DRIED MATERIALS ONLY

Last week Laurie and I travelled down the New South Wales coastal highway to Sydney, taking a couple of days. One day we stopped at Coffs Harbour to for a lunch break and were delighted to discover the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden. It is a beautiful sub-tropical 20 hectare garden sited on a peninsula in a bend of Coffs Creek, which surrounds the garden on three sides. 

We were surprised to see quite a number of Stag horn ferns platycerium, growing almost at ground level attached to small trees. Easy viewing for the visitors. This one was a little higher than many others.

I had never come across the Nun's hood orchid Phaius tankervilleae var. australis, before. It is an endangered endemic species on the eastern coast of Australia with the southern end of its natural range between Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie. It caught my attention because the flowering stems were about a metre tall and dense with strikingly coloured flowers.

The garden also has a quite large Japanese section with this pavilion projecting over a small lake.

 

L-R: Me, Julie and Laurie. 

In Sydney we stayed with Laurie's sister (Julie) and brother-in-law (Alan) who, one morning, took us for a walk along the harbour side among lush green surroundings... 

...and ended up at Tambourine Bay.

To ikebana: 

In a recent class with my Melbourne students I had set the topic of "Disassembling and re-arranging" the materials. Jacqueline had brought some Clivia leaves and stems with orange flowers,  Her very simple, bold arrangement was set in a clear glass dish. 

I was interested to take this photo from directly above and realised that it simplified the ikebana even further making it look two dimensional.

Marcia used Umbrella Grass Cyperus alternifolius and a purple stemmed Euphorbia. Her design had a strong diagonal movement to the right side  created with the stems. The flowers and leaves were used to create a counterbalancing mass in the centre and lower left.

In my ikebana this week I have used naturally dried materials only. 

This came about by the unexpected find of a branch of Eucalyptus (probably Messmate E. obliqua) that had fallen to the ground, which was quite wet after recent rain. The striking thing was that the leaves had been "skeletonised" by some tiny black insects. I think they were caterpillars but were too small for me to see clearly. 

I arranged the branches reaching horizontally to the right with a smaller mass on the left side. 

In the small mouth of the bottle-shaped vase are three stems of Mountain Daisy Ixodia achillaeoides, a small white multi-headed native flower that grows in South Australia and Victoria.

The vase is by the Australian ceramicist Sergio Sill.

Greetings from Christopher

27th September 2026

THE SWELL SCULPTURE FESTIVAL

Last Monday Laurie and I were taken to see the Swell Sculpture Festival being held at Currumbin Beach on the southern coast of Queensland. The sculptures are set along a stretch of about one and a half kilometres; from Currumbin point in the north to the beginning of Tugun beach at the southern end.

This huge corten steel sculpture was, to me, the single most dramatic and effective work in the festival. Being set on the sand meant that it had no human-made object or building to reference its size. I really liked the careful siting that meant that the horizon was visible through the centre of the circular opening, which drew the viewer's attention. The longest side held a staircase that was concealed from the side view; at the top of which was another circular opening that showed only the sky when viewed from the base.

One of the last sculptures at the southern end of the exhibition was this series of Torii structures covered with mirrored surfaces. They were arranged in a shallow curve so that one could not see the full length of the arcade they formed. From a distance the mirrored surfaces reduced the impact of the arcade compared to what it would have been like if they had been painted vermillion; like the lines of Torii arcades leading to some Shinto shrines in Japan.

Because of the curve, multiple reflections could be seen of anyone approaching but who were still out of direct line of sight. 

This sculpture really appealed to me because, at first glance, the inverted pyramidal steel form seemed to be being dragged by an apparently invisible force pulling on the chain. However, on closer inspection, there was a small honey bee that was doing the work.

Although it is a somewhat different idea, it put me in mind of my student Maree's ikebana at last year's annual exhibition of the Sogetsu Victoria Branch.

My ikebana this week is a final re-working of the material I used in the Sogetsu Branch workshop at the end of July. I actually made this ikebana a week later in the first week of August.

 

I have arranged straight stems of Umbrella grass Cyperus alternifolius, vertically except for two gently curving lines that cross in front and behind the main mass. Bright red carnations Dianthus caryophyllus, form a rising line that spirals from the front around to the back of the vertical lines.

The vase is by the Australian ceramicist Greg Daly.

Greetings from Christopher

20th September 2026

BRUSHFIELDS YELLOW: CHABANA

I asked my senior students in Melbourne recently to make an ikebana incorporating Pine.

Eugenia created a simple ikebana with two long Billy Button Craspedia stems, and a few sprigs of Pine arranged as a mass hanging on the edge of a hand-made ceramic vase.

