BUSY IN THE GARDEN

The 'treated pine' timber planks of the retaining wall on the terrace had been leaning progressively forward in recent times. I decided they needed to be secured properly with "U-shaped" steel posts into which the ends could be slotted. In the process I found that the back of the planks had rotted significantly even though they looked intact from the front. So the job grew.

A fair amount of earth had to be removed and new timber planks purchased. This time I had the sense to line the back of the planks with heavy-duty black plastic designed for in-ground garden ponds. The process required cutting one of the metal posts in half with an angle grinder. Who would have thought that the sparks from the grinder could set one's trousers on fire! 

Laurie caught me unawares toward the end of the job. In a fresh pair of trousers! I am looking forward to reducing the size of the garden bed behind the retaining wall and laying some brick paving there, on which I might place some pot plants.

Some days earlier we walked along a section of 'footpath' where the adjacent house owner has planted a variety of acacias. I particularly like the one on the right hand side in the photo for its long tapering stems that are covered with blossom that is progressively smaller toward the tip of the branch.

Meanwhile, in our garden...,

the South African Daisy, Osteospermum, has produced its annual show of massed flowering. I am fairly sure when we bought the original pot all the flowers were purple. As this photo shows most have reverted to white.

Next to the daisy is a tall red flowering Callistemon. One flower is visible on the right side of the photo about half way up the shrub. Its flowering has just started and is what I needed for this week's ikebana.

Also required are some green lines. The Umbrella Sedge, Cyperus alternifolius, in the conservatory grows tall in its warm sheltered environment. The tallest stems are about two metres long, but a bit thin rather than robust.  

Last Monday we were to have a Sogetsu Victorian Branch meeting with a workshop led by Emily Karanikolopoulos. Emily had set a combined exercise which was to make an ikebana, which both took into account the shape of the vase and also took into account the colour of the vase. Each of these requirements are seperate exercises in the Sogetsu curriculum. Because of our current lockdown restrictions, the workshop could not be held and it was decided to post photos on our website of ikebana made by members at home. This has yet to be achieved. However, I will provide a link when I am able.

I have used a rectangular, slab-built ceramic vessel with a green glaze. The Umbrella grass stems reference the shape of the vessel and the red Callistemon contrasts with its colour. I had to employ some mechanical support for the flower on the left to situate it within the space created by the Umbrella grass stems

Greetings from Christopher

29th August 2021

 

BLACK WHITE and GREEN

When we began to establish our garden 36 years ago, there were more shrubs than trees. Many blocks around ours still did not have houses on them. There were very few dogs and cats in the neighbourhood. The dense shrubs and reed thickets in the creek gave the many small birds some protection. Now there are houses on all but the very occasional block and most gardens have larger trees. The cat and dog population has exploded. 

Our early garden was populated with small birds like this New Holland Honeyeater, but they gradually disappeared.

Now, the changed environment suits larger birds in the garden and the smaller birds have migrated to the clifftop heath where they have greater protection in the low growing dense shrub. This recent photo taken on the clifftop heath gives a glimpse of the Honeyeater's yellow wing patches.

On a rare vacant block in the township, a pair of Masked Lapwings commonly know as "Plovers" are once again trying to raise a chick. They may be successful because the block is completely fenced. 

*          *          *          *          *

In the world of ikebana I showed you this photo last week...

...when the potted irises produced a single flower. At the time I was delighted to have such a beautiful blue bloom. However, I thought the ikebana was not well balanced in terms of the volume of the flower compared to the leaves.

So I was especially pleased when the irises produced another flower before the first had withered.

In my Geelong class Tess made an ikebana using White Narcissus from her garden. So that she would not kill the bulb, she told me she only took a couple of leaves from each plant. Obviously they have propagated well. Having such a lot of leaves she was able to make a contemporary style ikebana. A mass of leaves sweep across two black suibans with a focus of a single stem of the white flowers.

Coincidently I had made an ikebana at home with the same colour combination, green leaves and white flowers in a black vase

. 

This is a side view to reveal just how far forward the large leaf projects, which is not obvious in the photo from the front.

