THE BEAUTY OF WEEDS

This morning we had a walk around the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne before breakfast, a lovely way to start the day.

I actually took this photo on a morning in mid-December, in part of the Ornamental Lake called the Long Island Backwater. This area in recent years has been landscaped with plants indigenous to the area prior to European settlement. The Ornamental Lake has been created in what was originally part of the Yarra River, which is now about 100 metres to the north.

In the Herbaceous border I noticed that the Golden Rod, Solidago, is flowering. My Canadian friends insist it is a weed; but here it is carefully tended to play its part in a colourful display.

Here Laurie is admiring the full extent of the Boarder.

A low hanging Magnolia Grandiflora, that must have opened yesterday, was just waiting to be photographed.

Elsewhere my attention was caught by this brilliant red sedum- like flower. I later discovered that its sedum-like appearance is because it is from the same family. It is from South Africa and has the rather prosaic, common name, of 'Airplane plant'; botanically it is known as Crassula perfoliata.  

The red is so vibrant it seems to glow from inside.

This afternoon I caught up with a senior member of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School, my ikebana friend and mentor Kath, who had made this arrangement. I showed her the photos below of my ikebana for this week, and was pleased to get her approval. Kath is a young 93, who continues to make ikebana each week.

In the creek near our house at Torquay I had noticed this bright red patch of Dock, Rumex, that I thought would be interesting in my ikebana this week. I had also visited a friend with a very large Strelitzia reginae, from which I was permitted to cut a few leaves.

I decided to combine these two plants in a modern style, vertical arrangement, because the red colouring in the central rib of the new Strelitzia leaves was very close to the red of the Dock. I also borrowed an idea from Val, the owner of the Strelitzia plant, and 'fenestrated' the leaves to change the original appearance of the material. In this photo it is not so obvious that I have placed the smaller stem of Dock partially behind the Strelitzia leaf so that it can be seen through the fenestrations.

Here is a link to an article about teaching ikebana in Australia that I was asked to write. It was published in the Journal of the International Society of Ikebana Studies.

Greetings from Christopher

31st January 2021