trough vessel. She used two kenzans to create space in the work and added a stem of Cotoneaster to provide height.

Over the past couple of weeks I had noticed a Cotoneaster bush by the path around the local sports oval. I thought its red berries would make a good ikebana subject for an unusual facetted vase I had been given by the South Australian Branch of the Sogetsu School. The vase has been dipped in a black glaze except for a small area at the top which has been dribbled with a bright red glaze.

I am conscious of the fact that in making ikebana I am usually drawn to, or inspired by, a particular material which becomes my starting point. It is relatively unusual for me to begin an ikebana arrangement by choosing the vessel first. Doing so makes one consider carefully the nature of the materials that will complement the vessel's colour, texture and form. Both the unusual shape, but more particularly the colours of this vase, require careful consideration of materials that will be suitable.

When I went to collect the Cotoneaster berries I was pleased to notice that some of the leaves had also coloured rather beautifully. I have stripped almost all of the (many) green leaves on the Cotoneaster. The two branches of Cotoneaster are asymmetrically placed on opposite sides and visually connected by a mass made with two bunches of Pittosporum berries and leaves.

Greetings from Christopher

6th June 2021

AUTUMNAL HYDRANGEA

Sun, 30 May 2021 07:49:24 +0200

At my Torquay class last week I had set an exercise requiring the students to use two vessels in which to create their ikebana and to incorporate some 'unconventional' (man made) material. This class includes some new students, so it was a considerable challenge. The photos are of the ikebana works with adjustments made following my critique.

The two particular difficulties in the exercise are to make a unified work in which both vessels play a part. The second is that the unconventional materials are essential to the design such that the ikebana would look incomplete if they were removed.

Jean used two white vessels of different shapes. Her unconventional material is metal strapping that is used to stabilise walls that are made in wooden-framed houses. The botanical material is seaweed.

Marta has also used two non-matching white vessels. The unconventional material is rubberised netting that on the left side is wrapped around bamboo. The botanical materials are dark maroon succulent, Aeonium "Zwartkop".

Marian also used Aeonium, though a different and more commonly seen variety. She said the succulents made her think of Mexican desert scenes, which influenced her in the choice of vessels and the bright coloured unconventional materials.

Judith used a black ceramic stand and a dark metal urn-shaped vessel. Her unconventional material is a black net string-bag supported on a length of bamboo. The botanical materials are Aeonium, and leaves of a variegated Dracaena, probably D. fragrans 'Lemon Lime'.

In the garden, as we come to the end of Autumn, there are a few exotic plants with colourful leaves that I thought I could include in this weeks ikebana.

The first is on one of the Hydrangeas. I successfully struck two cuttings of this plant, undoubtedly H. macrophylla, however I do not know which variety.

The leaves on the apricot tree are a lovely yellow especially with the sun coming through them this afternoon. However they are very limp and fall easily from the branch when being arranged.

This leaf is from the self-sown apple, more of a bush than a tree. It struggles to exist as it is underneath the apricot and only about 20cm from its large trunk. The colours are delightful and the leaf attachment to the branch is more robust than the apricot.

The ikebana I created this morning features a large Hydrangea flower, from Rosemary and David's garden. Here on the coast were it is exposed to more harsh conditions the autumn colour is much darker than its parent.

I have set the single flowerhead to the left front and a long branch from the apple to the right. The leaves graduate from green through yellow and orange to a deep maroon. In the centre is a rich, orange-tipped leaf of the Hydrangea.

The ceramic vase is by the Katherine (Northern Territory) based artist Dan Murphy. I was introduced to his work by Ray Bywaters, when I presented workshops to the South Australian Sogetsu Branch earlier this year. I would also recommend this article about Dan Murphy from the ABC.

Greetings from Christopher

30th May 2021

"A WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY"

Sun, 23 May 2021 10:58:25 +0200

This weekend we travelled inland to Marcia and Chris's house at Yea, just over 100 kms north of Melbourne. The journey took us through the Yarra Valley, one of the wine growing regions of Victoria. It is a really lovely pastoral area with rolling hills, mixed farming, vineyards and patches of forrest. The area has an annual rainfall over 40% higher than Torquay, making it a very different countryside compared to the coastal area where we live.