Aileen made a horizontal ikebana with branches of Pine, Japonica Chaenomeles, and long stems of Freesia in a mid-20th century Japanese ikebana vase.

Julie-Ann's exercise was to make a Slanting Variation No 3 in a tall vase. Her main material was some found, bare branches of Ash Fraxinus angustifolia. Green button Chrysanthemum were used for the centrally-placed flower line which is significantly foreshortened in the photo. Freesias were added and extend along the branch line to the right.

In the Torquay class I asked the students to make an ikebana incorporating paper.

Coralie used a large traditional Japanese basket. She added Japanese newspaper rolled into long tubes as the principal element. A small mass of purple Statice Limonium was massed in the mouth of the basket.

Pamela folded a sheet of printed paper into a small fan secured with the use of two chopsticks. The floral materials were leaves and a stem of Cymbidium orchids, that colour-matched the fan.

Lyn printed paper with "I love ikebana", translated into Japanese and folded into two fans. She then set them into a footed vase with half a Monstera deliciosa leaf between them, and a small section of leaf at the front.

This week Laurie and I have travelled to visit friends on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Along the way I was delighted to see large paddocks of Canola in flower. 

The spectacle was really quite extraordinary and extended over many kilometres of our travels.

Another great sight was the dish of the radio telescope 20km north of Parkes (NSW). This was the subject of the much loved 2000 film The Dish.

My ikebana this week...

,,, includes a re-working of a vertical arrangement I showed two weeks ago. The Cape Honeysuckle flowers and leaves had died. However, the Umbrella grass was still looking good, and more golden, so I added some orange-toned fallen Bamboo leaves.

My second ikebana is a simple placement of 'Brushfields yellow' Camellia in a small Bizen vessel. More in the style of Chabana *.

Greetings from Christopher

13th September 2026

* My editor agrees with me that there are really too many leaves left on the Camellia stem.

FRANKLIN HOUSE EXHIBITION

In my Geelong class...

... Anne's exercise was to make a horizontal ikebana arrangement. She used two large leaves of Bird's nest fern, Asplenium nidus, placed stretching to each side. Then yellow Ranunculus flowers were added amid a central mass of curved Dietes leaves.

The senior students' exercise was to make an ikebana with disassembled and re-arranged materials.

Maureen used Strelitzia leaves, which she cut into shapes that changed their appearance. She added a single flower and bud. The small footed suiban with horizontal ribbing contrasted with the upward movement of the ikebana.

Christine used the roots, stems and leaf tips from an epiphytic Orchid. She cut the leaves so that they appear to be wrapped around the vessel. The cut ends of the stems are protruding through a hole in the back wall of the vessel, while the roots project up and forward from within the vessel.

Ellie used Balloon plant Gomphocarpus physocarpus, for her material. She has arranged a single inverted stem at a dramatic angle with one follicle attached. Two other follicles are placed on top of one of the vessel's openings. A small number of narrow leaves have been folded and inserted into another of the openings toward the back.

Maree used an unidentified Banksia flower, which she cut to show a cross-section through the middle of the flower spike. Several sections were then placed underwater in a box-shaped glass vase. She then set a stem, stripped of leaves and flowers, horizontally across the vessel and aligned with another section of stem in a second, smaller glass vessel.

Jo stripped Ornamental kale Brassica oleracea, into its constituent elements of leaves and stems. The new arrangement uses the stems to elevate one, of the two colour-matched vessels, above the other. Although there is water in each of the vessels two small leaves are placed on the table surface.

Earlier this week, I joined Eleanor Button and other Victorian Sogetsu Branch members for a series of events in Launceston, Tasmania. The events were in conjunction with the third annual  exhibition being held this week at Franklin House. The house is a National Trust property that was built in 1838 at Youngtown on the southern outskirts of Launceston. 

The first public event I participated in was held in the entrance foyer of the Cumulus Studio at the University of Tasmania Inveresk Campus. I decided, as I did last year, to make a "found object" sculpture with the very colourfully upholstered, steel- framed chairs. This time I wanted to make the structure a bit narrower than in the previous year. I was assisted by Eleanor who found two bright yellow wooden stools that we added to the structure. We also added 6 strongly-coloured vegetables to contrast with the manufactured fabrics of the chairs.

In Franklin House I made a late winter ikebana in a large hand-made ceramic vessel which I borrowed. I used a bare branch from an unidentified deciduous tree as well as fresh material including Camellia and a Cypress branch. The bare branch was visually balanced by the smaller curving branch of Cypress. The two stems of white flowering Camellia reached both forward and to the back. In fact, the ikebana was able to be viewed from all around, as it was on a table in the middle of the room.

