BOXING DAY GREETINGS

 

Summer seems to have arrived on the south coast of Victoria. We had cool weather up to only one week before Christmas. However, yesterday was a classic summer beach day in this part of the world with a top temperature of 32 Centigrade.

It was also warm when I took this photo on the Torquay front beach last Thursday. We love the brilliant red of the well-named New Zealand Christmas trees Metrosideros excelsa.

Laurie was also providing human interest and a sense of scale in front of this gloriously flowering Grevillea robusta in the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.

Here is most of the rest of this specimen... 

...and a close-up some of the lower flowering branches. In the garden at Torquay our G. robusta has responded well to this year's wet spring with lots of leaf growth and a rather small cluster of flowers about six metres above our heads. 

This year after celebrating Christmas with some of Laurie's siblings at our flat in Melbourne, we had a leisurely walk around the lake at the bottom of the Botanic Gardens.

Lovely to see the Lotus plants beginning to flower.

A family photo taken by a kind stranger.

Earlier, down at Torquay, I had made a Christmas ikebana "to be seen from all angles". The only Pinus radiata branch from our neighbour's garden that I could reach had some small side branches which tended to hang down. The nature of the branches is what dictated the form of the ikebana.

I chose a wide shallow ceramic bowl and arranged the materials asymmetrically. This means that a different material and appearance is presented depending on the angle of the viewer.

 

Here is my Christmas ikebana in the living room niche. The other materials are: three small buds of Rosa "Mr Lincoln" and some flowering branches of Bursaria spinosa, from the garden.

The vessel is by the Victorian ceramic artist Phil Elson.

Wishing you a Happy Boxing Day.

Christopher

26th December 2022
 

EARLY SUMMER FLOWERS

A few years ago I decided that I needed to grow some plants that would provide flowers on long straight stems; highly desirable for the hikae element in the basic Sogetsu ikebana exercises. Of course, in our garden the plants also needed to be able to cope with the usual hot, dry summer of the south-west coast of Victoria. I did give them some encouragement by putting down a layer of potting-mix-quality soil that I bought in bulk from a garden supplier. The exercise has been a success, although limited in range as only two plants meet the desired criteria of long stemmed flowers. It is now more of a herbaceous jungle or weed-patch than a herbaceous border. The two plants are...

...Verbena bonariensis, which produces smallish purple flower clusters on very long thin stems;

.....and Red Valerian Centranthus ruber, which has  pink flowers in a larger inflorescence than the Verbena. The stems of both plants are firmer than the...

...Scabiosa atropurpurea which has already gone a little wild in the garden. This week I decided that I wanted to use the first two of these plants in a late spring-early summer freestyle ikebana. 

 

The vase I had in mind to use has an exceptionally narrow trough shape. I braced lengths of two straight leaf stems of Strelitzia juncea to secure the fine stems of the materials in the gap between them and the wall of the vase.

I created an overall design of tall scalene triangles with the stems. The resulting appearance is open and loose to capture the feeling of the rampant late spring/early summer (sprummer) growth. The vase is by the Japanese-born Australian ceramic artist Hiroe Swen.

I also decided it was time to make an ikebana with the Strelitzia that is flowering very well this year. The vessel I wanted to use is another challenging one with a narrow opening that required an improvised fixing technique.

This photo shows the opening into which I have inserted a forked branch. It is wedged with the forked part on the outer edge of the opening. 

I used two Strelitzia flowers and the fixing method enabled me to set the tallest stem securely in an upright position. The second flower is placed lower and faces up toward the principal line. Because Strelitzia juncea has only tiny leaf margins on the stems, I have used New Zealand flax leaves to create a small mass at the base. The large leaf on the right was initially hanging down toward the mass but lifted its head overnight (!).

The vessel is by the Victorian ceramic artist Paul Davis and was shown in his 50th anniversary exhibition "Under the Influence" at the Sturt Gallery in Mittagong in April - May this year.

Greetings from Christopher

18th December 2022

IRIS ENSATA

( Oops, re-published with the correct date. December not November.)

