In mid December I posted the photo below of hydrangeas in a pot in the garden. They have suffered rather a lot in the few, very hot (40+ Celsius) days in January, while we were away. Since we returned home I have pruned them and started nurturing them again in the hope of a few late flowers before autumn.
With the heat and dryness the flower heads have become green and the bracts thickened.
Where they have become damaged, by insects or perhaps water droplets, they are going a deep pink. I am looking forward to see how this develops when the weather begins to cool.
Among my collection of dried ikebana materials in the garden are a few branches with some attractive green lichen. I thought the two elements would make an interesting combination for my ikebana.
Because the branch I have used is dry, I didn't want to put it in water in the vase. I found to my delight that I could wedge it in the niche, where it protrudes a little forward, which is not so evident in the photo above. I have kept the flowers on one side of the arrangement and allowed two leaves to emphasise the space on the right. The cylindrical vessel is by Graeme Wilkie of Qdos Gallery * .
On Monday last week the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana held its first meeting for this year, with a workshop lead by sisters-in-law Toula and Betty Karanikolopoulos. Their workshop had the theme: "Use your imagination with balloons in water or with other material" * . Follow the link to see the amazing imagination of these two ikebanists and the members of the Victorian Branch of the Sogestu School.
Greetings from Christopher
13th February 2016
* Click on the blue text for further information.
Hello Christopher,
ReplyDeleteI have been lax in letting you know how much I have enjoyed your recent postings, especially all the colorful pictures of your trip to India. Thank you so much for sharing them with us.
I went to the link for the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School and saw the fun and amazing photos from the Karanikolopoulos sister’s balloon workshop and just loved that whole concept:)