MELALEUCA PALLIDA: LEMON BOTTLE BRUSH

   

Yesterday, the morning was very pleasantly warm and as I was passing the glass door to the back garden I was surprised by the return of Spike, the echidna. He had not been seen for some time over the cooler months. In the previous few days I had noticed some disturbance in the mulch and assumed that Laurie had been pulling the occasional weed out. 

More likely it was Spike looking for ants, of which we seem to have plenty. This photo was taken through one of the conservatory windows.

Because I was inside it was easy for me to get this close range photo without disturbing Spike who was searching for ants between the brick paving under the clothes line.

*          *          *          *          *

Last week I showed this photo of the pale yellow "Lemon Bottle Brush", melaleuca pallida, bush in the garden. I have learnt that these plants, previously known as Callistemons, have been transferred into the genus of Melaleuca. This bush has flowered especially prolifically this year. 

The flowers on the bush are quite dense compared to the pale pink one growing near by.

As I indicated last week, I planned to cut some branches to make an ikebana arrangement as I had not used this material last year. I cut four smallish branches, but discovered that I had rather more than I needed. I ended up making three ikebana arrangements rather than throwing the surplus material into the compost bin. 

This was the final ikebana I made. It was unplanned and came about when I walked around the garden looking for some additional material to use with the Melaleuca. I was looking for something that would pick up the pale yellow and noticed these two New Zealand Flax, Phorium, leaves. Each leaf had a yellow margin on opposing sides and dried patches because of ageing or insect damage. They are an excellent example of the wabi-sabi concept of beauty to be found in imperfection. If you double click on the photo you will be able to get a larger image which you can 'zoom in'. The vessel, which comes from Seto City, is made from black unglazed clay with cream splashes that pick up the colour of the flowers.

This second, unplanned ikebana resulted from trimming the longer branches to reveal their lines. I had ended up with a couple of dense masses of flowers that I thought would work well in this modern ceramic vase. 

After completing it I made some additional adjustments when I realised that it would conform to the Sogetsu School curriculum of... 

   

... "An arrangement that is to be viewed from all around"...

... This is the final view of what was initially intended to be the back of the ikebana !  It is slightly disappointing that I cannot turn this into a slide-show.

Here, finally, is what I set out to do. I have arranged three trimmed branches leaning in opposite directions. This has created a sense of movement made by the lines of the stems and the angles of the flowers. The space between them heightens this movement. 

The suiban is silver-coloured lacquer-ware from Kyoto that I bought in Melbourne.

Greetings from Christopher

24th October 2020