SURPLUS FLOWERS

  

This past week I spent five days in Melbourne, so I was delighted to see the changes in the garden over that short amount of time. Just outside the conservatory are two small Echiums that I planted only last year. 

This is one of five small flower-heads on the larger of the plants. I am particularly pleased as they are filling in a gap left when a large bush died a couple of years ago.

Also coming into leaf is the ornamental grape vine. This particular variety has an attractively textured thick coarse leaf.

Here are two Australian native ground covers. On the right is dichondra repens that has flourished in several places in the garden this year. Close-up below. I am very happy to see it spreading over the thick layer of mulch.

On the left is brachyscome segmentosa. This particular variety is rather more blue than the usual mauve. 

In this photo, above, I have tried to reproduce the colour more closely by changing the colour balance. 

Once again the nasturtiums have become rampant.

The intensity of the flower colour makes them seem to glow. 

The last of the 'apple blossom' flowering quince chaenomeles japonica, is being swamped by 'red valerian' centranthus ruber plants that are yet to flower. All of the green leaves in the photo are the red valerian. 

Nearby are the last blossoms of the red flowering quince. 

Also nearby are masses of the dainty flowers on the 'costal bearded heath' leucopogon parviflorus.

My time in Melbourne last week was taken up with the setup of the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International's annual exhibition. This year the event has been held in a vacant retail space in the 'District Docklands' shopping precinct.

After the setting up, my colleague Julie had some surplus 'Dancing Lady' oncidium orchids which she generously shared with me. Below are three ikebana arrangements I made yesterday in a bit of a flurry of activity.

The first conforms to the Sogetsu curriculum exercise of 'Emphasising lines at the base'. I have added a branch of eucalyptus lehmanii leaves that have become orange as a result of insect damage. The vase is by the Western Australian ceramic artist Pippin Drysdale.

The second is a massed arrangement, using two acanthus leaves with the oncidium stems arranged between them. The large bowl- shaped ceramic vessel is by Isabella Wang. 

The third arrangement again uses a small cluster of e. lehmannii at the base of a group of oncidium stems. This ikebana vase has a slit opening on two sides, giving the ikebanist a great deal of flexibility. It was made by the ceramic artist and ikebana practitioner Janet Keefe who lives in Ontario, Canada. I conducted a Sunday workshop at Janet's place in September last year.

Greetings from Christopher
29th September 2019

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SOME SPRING FLOWERS

  

Spring is the time for two of my favourite Australian native plants to put on their spectacular flowering. These are the two species of the Doryanthes genus, D. excelsa and D. palmeri, both of which are endemic to Australia's east coast from southern Queensland to south of Sydney in New South Wales. Fortunately they grow well in Victoria!

This morning I photographed Laurie looking at this D. excelsa when we went for a walk in Melbourne. The flower is just starting to open on its flower stalk that is at least 4 metres tall.  

This one is growing by some nearby steps with a tall echium, also in flower.

I had to zoom in from quite a distance to get this photo of a flowerhead.

A little further on we came across this very healthy D. palmeri. It has a shorter flower stalk with the flowers clustering along its length.

This is the same plant from below...

... and here are the flowers at a closer range... 

...and close up.

At the other end of the scale, so to speak, among other native Spring flowers I noticed the Australian clematis microphyla that grows on our fence at Torquay.

Also the Pandorea vine on the fence...

...and vigorously climbing one of the trees. I haven't had a chance to pick any this year.

Among the exotics in our garden is this daisy from South Africa cascading over the steps.

And this one that has taken over a large area beside the garage.

Also from South Africa, another favourite of mine is this Freesia. This year it has flowered sufficiently for me to pick some for the dining table. I love the fragrance of this pale cream variety.

Exotic flowers brings me to this week's ikebana. The arrangement above was made by my student Marisha. The exercise being: An arrangement with "colours in the same tonal range". She has used statice, freesias and three gerberas. The latter are not my favourite flower as they can be so dominating. However, the placement among, beside and behind the other materials softens their impact so that they harmonise well with the other materials. 

Above is a photo I took six weeks ago of an arrangement from left-over stems of the snapdragon I used in the Surf Coast Arts Trail. The form is like an upright variation #1 (reversed) from the Sogetsu curriculum. The black ceramic vase was made by Jan de Veth from Nth Queensland and bought in 1978.

Greetings from Christopher

22nd September 2019

HIGH TIDE and BLUE SEAS

West of Torquay there are high cliffs where the beach is only accessible at low tide. In the finer weather a few days ago, Laurie and I went for a walk along the cliff path towards Bell's Beach. 

The tide was high at the time, as you can see from this photo taken looking back towards Torquay in the distance. 

The Great Ocean Road Committee, which is responsible for environmental protection and the infrastructure of the 37 kilometres of crown land between Torquay and Lorne, has recently created this viewing platform. The sculptured seal is actually a seat. This elevated position is 40-50 metres above the sea.

Until recently at this point, access to the beach was via some unstable old wooden steps. Now they have been replaced by sturdier metal ones. 

This photo shows clearly that the 'beach' is not accessible at high tide.

Last week at my Geelong class I set the advanced students the exercise of making an arrangement using 'closely related colours'. In the past there has been much discussion among Victorian Sogetsu Branch members about the description 'Colours in the Same Tonal Range'. The exercise is about using three or more colours that are adjacent on the colour wheel and none from the opposite side.

Maureen has used shades of red through orange to yellow. For the purposes of this exercise, when stems and leaves are visible, green is not a colour!

Ellie decided to use two vessels and has used reds and pinks. The red lacquer on the tall vase is echoed by the intense red of the partially hidden carnations at the back of the suiban.

