CORKY ELM

Early last week I was in Melbourne where I was surprised to see...

...a small forest of eucalyptus with an understory of Gymea Lilies, Doryanthes excelsa, in flower. In this case some of the flower spikes were over 3 metres tall. The sight would have been even more spectacular had the sky not been completely overcast, making the colours rather dull. This delightful mini-forest is in a park on the bank of the Yarra River on the south side of the Central Business District.

At the other end of the scale (!), the Cecile Brunner Rose in the garden is blossoming beautifully. Its perfume is delightful as I pass walking down the garden path.

 

I had to remove the overblown flowers a few days ago and thought I would keep the petals and flower-heads in a bowl to enjoy their fragrance. Later I was glad that I left the bowl on the outside table. I discovered that there were a number of small spiders and earwigs sheltering among the petals. The humid atmosphere meant that these petals were not going to dry out to make potpourri. Well, instead we have a fragrant compost bin.

On Wednesday a movement out to the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was not a bird but Spike, back in the garden in the daytime. In recent weeks disturbed earth around the garden indicated the Echidna had been foraging overnight.

The principal material for my ikebana this week is corky Elm. Gathered from suckers, most likely of Ulmus minor.

This first ikebana is an upright naturalistic placement of two bare branches of elm which are contrasted with two Green Goddess Lilies, Zantedeschia aethiopica. The two flowers face away from each other, thus emphasising the space between their stem as well as the space between the elm branches. The vessel is by the landscape and ceramic artist Mel Ogden.

My second ikebana was made at a class with Elizabeth Angell. The class exercise she had set was to make an ikebana using two mis-matched vessels.

For the exercise I chose an irregular cylindrical vessel with a pale-green high glaze. The second vessel is disk-shaped with a narrow opening at the top. The surface of the vessel has a matt-black finish which is scored with fine radiating lines. Again I used corky elm. I placed the green vessel forward of the black so that the space between them is apparent and set a single stem of elm extending to the left and a small mass of white Chrysanthemums in the mouth of the vessel. In the black vessel I created a mass of intersecting broken lines of elm that leans to the right. A single stem of Chrysanthymum with three flowers extends to the right but is contained within the mass.

I enjoyed the challenge of the exercise because I don't think I would have made this ikebana otherwise. It seems to me that the ikebana in each vessel could stand by itself. However, I think "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts."

Lastly, more ikebana to enjoy. This month the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International posted its first on-line exhibition. View it through this link.

Greetings from Christopher

30th October 2022