DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES OF AUTUMN

When I was in Melbourne last week I was delighted to see the beginnings of rich autumn colouring in the trees on the Oak Lawn of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.

This specimen turned out to be a Pin Oak Quercus Palustris, native to southern Ontario in Canada, as well as the central and eastern United States. 

Nearby, this very large tree is a Liquidambar which has a natural range from southeast Asia across North America and the Mediterranean.

The nearby bushland to the west of Torquay looks like this in the late autumn. The visual changes in this bushland between the seasons are subtle and are most apparent through the flowering of particular species.

For example, here is a recent photograph of Common heath Epacris impressa, the floral emblem of the state of Victoria. The photo was taken by Laurie in the area where the previous photograph was taken.

Now to ikebana classes. I asked my Torquay students to make an ikebana incorporating woody material.

Kerryn brought a single small branch that looked like a wind blown tree in miniature. At the base she added some Sage Salvia officinalis, in flower, maintaining the sense of movement.

Pamela had an upward-reaching dry branch to which she added some seed heads of what may be Sorghum and Dietes. These materials also had an upward movement.

In Melbourne, my senior students made autumn ikebana arrangements.

Marcia used red Siberian dogwood Cornus alba, some unidentified seed-heads, Billy buttons Pycnosorus, and Dwarf Nandina domestica, to make a vertical ikebana reaching up from a mass in a bowl-shaped vessel.

Eugenia arranged ornamental Grape vine Vitis vinifera, in two small bronze vases. The lines stretch horizontally with leaves ranging from pale pink to deep maroon.

Julie-Ann's exercise was a basic upright ikebana in a nageire vessel. In my opinion, it is the most difficult exercise in the early part of the Sogetsu curriculum. She has used Magnolia branches for the principal lines and mauve Chrysanthemum flowers.

A week and a half ago I attended a meeting of Ikebana International Melbourne. The guest speaker was the artist 

Jo Reitze who spoke about her work of capturing images of private gardens by painting them. The members were asked to create ikebana arrangements inspired by their gardens. I think my ikebana is inspired by my local environment more generally. The vessel I have used is a very narrow-mouthed tall, black ikebana vase. Around the vase I placed a piece of driftwood, over which I draped a dried Papyrus flower-head from the conservatory. Then I added a single Dietes leaf and a single bright-pink Anthurium flower. The latter was bought from a florist. I was a bit astonished that, from this view, one might get the impression of a seated figure with very long hair. However, this was not part of the plan at all. This was an arrangement which evolved as I was assembling the elements.

Greetings from Christopher 

23rd May 2026  

DRIED MATERIALS

The last week has given us several days of perfect autumn weather. Warm sunny days with little wind after cooler night time temperatures. Because Torquay is on the south coast of Victoria we are subject to salty winds, particularly when the sea is rough. One of the consequences of this is that northern hemisphere deciduous trees rarely do well. Although our garden has sheltered areas we cannot successfully grow more delicate autumn-colouring plants like maples.

In spite of this issue I set my Geelong senior students the exercise of making an Autumn Ikebana.

Ellie approached the exercise by focusing on the colour of a single yellow flower of one of the prostrate Banksia hybrids. She added some fine wispy pale-yellow dried material. The colour of these light materials was complemented by the gold patterning on the single-footed black vessel.

Jo used Pomegranate Puncia granatum, branches, with fruit attached. Some of the fruit had split, exposing the seeds within. Her vessel had a bottle shape with a double opening which enabled her to create some space within the ikebana.

Maureen used a large branch of Manchurian Pear Pyrus ussuriensis, with a strong, interesting line. Some of its remaining leaves were beginning to change colour. Three unidentified yellow fruit were added at the mouth of the vessel for their colour.

Maree used some stems of beautifully coloured Smoke Bush Cotinus, arranged as rising in a vertical movement. Three small white Chrysanthemums, were set as a low focal point. The open bowl is made of glass, the colour and translucence of which complemented the Smoke Bush leaves.

My ikebana this week is arranged using the Hydrangeas from last week's ikebana. The flowers had dried naturally, changing over a six week period from this...

...to...

...this.

I was amazed at how much of the faded red remained and also noticed that it harmonised beautifully with the blues and pinks in the vase by Pippin Drysdale. To extend the vertical movement of the Hydrangeas mass, I added a dried Agapanthus stem. Its lighter colour also brightened the ikebana.

Greetings from Christopher
17th May 2026

 

 

AUTUMNAL HYDRANGEA

At my Melbourne class I asked the students to make an ikebana using "Colours in the same tonal range". This exercise creates a richness of colour through the variation in the tones of that colour.

Jacqueline used a small Sunflower Helianthus, as her starting point. She then created a slanting mass with orange-tinged, yellow Alstroemeria and added three striped Canna "Phasion" leaves.

Eugenia used a glass vessel in which she arranged dark maroon Aeonium arboreum, succulents and a small mass of red Geraniums. Two variegated leaves with maroon, pink and green colouring were placed as lines rising to the right.

