MORE GUM NUTS

Last week I posted some photos from the first part of our week travelling around regional Victoria. On the fifth day we went to Echuca on the Murray River, Victoria's border with New South Wales. This town is particularly well known for the paddle steamers that became the major form of freight and passenger movement on the river from the mid-1800s. Paddle steamers were ideal on the river because of their shallow draft and the plentiful supply of wood along the river.

River banks and flood plains are the habitat of the River Red Gum, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and it is seen widely across the continent. This 'log buggy' on display at the port of Echuca is extraordinary, being made of Red Gum except for the axles.

 

The huge section of tree trunk has a circumference of approximately 5.4m (diameter approx. 1.88m).

We were delighted that we were in time to catch the late afternoon cruise on the PS Adelaide. It has the claim to fame of being the world's oldest wooden-hulled paddle steamer still in service, which began in 1866. I did not get an opportunity to photograph the PS Adelaide. The steamer in the photo is the PS Emmy Lou. It was built as a tourist vessel and began service in 1908.

I took this photo at the turning point of our cruise and thought it looked like a classic view of the Murray River.

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In the garden back at Torquay I decided to do some winter pruning.

This is a two metre high, red flowering Corymbia ficifolia that was planted two years ago in our garden. It had flowered well last summer. However, because it is still developing I decided to remove most of the seed pods so that it would put its energy into growth not seed production. These are the same gum nuts that I combined with the autumnal red hydrangea two weeks ago. Having a rather large quantity of such beautifully coloured material I decided to use it in this week's ikebana.

This is the first version of the massed ikebana that I made as soon as I brought the gum nuts inside. The little clusters had very short stems, so I chose this slab built vessel by Janet Keefe from Ontario, Canada. The vessel has two slit-like openings on opposite sides. The leaves are from the same tree. I had made this quickly but was not happy with the form of the mass. I felt its form was too large and regular, and covered the vessel rather than related to it.

A week later the materials were still looking fresh and I had time to make this re-working. The mass is narrower and related better to the form of the vessel. I have also re-positioned the leaves to make the ikebana 'tighter' and also angled the vessel so that the split at the back is visible.

Greetings from Christopher

18th July 2021