The hills were still rather misty at lunch time on Saturday creating a landscape that faded into the distance.

On our walk around the garden, the eucalyptus trees in the neighbouring property had lost their colour and texture because of the mist.

Earlier in the morning, the 'mist' was serious fog, a wall of grey which prevented us from seeing anything beyond the boundaries of the garden. This resulted in the appearance of the garden as a self-contained space, floating and separated from the rest of the world.

Many of the deciduous trees were already bare, although some still had a few autumn coloured leaves.

In this photo the garden seems to end in the wall of grey beyond the boundary trees.

My attention at one moment was caught by the watery sunlight catching the dew drops on this spiders web. Marcia pointed out earlier that some of the leaves were actually rimed with ice and then told me that the temperature had got down to minus two degrees celsius overnight.

Some bright red pomegranates by the verandah were very appealing to my ikebana eyes, along with the branches that had quite thick growths of various lichens. I was granted permission to prune and create a large autumnal ikebana installation.

My idea was to set it sufficiently high that the evening guests when seated around the coffee table would be able to see each other below the reaching branches.

When we arrived we were welcomed by this ikebana made by Marcia to which I later added the pomegranate at the back.

This is how my large ikebana looked photographed against a wall. The materials are lichen-encrusted branches, two branches of pomegranates and two white camellias that are among the mass in the centre of the arrangement.

Greetings from Christopher

23rd May 2021

FRUITING BRANCHES AND PAPER

Sat, 15 May 2021 09:07:36 +0200

A couple of weeks ago I had a walk in the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne on a rather overcast day after it had been raining. The diffused light seemed to make the autumn colours more luminous, perhaps because the wet green leaves were darker looking.

This view is from a high vantage point that looks down to the main lake through some large deciduous trees.

Nearby, this richly coloured tree was like a beacon between the deep greens on either side.

Along one of the paths I noticed that leaves, like this one, looked extra bright because the area around the veins remained yellow while the edge of the leaves had turned red.

There are only a few native Australian trees that are deciduous, most of which are tropical or subtropical. Apparently we have only one 'true temperate deciduous tree' the Tasmanian Beech Northofagus gunnii. This next link is fascinating and answered my question "How many native deciduous trees are there in Australia?".

In the gardens I was delighted to see that this Firewheel Tree, Stenocarpus Sinatus, has come into flower. The bright red of the rather extraordinary flowers is really eye catching against the glossy dark green leaves.

The flowers had formed in fairly large clusters scattered over the tree.

This close-up makes sense of the common name, Fire Wheel.

Finally, my ramble took me down to the lake at the lowest part of the garden. I was delighted by this view of a small tree in autumnal splendour reflected on the lake surface.

In a recent class with my teacher, Elizabeth, we were asked to make an ikebana using fruiting branches and incorporating paper. An interesting challenge. The important thing to keep in mind is that both the botanical and man-made elements must be integrated in the design and be necessary. That means there should be a sense of connectedness between the elements. Secondly, if either of the materials were removed the ikebana would look incomplete.

This is Elizabeth's demonstration example of the exercise. She had hand cut strips of magazine pages to create two masses of looping lines, then added a mass of green and orange cumquats.

For my ikebana I collected three branches of figs that I had seen growing wild by the Yarra River in Melbourne and set them in a tall conical metal vessel. The fruit were very small, probably because of the poor quality of the soil. I removed almost all of the leaves. The remaining ones are mostly showing their undersides, which are interestingly textured and have pronounced veins. Then I rolled two sheets of red tissue paper around a bamboo skewer, creating two straight straw-like red lines.

The following morning the leaves had wilted badly, so I removed them. The result looked better to my eyes, being a less fussy design. One of the paper straws had softened at the bend, but I decided not to fiddle with it and risk making the bend even weaker.

Greetings from Christopher

15th May 2021

UNUSUAL AGAPANTHUS

Sun, 09 May 2021 02:58:31 +0200

Last week I began term two classes for my Geelong and Torquay students after a six week break, and life has become suddenly busy again with activities beyond those classes. Being busy is, of course, a good thing.

