AUSTRALIAN FLOWERS IN THE GARDEN. EXOTIC FLOWERS IN THE VASE

Over this last week I have noticed our pale yellow callistemon flowering. I remembered that they were featured in an Ikebana International magazine last year. The article showed only red or pink flowers so I thought it was a good opportunity to show these from our garden. These flowers are very attractive to small 'honey eater' birds that like their nectar.

These banksias are growing in my friend Heather's garden. She is an excellent gardener and I used some of her flowers in the autumn arrangement I made for the book 'Ikebana Through all Seasons', which was published earlier this year. This was the third in a series of books about ikebana. The first, Ikebana Today, was published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ikebana International.   

Their large size was not apparent in the arrangement I did for the book so I have taken a second photo' to give a sense of scale. This bush is about 2.5 meters high.

I couldn't resist taking this close up of a brightly coloured Kangaroo Paw also in Heather's garden.

These banksia roses are from our garden and I thought their cascading habit would go well in the Bizen hanging vase I bought in Okayama.

These orange and yellow tulips were a gift from a visitor last week and they really capture the orange marks on this vase with a soda ash glaze by Gail Nichols. I think I should have swung the three flowers on the left a little further to connect them to the flowers on the right. They have a lovely sense of movement.

 However, I must admit when I came home two days after I took this picture above their movement was downward and they were resting on the table top. My solution was a much taller vase by Graeme Wilkie. I'm afraid the arrangement is not quite as attractive. 

Greetings from Christopher

2nd October 2011. (our first day of daylight saving for the next six months.)