In mid-November I set the advanced students of my Geelong class the exercise of making an ikebana in a tsubo vase; that is, a round vase with a relatively narrow opening. In the Sogetsu School practice, one should not use a kenzan in such a vase. The opening in the vase should be greater than the ikebanist's fist and the diameter of the vase should be at least 1.5 times greater than the opening.

Of the three recommended fixing methods taught by the Sogetsu school, one involves using a cross-bar. In this particular class I showed the students how to attach the cross bar using string. The particular advantage of using string is that it enables the ikebanist to swivel the cross bar. It is a useful technique when the opening is too narrow to put one's hand inside the vase. 

Tess used a branch of Cotoneaster, and a small focus of red Grevillea.

Maureen used a branch of Magnolia grandiflora, and a single stem of Asiatic lily for the colour focus.

Ellie's branch material is Eastern ninebark Physocarpus opulifolius, (native of the USA). She has added a subtle contrast with a mass of Queen Anne's lace Daucus carota.

Helen used Mahonia for her branch material and pink Geranium for the floral focus.

Maree's exercise was to make an ikebana in which a surface is created by massing lines. The leaves are from a Yucca plant. The flower inflorescence is possibly Gymnadenia rhellicani. 

Meanwhile in the garden...

...the Japanese iris Iris ensata, has finally flowered. It is a bit late this year, presumably because of a cooler and wetter-than-usual spring. These plants were given to me by my friend and colleague Emily Karanikolopoulos. I have two pots in which I am able to keep the soil wet, which would not be possible in our garden otherwise. The flowers are large with very soft pale blue-purple petals. 

I am not prepared to sacrifice the leaves to make a traditional arrangement as the plants are few and small still. I was pleased to create a modern ikebana setting them with these two inwardly curving New Zealand flax leaves. The shallow bowl is by the Victorian ceramic artist Phil Elson.

Greetings from Christopher

11th December 2022

 

FINAL CLASSES FOR 2022

During the week before last, I held my final classes for 2022; all of which were held in private homes. I realised rather too late that I had failed to take any photographs of the largest class. However, I have photographs from two other classes both of which had reduced numbers as some of the students were away. The first class was in Melbourne. As the theme was "ikebana at home" students brought their own materials, but worked in unfamiliar vessels and locations rather than on the usual tables.

Jacqueline had chosen a Christmas theme for her slanting ikebana. She had painted a bare branch white and used red Carnations, Dianthus Caryophyllus and some Cypress, Cupressaceae. The addition of the red cord gave a celebratory feel. The vessel is by the New South Wales ceramic artist Ian Jones. 

Marisha made a slanting ikebana "to be seen from above and from all angles". Her materials were yellow Pincushion flowers  Leucospermum cordifolium, Alstromeria and Hop Bush Dodonea, branches. The high sided vessel was intended to hold a pot-plant (maker not noted, sorry).

Marcia set some weeping pine in a curving sweep with a mass of orange Alstromeria as the focal point. The ikebana vase was made by the Victorian ceramic artist Tom Cockram. 

Only two of my Torquay U3A students were able to attend the final class so we had the opportunity for a good long chat. However, we also made ikebana.

 

Like Marisha, Róża also made a spreading ikebana "to be viewed from above". She used pale pink roses from her own garden with long stems extending across a coffee table.

Coralie used flowering Melaleuca armillaris branches, Bullrush leaves Typha orientalis and red ribbon in a large round white ceramic vase. She said she was thinking of the curl of waves as she made this ikebana.

Ikebana in-situ with the makers relaxing before we shared our meal.

Because there were only three of us I made an ikebana as well.

I used the long-lasting New Zealand flax leaves that had previously served as the principle line in the Ryureika I made on 20th November. This time I have turned the shorter leaf to face the taller, so that its back shows to the viewer. A single inflorescence of Red Valerian Centranthus ruber, peeps from between the blades of the flax making a high focal point. Fine leaves of Japanese maple Acer palmatum, help conceal the kenzan. The suiban is a traditional one from Japan and has a deep blue glaze.