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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