Greetings from Christopher

6th September 2026.
 

TWO STYLES

Last weekend we had the pleasure of sharing some delights of our neighbourhood with visitors who stayed with us at Torquay. 

This Kookaburra, on one of the bridges across the creek, was rather nearer to our house than is usual - a tribute to the maturing of the trees planted in private gardens and along the creek over the last 40 years.The land where our house is built, was a treeless sheep paddock in my childhood. Further up the creek there is a larger expanse of remnant bushland, and these birds usually prefer that habitat. I have only sighted Kookaburras in our garden twice, and then only in the last 6 years.

We also took our guests to the Iron Bark Basin in part of the Great Otway National Park and were rewarded with the sight of a small 'colony' of Nodding Greenhood Pterostylis nutans terresterial orchids. It is one of the earliest-flowering orchids in this area.

In Torquay I gave my students the exercise I wrote about a month ago; that is: "Disassembling and Rearranging of Materials".

Pamela used a common sedge as her principal material. She removed the flowering part and placed it at the base of the tall straight stems. The purple flower may be a cultivar of Rhododendron alabamense, and the single leaf is a Nasturtium Tropaeolum.

Lyn used Banksia marginata which she set in a shallow bronze suiban. The nature of this material enables it to be deconstructed into at least four discrete elements.

Coralie used red stemmed Silverbeet Beta vulgaris, which had a large yellow root. It was placed upside down and the base of the leaves were cut producing an orange rosette form. Coralie also added a leaf and the sepals of a Camellia flower.

Last week I attended the monthly workshop of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School, which was led by Lara Telford. She had set rhe interesting theme of making two different styles of ikebana. One arrangement was to be "naturalistic" and the other to be "contemporary". In each case we were to use the same materials.

I chose to use Umbrella grass Cyperus alternifolius, and Cape honeysuckle Tecomaria capensis...

For my first ikebana I arranged both materials according to their natural growth patterns. These stems are ideal for a tall arrangement in a narrow space. Unfortunately, this is a little too tall for the vase, by about 25%.

I used a rectangular glass vase for the contemporary ikebana. In this case the radiating leaves have been cut short and held firmly against the flat front surface of the vase. I then bent the straight stems into irregular angular shapes at one side of the vase. Water was added to about one third the depth of the vase and a single orange Cape honeysuckle flower was floated on the surface.

More photos from the workshop can be found through this link to the Sogetsu Victoria Branch website.

Yesterday I assisted Aileen Clarke, the Director of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana Victorian Branch, to make a large ikebana representing the Branch at the Wa Ikebana Festival exhibition. This is taking place at the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne. Two photos below.

Vessel by Graeme Wilkie.

Greetings from Christopher
29th August 2026

RE-USED BANKSIA PRAEMORSA

In a recent Geelong class...

Anne made an ikebana arrangement "Using Vine"; in this case Hardenbergia comptoniana and Sea Holly Eryngium. Unfortunately, the vine was too weak to support its own weight for the intended exercise of a horizontal ikebana. However, it was a great opportunity to learn how to get this material to be sufficiently self-supporting to create a looped line with two small masses of the Sea Holly.

The senior students were tasked with making an ikebana using "Pine and any other material". 

Maureen used two branches of Casuarina, sometimes called Australian pine, which has needle-like fine branchlets and cone-like fruit. The branch on the left was set to accentuate its curving line contrasting with the mouth of the vessel that leans to the right. Three scarlet Grevillea inflorescences draw the eye back to the centre of the ikebana.

 

Christine used Cypress branches arranged obliquely across the top of her vessel. White Iris flowers contrasted with the deep green of the Cypress foliage.

Maree arranged a mass of pine needles in an irregularly-shaped piece of wood. She added a line with a dried stem of an ornamental Allium.

Jo arranged the end of a pine stem upside down in a rectangular glass vessel. The majority of the materials were place below the water line. A vertical row of Cherry tomatoes was set on the left side.

My ikebana this week is made with materials re-used from last week's ikebana. It is a "One Material Only" arrangement of Banksia praemorsa. This view is side-on to show that the large flower spike extends forward of the rim of the vessel. At the lower right side of the arrangement from this angle you can see a smaller, less developed flower spike. I placed this spike toward the rear because it is visible when walking across the room.

 

Here is the front-on view. I used some additional branch material that I had not used last week to create a space between two tall lines. This seemed a good way to present the single large spike in what is essentially a vertical ikebana arrangement.

The unusual black ceramic vessel comes from Seto City, a famous old pottery town east of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture.

Greetings from Christopher

23rd August 2023