EUCALYPTUS CORNUTA

 

It certainly looked like summer...

...on the beach at Jan Juc last week. However, the main beaches in Torquay were much more crowded. 

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne were also looking bright and cheerful early in the morning last Tuesday.

I was delighted to see how profuse the Lotus flowers had become since our visit on Christmas day. I have just read in Wikipedia that the Sacred Lotus, Nelumbo lucifera, is not a water lily. I encourage you to read the short second paragraph in the link provided. You may be surprised by which plants are their closest living relatives.

In Iron Bark Basin the summer flowering Pink hyacinth orchid, Dipodium roseum is now blooming. From Wikipedia I have also learnt that this very lovely orchid absorbs nutrients from soil fungi and thus survives without having any leaves. 

Last year's wetter than usual spring weather has been good for the garden at Torquay. However, it has also been good for the weeds and the white cabbage moth butterflies!!  I am hoping that the inevitable caterpillars will be easy food for the birds to find.

The large Eucalyptus cornuta at the bottom of the garden has come into flower again. The masses of light greenish-yellow flowers have a sweet honey-like fragrance. It is a close relative of E. lehmannii which has a larger more dense flower inflorescence. The trees' common name, Yate, comes from the Nyungar language of the south-western part of Western Australia.

I have chosen this material as the subject for my ikebana this week.

After removing all but two of the leaves, I arranged some branches in a large vase. I have kept the branches with open flowers to the middle and right-hand side. The spiky-looking  elements on the left are stems of spent flowers. When I picked the branches, some of the flowers had been open for some time and those ones dropped their stamens at the slightest touch. By separating the spent flowers and the open flowers, I have  shown the different characteristics of the material. I created a space between the two groups and added some drying Aspidistra leaves for their contrasting texture. The photo above against a white backdrop emphasises the lines and movement of the ikebana.

 

When I changed to a black backdrop the colour of the flowers  and Aspidistra leaves became emphasised. I like the way that the yellowish flowers contrast with the blue of the vase.

The vase is by the American ceramic artist Mark Bell, from Maine, USA.

Greetings from Christopher

22nd January 2023