AUTUMNAL FRUIT: JAPANESE QUINCE

 

This week I set my students the exercise of making an "Autumn Ikebana". The night time temperatures have certainly started to become cooler over the last few weeks, although we have been blessed with some warm days. Thus perfect autumn weather with no wind and bright sunshine.

I must admit when I think of autumn my first thought is of the leaf colour change in many northern hemisphere deciduous plants.This thought is really a reflection of my Anglo-Australian heritage where we were taught as children that leaves in autumn would change colour. The truth is that I hardly ever saw such a thing until my teens.

This was because my childhood home, shown above in about 1960, was built on a new estate carved out of a bare paddock and exposed to salt-laden winds, particularly in winter and spring. Deciduous northern hemisphere trees could not tolerate this harsh environment. The hills in the distance are now fully covered by suburban development, their gardens predominately planted with Australian native trees and shrubs.

When Laurie and I visited this garden in Maine USA in 2014 I felt almost overwhelmed by the saturated colours of the autumn foliage.

As Australian practitioners of ikebana we are blessed with the choice of using exotic northern hemisphere plants as well as those plants native to our country. This week the focus was on the exotics.

 

Judy made a one-material ikebana using branches of one of the Oak family, which are complemented by the colours in the hand-made ceramic vase.

Róża used three stems from her Blueberry bush and two Hydrangea flowers. Set in a wide ceramic bowl, this ikebana was best viewed from above.

Tess used branches of Smokebush, Cotinus, and some drying Sedum as a textural contrast, set in a hand-made ceramic vase.

Helen M. also used a leafy branch of Oak which she combined with some Dwarf Nandina and a mass of maroon Kangaroo Paw, Angiozanthos, in a ceramic vase.

Maureen had been offered some Lotus pods by a friend, which became the starting point of her ikebana. Fruiting branches or stems are another material that is appropriately suggestive of autumn. She has then added New Zealand Flax and Canna leaves to the handmade ceramic vase.

In her ikebana Ellie used Ornamental Grape vine for her principal line. She also used two pieces of fruit, a bright yellow gourd and small orange coloured pear. 

In the garden last week I was surprised to notice that, this year, two of the Japanese Quince, Chaenomeles, plants had produced a single fruit each.

This one was growing directly on a large branch that I was not willing to cut. However, the second fruit was on a suitably small branch. These fruits are a striking yellow with a rather waxy bloom. A suitable subject for my autumn ikebana

Because of the yellow colour of the fruit I chose this cobalt blue glazed ceramic vessel and positioned the fruit to highlight the colour contrast. The branch lines are from the same bush and the mass is of Hydrangea leaves that have coloured in the cold night air.

Greetings from Christopher

30th April 2022