JAPANESE ANENOME and AGAVE

At night in Torquay we can often hear rather heavy footsteps on the roof. No harm is done to the roof, but I always wonder about how the apricot tree and the Lorraine Lee rose will be coping... 

...with the feasting of this Brush Tailed Possum and his family.  The leaves in the lower part of the photo are at the top of the apricot tree with its tender new leaves that the possums prefer. The mother and baby were just out of sight when I took this photo.

Elsewhere in the garden Margaret's Japanese Anemone, Eriocapitella hupehensis, is starting to spread and this year has multiple flowers. 

So lovely in close-up.

At a recent class,  Marisha's exercise was an ikebana in which shapes are repeated.

She used Umbrella grass, Cyperus alternifolius, and two Belladonna Lily, Amaryllis belladonna, flowers in a ceramic vessel. I thought the work met the criteria but suggested that it could be made more dynamic.

Her second working of the material gave a strong sense of movement to the ikebana.

In the same class, Jacqueline created an ikebana arrangement in two vessels. She has used Gypsophila and white Carnations, Dianthus caryophyllus, creating a mass with the Gypsophila within which she has set the carnations

Last  weekend I attended a Master Class workshop with my colleague Emily Karanikolopoulos. The serious fun of this exercise was going to a workshop only taking one's hasami (Japanese secateurs) and not knowing what the exercise was going to be. Everyone had the same principal material, variegated Agave in this instance, and some floral material. We drew lots that determined which bunch of Agave and which vase we had to use.

The Agave I was given was relatively small and flexible having been cut two days before and not kept in water. I used the natural curves of the two tallest pieces and exaggerated the curve of the third piece, placing it on the outside surface of the the vase. It conveniently hides the base of the tallest piece, which is also sitting on the outside of the vase while the righthand piece sits within the vase. I placed the upright Agave so that their curves complement each other and created an interesting space in which are set the two stems of Japanese Anenome. The Agave is secured with a short length of bamboo skewer and a single pin.

More photos from Emily's Master Class can be seen on this link.

Greetings from Christopher

18th April 2021