Aileen used stems of Virginia creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia, and a cluster of pink flowering Eucalyptus to create a horizontal ikebana arrangement.  

Four weeks ago I noticed that the cerise Hydrangea was beginning to develop autumnal tonings. These flowers hold their form well and become a little more firm while their colours deepen and change in this season.

I chose them to make a simple, naturalistic ikebana placing them unevenly in the trough-shaped vessel to create a space between the middle flower and the flower on the right side. Between these two flowers I placed a small piece of dried wood with interesting curves and surface texture. 

Greetings from Christopher
10th May 2026

 

 

THE ADELAIDE WORKSHOPS WITH MASTER MORI SAIRIN

Last weekend I attended two days of workshops with Master Instructor Mori, whom I referred to in last week's posting. I really enjoyed the workshops. The themes were interesting and Master Mori's critique was instructive.

On the first day, the workshops were held at the Ukaria Cultural Centre at Mt Barker, in the hills east of Adelaide. The first workshop theme was "Using dried materials". Among the supplied materials and vessels were some good lengths of bark and two curious boot-shaped vases.

I chose this length of bark because it was naturally doubled on itself, and was long enough to brace between the two vessels. I inserted two bright pink Leucadendron stems within the curl of the bark. On the right-hand side the bark is just touching the bowl of the vessel and held in place by the tension of the material. Master Mori's critique was that I should have had a small amount of material on the left side of the opening of the left vessel. 

In the afternoon, the theme was "Using various locations". We were encouraged to work outside the building or in the sloping garden below.

As I walked around the garden I noticed a Lion's tail flower Leonotis leonurus, and realised that it would closely match two splashes of colour on a vase I had brought with me. I also slotted together three sections of curled bark to make the long line. Then a single dried Aspidistra leaf and a branching stem of Leucadendron were added.

This photo shows Master Mori's critique in progress, with Ukaria's main building in the background.

The second day's workshops were held in the suburb of Windsor Gardens. The theme for the afternoon was "Using seasonal plant material"'. We were invited to "...express the beauty of Autumn in Adelaide...". Unfortunately, there was not much traditional (northern hemisphere) autumn material around, as Adelaide and Victoria have both had something of an Indian Summer this year. So very few of the northern hemisphere plants have changed colour yet. I decided I would try to put an Australian slant on the exercise. Probably not wise.

At the beginning of Master Mori's critique of my ikebana, I commented that, when they  settled in Australia, the first Europeans observed that the seasons in the southern hemisphere occurred at the opposite time of the year compared to the northern hemisphere. Also, Australian trees did not shed their leaves in winter but, perversely from the European point of view, the trees shed their bark. 

The only cold climate, winter deciduous tree in Australia is the Deciduous Beech Nothofagus gunnii.

I decided to gather some bark in the nearby park, hoping that its orange-ish colouring in some places would meet the criteria.  I also added stems of Eucalyptus leaves with tiny flowers that were beginning to open. I think Master Mori was not convinced the work met the subject that had been set. Neither was I, unfortunately. This is the back view of the work during the critique, and the only photo I have.

The morning workshop on the second day was titled "Using Fresh and Dried Materials", with the interesting addition of "Its in the bag". The added challenge to participants was "...to bring any kind of bag and to use it either within the ikebana or as the vessel...".

Before I left home I remembered that I had bought an Ikat woven bag in Kanazawa a couple of years ago. It seemed like the only visually interesting bag that I own. I developed the idea for the ikebana above in advance of the workshop. However, I did not try it until then. I used a box-shaped ceramic vessel in which I fixed a dried branch, with multiple small side branches, that I collected at the site. The stem was fixed within the right side of the vessel and leaned upward toward the left.  I placed the bag over the smaller side branches so that it was then held open by them. Next I inserted two stems of Cootamundra Wattle Acacia Baileyana, so that they were hanging down in a line toward the opening of the ceramic vessel. Master Mori's comment was that I should have filled the vessel with water so that it could be seen at the top of the opening.

The vessel is by the Canadian ceramic artist Leta Cormier.

Greetings from Christopher

3rd May 2026

This photo is of the participants on day two, with Master Instructor Mori Sairin, David Shields the interpreter for the workshop, and Ray Bywaters, Director of the South Australian Branch of the Sogetsu School, centre front in the photo.

You may find photos from the workshops on Instagram or Facebook. 
 

AN EXERCISE IN TRIMMING

Roadside Ikebana has been travelling from Adelaide to Torquay. A 725 km journey that takes over 8 hours. It is more like 9 - 10 hours when allowing for lunch break, etc. We, Laurie and I, have come to the conclusion that it is more pleasant to do this over two days rather than arrive exhausted. Hence the delay in this posting.

We stayed overnight in the rural city of Horsham, ( city and surrounds population 16,000 +). One of the delightful surprises for us was to come across a beautiful linear park that has been created along the banks of the Wimmera river that runs through the city.

This photo includes Laurie admiring the reflection of the sunset in the river. It is particularly wide at this point because of a weir a little further downstream. 