The usual venue for my Torquay students was not available for the first week and it was necessary to hold the class at my home. The theme for the class was a minor challenge for the students. I had advised them to bring only three flowers and that they would arrange those flowers with other materials that they could choose from the garden. I had set out a number of tall vases and suibans* for the students to use, so they had the possibilities of those vessels in mind. We then walked around the garden so that they could see what was available (and what was off limits ! ). Their choices included various pieces of 'driftwood' and other dried materials scattered about.

I had set up trestle tables, as the exercise did not include the students having to take into account the situation in which the ikebana was to be set. I began the class with a demonstration of a fixing technique, using a vertical fixture in a tall vase which two of the students used.

Marion had bought three intense pink carnations from her garden which she set with some curving stems of Swan River Pea, Gastrolobium celsianum.

Coralie used New Zealand Mirror Bush, Coprosma repens, in a tall blue vase with three stems of Leucadendron, L. salignum.

Marta arranged her Bromeliad, B aechmea gamosepala in a circular suiban with Banksia integrifolia, and some 'driftwood' from the garden.

Róža arranged stems of Hakea laurina, with some 'driftwood' in a green suiban.

Judy arranged some Lisianthus, with some dried branches of Coast Tea Tree, Leptospermum laevigatum, in an ikebana vase by Graeme Wilkie.

During my regular walk last summer I noticed a very unusual Agapanthus flower in the garden of a holiday house. The flower stalk had five fused, curving stems, and one very large flower. On the plant there was another flower stalk with two fused stems.

This close up shows clearly the five fused stems and, at the bottom, the stalk with two fused stems. A couple of weeks ago I met the owner of the house and asked permission to cut the plant to use in an ikebana arrangement.

The larger stem had developed a 'corkscrew' twist as well, so that it looks smaller at the bottom because at that point it is side-on. I have arranged the two stems in a moon-shaped ceramic ikebana vase and placed them parallel to each other so that there is narrow space between them. This unique material is so strong that it does not need anything else added to the work.

Greetings from Christopher

9th May 2021

* Suiban (Japanese) - shallow tray-like vessels.

HAKEA

Sat, 01 May 2021 12:40:09 +0200

On Monday last the Sogetsu Branch held a workshop on the theme of "Renka", a style of ikebana created by a group of participants and which is modelled on the tradition of improvised linked poetry called Renga. The ikebana style, Renka, was invented by Hiroshi Teshigahara the third Iemoto of the Sogetsu school.

The modified process for the workshop was devised by Emerald Leung and Angeline Lo. In the workshop all participants made a first ikebana under a strict 15 minute time limit. They then made a second ikebana in response to another, randomly chosen, participant's first work. The process meant that each participant made two ikebana arrangements in the workshop.

By way of demonstration, Emerald and Angeline created the examples below.

Emerald created the ikebana on the right and Angeline responded with the arrangement on the left.

Angeline then made the arrangement on the left and Emerald responded to it with the arrangement on the right. The following link will take you to the record of the meeting on the Sogetsu Branch website including photos of the ikebana.

* * * * *

A couple of weeks ago I noticed my neighbour's Pincushion Hakea, H. laurina, was flowering prolifically this year. It is one of my favourite Australian flowers, which I remember from my primary school days because it grew in the school grounds.

The flowers are quite extraordinary, being spherical with a deep pink centre from which protrude long, creamy white pistols. My childhood's eyes saw the flowers as looking like an exploding firework. The stiff greyish-green leaves tend to have a curve, often an attractive 'S' shape, and which holds well after cutting. The leaves are delightful for the sense of writhing movement they give. The flowers are frequently within the bush and are often at least partially obscured by the leaves.

This photo shows the initial placement of two branches that I secured in a vase using a vertical fixture, to prevent the branches from rotating. As you can see, the flowers are almost hidden among the leaves. Trimming was necessary...

...a lot of trimming in fact. All the leaves that were in front of flowers were removed first. Then I removed additional ones that had distracting lines.

Next, the branches were re-positioned so that the flowers formed a mass. I then added three lines of Coast Sword Sedge, Lepidosperma gladiatum, which gave a flowing sense of movement complementing the leaves and the line on the vase. The two small yellow spheres are flowers that have not fully opened.

The vase is by the Victorian ceramic artist Kaye Poulton, who has a studio in Mooroopna.

Greetings from Christopher

2nd May 2021