In the garden the spring growth is very apparent, especially on a sunny day like this one.
We have two varieties of strelitzia. This one above is Strelitzia reginae and has flowered for the first time this year. I planted this strelitzia especially so that I would eventually have a supply of its beautiful leaves. The flowers are welcome also. Its growth is a little slow in our garden as it does best in a 'rich loamy soil', not our hydrophobic sand over heavy clay.
Our other Strelitzia juncea is doing very well now, after probably 20 or more years, and is almost at its flowering peak for this season. Often the flowers are damaged by late spring rain, so I was keen to pick some to make an ikebana arrangement. Last year I was not fast enough. The flowers go very well with New Zealand flax leaves so I didn't need to cut any from the Strelitzia Reginae.
This year the flax has only put up one flower spike so far. I am not really expecting more at this stage. I felt therefore I could take a couple of the older leaves from the back of the plant for my ikebana.
I have used the flax leaves to make irregular elongated loops to give a flat surface facing forward. In the arrangement the loops show both the back and the front of the leaves. The two flowers rise above the flax and face in opposite directions. Placing them in 'profile' maximises their impact. The asymmetric vase was made by Graeme Wilkie and fired in his anagama kiln in 2001.
Earlier in the week I attended the last meeting of Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter for this year. Follow the link to see photos.
Greetings from Christopher
18th November 2018
Lovely arrangement and I am envious of your strelitzia. You would think I could grow it here in Florida but I have no luck. For one thing I believe it is the prolific rabbit population on my property that has been eating the poor plant. I was going to dig it out but then thought maybe better to leave it for the rabbits or they might start eating something else in my yard!
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