In a recent visit to the Geelong Botanic Gardens I was delighted to see a Brachychiton acerifolius in full flower.
It looked absolutely stunning, especially as it was in front of the dark green of a Sequioadendron giganteum. As I have mentioned in previous posts, this Brachychiton is a favourite Australian native plant and is growing in the garden at Torquay. Ours is yet to flower but I live in hope, especially as it has put on height in recent years and is now about three metres tall.
I was particularly surprised as I have walked past these plants regularly and can only assume that flowering is infrequent.
It was very hard to photograph the detail of the flower because of the contrast between the brilliant white of the centre and the intense red of the leaves. Unfortunately, I could not read the label on the plant because of the very prickly leaves.
In the garden at Torquay...
... the Crassula arborescens has been flowering prolifically since early summer. The green leaves in the photo are on some low branches of an apple tree growing above. The bell-shaped orange flowers are on quite long stems which is helpful for the ikebanist.
I decided to set the flowers in a suiban as the focal point for some New Zealand Flax leaves, which are the principal subject. The leaves have been arranged upright with their ends in soft smooth loops. I have curved the leaves so that the underside shows on the outside of the loop. This results in a smooth curve. If the leaf is curved with the upper surface showing on the outside of the loop it is likely to ripple along the edge.
I was surprised that these materials still looked fresh after two weeks and decided to re-work them into a new ikebana.
This time I used a large ceramic vessel by the Victorian ceramic artist Graeme Wilkie. I repositioned the leaves more horizontally and was pleased with the sense of flowing movement this created.
Greetings from Christopher
5th February 2022
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