RE-USING MATERIALS

 

On Wednesday last there was bright sunshine even though the air temperature felt quite chilly to me.

Laurie and I decided to go to the Iron Bark Basin nature reserve for our routine walk. As usual, the understory around these trees was cleared last summer to reduce the bush fire risk. In the basin to the left of this photo the understory is reasonably dense.

One of the typical understory plants we saw was this beautiful Common Heath, Epacris impressa, which starts flowering in winter. It is the Victorian state floral emblem and has a colour range from red through shades of pink to white.

Also at this time of year many of the ground orchids start to flower. Above is a small colony of Greenhood orchids, Pterostylis.

Unfortunately this close up of one of them is more blurred than I realised at the time of taking the photo.

We also came across this Grass Tree, Xanthorrhoea, that had just started to send up a flower stalk. I will endeavour to track its growth over the next few weeks.

Two of my North American Sogetsu friends have sent me photos of their ikebana recently, which I thought I would share with you. It is interesting to see how they use the materials from their own gardens.

Michael, who lives in Florida, created this massed ikebana using Begonia leaves and two Chrysanthemum flowers. He has made a point of showing the front and backs of the leaves for their colour variation. His ceramic vessel is by Akira Satake.

   

Leonora, in Ottawa, has made a generous horizontally-spreading ikebana using Hosta leaves. She has placed the leaves to show their surfaces, which are emphasised by the contrast of the inflorescence from, I think, a Draecena. The modern metal vessel is a Sogetsu School design.

Two of my students in Covid isolation have sent me the following photos.

Ellie has made an ikebana 'using both native Australian and exotic materials'. Her ikebana features Banksia flowers and leaves, as the principal materials, and dwarf Nandina Domestica for the secondary material. These are arranged with driftwood to provide a textural contrast.

Eugenia's 'one kind of material' ikebana features two Haemanthus leaves and Clivia berries. She has used the leaves to create a sense of movement, as well as containment for the hikae of berries. The low position of the materials complements the unusual vessel.

This week my ikebana is an exercise of 're-using materials' and giving them a second (or third) life. The Acanthus leaves and Hydrangea were used in last week's large arrangement. In this smaller ikebana I have created a space by elevating the upper leaf thereby also showing the interesting pattern of the veins on the underside. The hydrangea provides a colour contrast to pick up colours in the Bizen style vase by Ian Jones.

Greetings from Christopher

11th July 2020

Additional information for flower arrangers.

Acanthus leaves are notoriously difficult to use in ikebana because they wilt very quickly. The photo was taken eight days after their initial use in the previous ikebana. The technique I have learnt is: after cutting the stems under water, stand them in warm water (40C) with 1% vinegar added (that is 10ml per litre). It is worthwhile keeping them for several hours in a cool dark place if you can. If possible do not use a kenzan as the stems are prone to splitting and becoming very soft. I tend to use this technique for any materials that are known to wilt quickly.