Close by, above the path, I noticed a hanging sculpture in the form of an aboriginal fish-trap. 

I was in Adelaide to attend two days of workshops being led by Master Instructor Mori, from Sogetsu HQ Tokyo; and I intend to post some photographs next week. Master Mori presented workshops in Brisbane on the previous weekend and if you have a Facebook account you may find information and photos through this link. (No promises).

My ikebana this week show the importance of "trimming", which can be explained as removing excess leaves or side branches to reveal the essence of some botanical material. As Master Mori commented in one of his workshops: "Ikebana is an art of subtraction". That is, as distinct from addition. Traditional oil painting for example would be in the latter, "art of addition" category. 

Above is a photo of a wonderfully wind-shaped branch that I found on the beach. I saw beautiful lines within the mass of lines and spent quite some time revealing them, Below is the branch used in an simple ikebana arrangement.

After trimming I set the branch in a ceramic ikebana vessel and added two green lines to give it a feeling of freshness and life. The green lines are Dietes Grandiflora leaves.

The ikebana vessel was made by the Victorian ceramic artist, Tom Cockram.

Belated greetings from Christopher

27th April 2026

 

GEELONG JAPANESE FESTIVAL

 

Yesterday three of my Geelong students and I participated in a one day Festival organised by the Japanese Association of Geelong. It was held at the Geelong Show Grounds and offered a wide range of activities, and displays of Japanese material culture. The activities included taiko drumming, cosplay, musical events, martial arts, bonsai and origami workshops. The material culture included contemporary and traditional clothing, domestic ceramics, fabrics and Sogetsu School ikebana. Over the course of the day more than 4,000 people attended the event.

On the stage in this photo are the finalists in the cosplay competition.

Here are half of the passionate bonsai artists who remained at work throughout the day. The other half of the bonsai artists were in a second row of tables behind this one.

In the middle of the hall my students and I had a satisfyingly busy day answering questions about ikebana. We were also surprised to meet people we knew from our community who had an interest in some aspect of Japanese culture that we had not known about.

I asked my students to create two ikebana arrangements each for the event. 

My student Anne made these two examples above, which are exercises from the early part of the curriculum.

Ellie, a senior student, made these two ikebana arrangements. Each being a different way of emphasising water.

Christine, also a senior student, made these two ikebana works. The second one is an ikebana incorporating man-made material; in this case, strips of copper and brass.

My first ikebana uses spent Agapanthus stems from which I have removed the seeds. I added some Leucadendron with red stems and inflorescences. I removed some of the leaves to show the red of the  Leucadendron stem, and placed dried Agapanthus to highlight the inflorescences

For my second ikebana I used two pieces of Moonah  driftwood on one side of the arrangement. Then I set two smallish leaves of Strelitzia nicoli, and three disbud Chrysanthemums on the opposite side. The third Chrysanthemum was  placed at the mouth of the vessel behind the leaves, because the work could be seen from behind. This "neatened the mouth of the vessel" where the leaf stems enter, which is an important teaching in the Sogetsu School. 

The large cylindrical vessel is by Graeme Wilkie.

Greetings from Christopher
20th April 2026

 

EMPHASISING THE DIAGONAL LINE

Late last year we had some very strong wind-storms which badly damaged a large Pomaderris bush . It was sited against a side fence in the garden that screened the neighbouring property. After removing the damaged branches I decided that I really needed to replace the whole bush. The gap left was 2.5 metres in diameter.

My remedy was to fill the space with two small Banksia praemosa plants and two hybrid Grevillia plants. Gardening does school us in the practise of patience.

Elsewhere in the garden...

 ...I was surprised to notice one of the Japanese quinces Chaenomeles japonica had produced a large yellow fruit, 7cm in diameter. 

When I looked more closely I counted 10 fruit altogether. Possibly enough to make a single small pot of marmalade!

Recently I had picked a number of Aspidistra leaves for some ikebana practise. I then placed them behind a door in a vase with some water and forgot about them. 

Six weeks later I found they were in a transitioning stage as they started to dry. I thought the colours were particularly beautiful and their lines most elegant. I set them in a red glazed vase by Alistair Whyte in a recessed shelf. The translucence of the leaf on the right was richly enhanced by the overhead light.

This year the Belladonna lilies Armaryllis belladonna, were about three weeks late from their usual flowering. I am sure the delay was caused by the drier-than-usual summer. Their pink trumpets were very eye-catching and ideal for an ikebana arrangement.

Above is my ikebana from two weeks ago. The Golden Rod Solidago canadensis needed to be replaced. However, the Agapanthus stems, which had started to turn yellow, still looked fine.

I started by trying to fill in the triangular space between the dried flower-heads with the Belladonna flowers. However, only one stem was long enough. This meant I needed to change my idea. Instead, by leaning two of the Belladonna stems to the left, I was able to create a cascading diagonal line of flowers above the leaning Agapanthus stems. This created a very different movement to the first ikebana.

Greetings from Christopher

12th April 2026