HARMONISING COLOURS

Autumn has come to the garden and some intense, warm colours have been developing over recent weeks.

This year some of the ornamental grape vine Vitis coignetiae leaves have turned a vivid orange rather than the usual red.

The red leaves of the tall Nandina domestica look vibrant against the majority that are green.

Elsewhere in the garden... 

 ...the Cootamundra Wattle, Acacia baileyana, has put forth buds of the blossom that will open in July. In the mean time its blue-grey foliage looks beautiful and I thought would be useful for the Ikebana International workshop that was held last Saturday.

I also noticed the berries on a neighbour's Pittosporum and decided they would be suitable, as the theme of the workshop was "Harmonising Colours".

In our garden these spent seed pods on the Bursaria spinosa also caught my eye as having a subtle warm autumn colour.

At the workshop Yuko Asano, a teacher of the Wafu School of Ikebana, explained her school's approach to the subject of 'Harmonising Colours'. In this case using two vases. She said that it was usual to use a large and a small vase and that the materials in one of them would be visually stronger and the other softer. 

This is my ikebana from the workshop, using the plants described above, with the addition of some very brightly coloured maple leaves from a street tree. The smaller vessel has the Cootamundra Wattle as its principal material, some maple leaves and a small spray of maroon orchids. Most of the colours are tonally close while the small amount of green and blue-grey leaves provide a contrast.

Photos from the workshop can be seen via this link, Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter workshop.

Greetings from Christopher

25th April 2021