A VARIETY OF SUMMER MATERIALS

Here on the Surf Coast of Victoria, and across the state, we are having a sudden late hot-spell with four consecutive days in the mid to high 30s celsius. It has taken a good bit of attention to keep the pot-plants alive, as well as the exotic northern hemisphere plants which are planted out in the ground. 

This sulphur-crested cockatoo decided to use the freshly-filled bird-bath, even though I had moved it closer to the house at the end of January. I think it was monitoring my movements in spite of the fact that I was some metres away inside the house.

Near the house is an intermittent creek where the council has landscaped a linear park and created a winding path running along its course. Most of the trees in this photo are indigenous and were planted as part of these improvement works.

Further along the creek a bridge crosses a swampy section where bullrushes and 'common reeds', Phragmites australis, grow very densely. In this part of the parkland there is quite a variety of garden escapees...

 ...and weeds that are useful to the ikebanist. 

I had these materials in mind when I set my students the exercise of making an arrangement 'using a variety of summer grasses'. I really enjoy using these weedy materials as they have a beauty that is easily overlooked by the casual passer-by.

At my Geelong class, Ellie made this arrangement using 5 grasses, one of which had an umbelliferous head that is, almost completely, obscured by the mass of the papyrus head at the front. Poor photography on my part.  

Maureen created a vertical arrangement of tall grasses and emphasised its asymmetry by contrasting the two sides. On the left-hand side she created a series of descending lines by cutting reeds straight across and exposing the white pith within them.

My own example of the exercise uses materials gathered along the creek. I made the arrangement a couple of weeks ago having noticed the rose hips and fennel earlier. By the time I collected them they had already passed their peak, however they still had sufficient vibrancy of colour. 

In this exercise, with a variety of materials, we are advised to choose the colours carefully, otherwise the work can look too busy. Apart from the green stems and leaves, I have only used 'warm' colours. The materials are: bull rush and four naturalised plants: fennel, rose hips, crocosima and dockweed. The vessel is an unusual second-hand Japanese ikebana vase that I bought at the February meeting of Ikebana International Melbourne. 

Greetings from Christopher
3rd March 2019