I have used white Incurve Chrysanthemums, and the dark green leaves are Acanthus from the garden. The flowers are "peeping" from the side of the vase and are sheltering beneath the larger leaf above. 

Acanthus leaves are especially beautiful for their glossy dark green and symmetrically lobed form. Unfortunately, they have very sticky sap and wilt quickly if not treated correctly.  Here is the solution to keeping Acanthus leaves fresh. Prepare a tall vase with warm water (40 degrees C) to which is added 10ml of white vinegar per litre. Re-cut the stem under water and rub the cut until the stickiness has gone. Then place the stem deep in the prepared water. Leave for at least an hour, in a cool dark place if possible. If it is to be arranged in a kenzan it would be wise to gently bind the end with florists tape or an elastic band as it will curl like split celery. The arrangement above is still looking fresh five days after it was created. 

Greetings from Christopher.

22nd August 2021

GRASS TREES BLOOM in the ANGLESEA HEATH

During the week we were taken for a walk through some coastal heathland by our friends Heather and John. They live in Anglesea, the next town along the coast west of Torquay. The area is famous for the heath and open woodland forest, on the north and west of the township. The Anglesea Heath covers an area of 6,700 hectares and is particularly well known for the great diversity of its wildflowers, including a large number of terrestrial orchids. 

The impetus for the walk was the sighting by Heather and John of a large number of Xanthorrhoea australis, that were all in flower; a particularly spectacular sight. It is unusual to see a lot of these plants flowering all at the same time. The clue to this phenomenon is on the right of the photo. The blackened trunk of a Messmate, Eucalyptus obliqua, is the result of a small 'controlled burn' to reduce the fuel load in the undergrowth. Both the Messmate and the Xanthorrhoea are fire-adapted species. Xanthorrhoea responds to fire by producing flowers, and thereby many seeds.

We were surprised to see a small number of flower spikes that were contorted, presumably because of damage as the flower spike was starting to form. I am guessing that it may have been caused by insects.

As you can see most of the flower spikes are quite straight.

However, this one must have been damaged very early in its development. If you look closely you will see that it has formed a spiral of one and a half anti-clockwise revolutions.

This photo is poor quality because it is a small section of a much larger image. It shows a flock of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos perched on the flower spikes and feeding on the seeds. In the full photo I can count seventeen individuals. 

This photo shows some of the Heath where a variety of small flowers are starting to bloom. It is adjacent to an area of open forest. The Wikipedia article states that "...Heathland is favoured where climatic conditions are typically hard and dry, particularly in summer, and soils acidic, of low fertility, and often sandy and very free draining."  

On our walk I was surprised to see a lot of the white form of the Australian Common Heath, Epacris impressa.

In the Ironbark Basin area, where we more often walk, the pink form is much more common and the white rare. The pink form is the state flower of Victoria.

*          *          *          *          *

Meanwhile, in our garden the first of this year's blue Dutch Iris, Iris x hollandica 'Imperator' has appeared. The bulbs of this Iris were given to me by a neighbour. Not trusting the soil in our garden I planted some in a pot with a 'water well' and others in the open garden. Those in the garden are about one third the size and have not flowered. The blue is so wonderfully intense that I have used it for this week's ikebana. 

Having only one flower I have set it with three leaves of New Zealand Flax that I have split and folded into narrow triangles. The olive green of the flax is a good foil for the blue of the iris.  The Shino-glazed suiban is by the New Zealand ceramic artist Elena Renka.

Greetings from Christopher

15th August 2021

YELLOW and PURPLE

Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed the Clematis microphylla, coming into bloom along the paths among the sand dunes and cliff tops. It is a fairly vigorous climber and covers smaller bushes, making a creamy yellow canopy. In recent years it seems to be much more abundant. In my childhood it was not present. However where we now live, about 300 metres from my childhood home, is a suburb that was created in what had been grazing farmland. It was bare of all but grass. Prior to the development of farms, this part of Victoria had been open forest and grassland.

The Clematis is obviously a robust plant growing, as you can see on the cliff tops, where it is exposed to salty winds. 

