JAPANESE FLOWERING QUINCE (Chaenomeles Japonica)

If you receive this blog by email you will have missed a correction I made to last week's blog after it was posted. The correct name of the maker of Michael's ikebana vessel (below) is William Baker, whose work can be seen by clicking on the link.

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We have had a patch of welcome wet weather over the last week, some brief storms without being severely cold on the coast.

At times it looked rather like this, except that I took the photo of this dramatic-looking sky in the early morning at least a couple of months ago.

I have been delighted that a camellia that I acquired from a neighbour late last year has, A) survived repotting and B) rewarded me with these beautiful flowers.

Camellias are such a delight in winter and generous in their flowering. I now have this unnamed variety and a Kamo Hon'ami. Both are in pots as I don't think they will survive through summer in the dry soil of our garden.

In the late winter, early signs of spring are appearing. This is the transitional season that Dr Tim Entwisle, the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, calls 'Sprinter". The link above is to his excellent blog.

In our garden I was pleased to see that this small shrub of Japanese Flowering Quince, Chaenomeles japonica, has survived the ravages of possums and is beginning to flower well.

It is such an intense colour that it looks extra bright on a cold winters day.

Beside the red Japonica is the variety called Apple Blossom, which has delicate pink and white flowers and was given to me by my friend and former colleague Shirley.

I was keen to make one more ikebana arrangement with the Flowering Quince before the season changes. 

The angular lines of the branches really seem to capture the feeling of winter. They are most dramatic in their leafless winter state which also shows off the flowers in their stark intensity. This ikebana is made with two Flowering Quince branches and one stem of camellia leaves. They are supported by a small forked branch braced across the mouth of the vase. I have carefully aligned all the stems so that they arise from the mouth of the vase in a single line that creates a cleanly defined point of connection with the vase. Because the main branch has such interesting angular lines, a space has been created on the left that emphasises the contrast between the freshness of the camellia leaves and the principal branch.

The vase is by the Victorian ceramic artist Owen Rye.

Greetings from Christopher

15th August 2020