Maree's exercise was a slanting variation in which she used eucalyptus branches and a focus of yellow roses.

Tess made her first free-standing 'no kenzan' arrangement with irises from her own garden making the intense blue focus.

After publishing my post last week I discovered that I had failed to include one of the arrangements I had made in Emily's workshop.

Here it is, using a squat round glass vessel. In it I arranged one of the Gymea leaves and the stem of oriental lilies. I placed the lily flowers at the top of the lower third of the Gymea leaf. 

When I returned home I reworked the arrangement in a ceramic vessel. I have shortened the longest leaf and added the second one to one third its length. This time I placed the flowers lower and to the right to create a subtle asymmetry in the arrangement. Shortening the leaves has also emphasised the colouration on the tips of the leaves.

Greetings from Christopher
15th September 2019

The influence of TETSUNORI KAWANA

On Saturday I attended a workshop led by Emily Karanikolopoulos at her home studio in Melbourne. The process of the workshop was one that I had previously experienced with Mr Tetsunori Kawana in 2011 in his studio in Tokyo. Emily's workshop started at 10.00am and concluded at 3.00pm, with a break for lunch in the middle of the day. 

The attendees were asked to select a single bunch of materials that Emily had prepared, each bunch having only three materials. These materials were then used and re-used to make successive ikebana arrangements over the course of the workshop. This led to a process of exploration and discovery of the possibilities of the materials. Vessels were supplied from Emily's large collection.

I selected a prepared bunch of material that included two long Gymea leaves, Doryanthes palmeri, one weeping branch of spiraea (in bud) and a single stem of dark-red asiatic lily. I decided to challenge myself by using unfamiliar vessels that were of a different style to those in my own collection.

  

I have seen, and admired, vessels in this conjoined style previously and was delighted to have the opportunity to use one. The spiraea had graceful curves that I accentuated by judicious trimming and removing of some leaves. In spite of the narrow opening in the vessel I was able to insert a fixture so that the stem arose from the opening without touching the sides. This is a technique that gives added lightness to the arrangement.

I then added the asiatic lilies, keeping them lower than the principal material. When I look at this photo now I think I should have removed at least one of the fully opened flowers.

The next vase I chose was large, with an almost matt black surface. I experimented with making a small mass of lines at the mouth by stripping the spiraea. Once stripped, the mass was far too small so I then added a forward cascading line with leaves and buds still intact. This modest arrangement brings greater attention to the visually strong vase.

My final arrangement with the spiraea resulted when I snapped one of the side branches while trying to alter its curve. Again I have arranged the single line to come out of the vase without touching the sides of the opening. The line also mirrors the curves of the vase.

The Gymea leaves had beautiful discolouration toward their tips that I wanted to show. I arranged them in an unusual annular vessel which had an opening in the upper left quadrant. The stem of the lily projected from an opening within the central hole of the vessel.

I was impressed when Emily told me that she had made this vase herself some years ago. Both the colour and design are bold. I deliberately placed the vase on its side to emphasise the angle of the longer Gymea leaf (initially it was parallel to the slope of the vase). 

My final experiment was in a flat fronted rectangular vase with a silver surface. I wanted to emphasise the flat surface of the leaves and liked the way I was able to create concentric lines with the leaves sitting within the vase opening, but only showing a small part of their edges. This is another of the Sogetsu curriculum exercises, 'A simplified arrangement', that Mr Kawana had taught in a workshop in Melbourne some years ago. 

This close-up shows that I reduced the arrangement to showing the edges of four leaves and a single petal of the asiatic lily.

Many thanks to Emily for a workshop that was both challenging and fun.

Here is a video link to the installation 'Five Elements, Water' created by a team of Ikebana teachers under the direction of Mr Kawana at Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria in 2009.

Greetings from Christopher
8th September 2019

CAMELLIAS and WINTERY BRANCHES

Three weeks ago I set the advanced students in my Melbourne class the exercise of making an ikebana arrangement in a suiban using bare branches and camellia(s). My expectation was that the work would reflect the winter season. Additionally, the task required the students to practise their technique, particularly with regard to the placement of jushi (the smaller leaves and flowers) that would conceal the kenzan (needle aid). 

I was not disappointed with their work.  

Margaret used some lichen encrusted branch material and a small deep-red camellia. She kindly shared her material with Helen N, who lives in an apartment.

Helen's arrangement is a freestyle work in the Sogetsu slanting style.

Unfortunately, the flattening effect of these photos does not allow you to see the spreading of the wintery branches.

Eugenia stripped her materials down to strong almost straight lines which she arranged in a black trough.

Marcia used red Dogwood Cornus sanguinea, as her bare branch material, creating an upward sweeping line.

The wintery weather does bring some delights among the Australian native flora. 

Last week we went for a walk in Iron Bark Basin, a nearby nature reserve, and came across some early Greenhood orchids. I think this one is Petrostylis melagramma.  
   

Yesterday, in the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, I was delighted to see the late afternoon sun illuminating the flower heads of this common reed phragmites australis. 

A bit further on I was surprised to see this beautiful Sandpaper wattle, acacia denticulosa from the southwest of Western Australia. The finger like flower heads are dense, velvety and a rich yellow.

This wattle is new to me. The rather untidy sprawling shrub is growing beside the National Herbarium building in the Gardens.

My ikebana this week contrasts mass and line  and is made from dried materials.

The intense red leaves are Dwarf Nandina which dries naturally when left in a vase with a little water. The branch materials are the new corky shoots cut from the base of an Elm in a nearby street. I have arranged the materials in a black porcelain vase by the Australian ceramic artist Alistair Whyte.

Greetings from Christopher
1st September 2019