FLOWERING BRANCHES

This week two friends living through the depths of winter in North America have written to me following my posting last week; Lynn commenting that it was lovely to see '...growing things and bright sunshine!...' and Leonora that '...at the moment (it is) too cold to even buy flowers, they would freeze instantly!...'. I must admit to being a little shocked at the thought that flowers from the florist would freeze. The possibility had never occurred to me. It was minus 20 degrees Celsius in Ottawa at the time ( - 4 Fahrenheit). I 'take my hat off' to ikebanists who keep their passion alive under such circumstances.

Leonora sent the photo below of the view through her window. It shows another kind of natural beauty being revealed.

Through the ice crystals on the window, on the right is the tortuous willow in her front garden, and in the centre of the photo, a spruce in the garden of the house opposite. Here in the south of Australia we are being blessed with rain following a week of extreme heat, with serious bushfires near Adelaide in South Australia.

One of the indigenous plants blossoming here at the moment is a small tree, Bursaria * , which has clusters of small creamy-white flowers at the end of it's branches. I really like the odd angles that often occur in the branches that make it a good material for ikebana.

Above is a small bush I photographed this morning that is in full flower.

This next photo shows a larger tree that finished flowering a couple of weeks ago. I used some of this material to make a free standing 'no kenzan' arrangement in a shallow suiban.

To emphasise the asymmetry of the work I have used fresh, flowering, branches on one side and a bare branch opposite. This has also contributed to the open space within the arrangement.

Greetings from Christopher

10th January 2015

* click on the blue text for further information.