This close-up was taken among part of the mass in the first photo. I have often wondered whether the current presence of this plant is a result of garden escapees or just a natural return of a plant that had disappeared when the land was cleared in the 19th century. We planted C microphylla on our fence some years ago and now it is self-seeding elsewhere in the garden.

The charming little flowers make an interesting subject for a cascading ikebana.

I have arranged two stems of the Clematis, having first removed almost all of the leaves. For textural contrast I added an Aspidistra leaf and a white 'Incurve' Chrysanthemum, as a focal point. The tall glass vase works especially well for such fine material as the Clematis.

This winter, when the Cootamundra wattle Acacia baileyana was at its peak, I missed the opportunity to use it in my ikebana. We were away for a week and then a period of persistent rain damaged much of the blossom.

However, the prostrate form, which we also have in the garden, is growing in the shelter of a large Angophora costata and some of the flowers were still good condition today. I decide to use it as the main material in a second ikebana as I had bought some purple Statice, Limonium sinatum a couple of days before. 

I have used the Acacia branches for the main lines of the ikebana and the Statice as a contrasting mass. This conforms to one of the Sogetsu curriculum exercises, being an ikebana using materials of contrasting colours; yellow and purple being on the opposite sides of the colour wheel. The intensification of the colours can occur with only a small amount of the contrast. The straight-sided ceramic ikebana vase is a deep blue.

Greetings from Christopher

8th August 2021

 

WINTER IN THE GARDEN

A few weeks ago I had an early morning walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens Victoria, Melbourne garden and was delighted to see that the various members of the narcissus family had begun to flower. 

This mass planting has been set around some of the playfully sculptured  branches, that I showed last Christmas, of the fallen White Oak, Quercus Alba. 

 

It is a great spot to see daffodils that have been planted under the trees on the Oak Lawn. I caught this Narcissus, King Alfred, beautifully illuminated by a shaft of sunlight. Its bright yellow was a joy to see on a cold winter's morning.

In our garden it is the Cootamundra Wattle, Acacia Baileyana, that provides a mass of cheery gold in the middle of winter. This particular one is A. baileyana, prostrate form, which eventually develops a domed appearance when its branches start to grow taller, then arch over.

This photo shows a very flat, spreading patch of stems that have grown away from the main plant, passing underneath other bushes to find some brighter sunlight.

The red Flowering Quince on the side fence seems to have produced more flowers this year than last.

Usually the flowers are scattered along the stems and hard to photograph. This cluster has a much higher visual impact.

Last Thursday I was able to commence classes in Geelong for Term Three as the Covid density restrictions in the community facility class rooms permitted us to meet. It was a pleasure to get together after the six-week break since the end of Term Two.

At the class, Ellie's exercise was to make an ikebana in a tsubo vase (spherical shape with a large opening). She has used a horizontal crossbar which is one of the three fixing techniques for this type of vessel. Her branch material was beautifully fragrant cedar. (Some of you may know its name, possibly Calcedrus decurrens). Her flowers are yellow Chrysanthemum and a yellow form of Wax flower, Chamelaucium. 

 

Tess's exercise was to make an ikebana in response to a work of art, in which there should be a communication or dialogue between the ikebana and the art object. Tess has used bare branches and three Red Hot Poker, Kniphofia, flowers in a black ceramic vase. Her art works are two small bronze sculptures from China.

My ikebana this week uses the red Flowering Quince from the garden and some white Narcissus, from a friend's garden. After making the ikebana shown last week, which emphasised some curving lines, I had a spare straight branch. This branch had grown vertically with some short side branches radiating sideways and a very nice cluster of flowers that I did not want to waste. 

I suddenly had the inspiration to place it in an especially narrow trough-like vessel by Hiroe Swen. I have only used this vessel a couple of times, because it is far too narrow for any kenzan and requires ingenuity to fix any tall stems so that they don’t fall over. I laid the branch at a shallow angle using one of the side branches for additional support within the vessel. I then placed the narcissus parallel to the principal stem in two small masses with a space between them.

Here is the same ikebana from the right hand side, with the main line coming forward. As I placed it in the niche that I walk past into the kitchen it is necessary for both views to be satisfactory.

Greetings from Christopher

1st August 2021