BARK and BANKSIA

In Melbourne, away from Torquay's salt air and strong prevailing westerly winds, northern hemisphere plants have a better chance of flourishing.

I took this photo a few weeks ago of Japanese Ivy Parthenocissus tricuspidata, on a garden wall in South Yarra. The richness of the red and two contrasting leaves with some residual green colouring really caught my attention.

However, by the coast we are fortunate to have the much tougher Australian native flora with its often unusual forms in the flowers and seed-heads. This particular plant, Bushy Yate Eucalyptus lehmannii is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. One of the beautiful phases of its flower development is the colour change from green to orange of the operculum before they fall of and reveal the green stamens of the flowers.

As I was taking the first photo Laurie pointed out to me the New Holland Honeyeater just below the opened flower. The black and grey feathers of the bird make it hard to see, apart from the yellow flash on its wing.

At a recent class in Geelong I set the senior students the exercise of making an ikebana using "One material only", in a nageire vessel.

Maureen used branches of Eucalyptus with leaves, flower buds, and gumnuts from the previous season, arranged in a tall metal vessel. The branches were carefully arranged and trimmed so that the lines of the leaves created a sense of movement.

Helen chose branches of Lemon Citrus x limon, which she arranged to emphasise the difference in the lines of the branches. This resulted in the creation of an interesting space between them. The branches included leaves, flowers and small early fruit.

Ellie used stems of Queen Anne's lace Daucus carota, (or one of its look-a-likes). The soft stems had gentle, snaking curves,  which she arranged on one side of the vase. These lines were balanced by a large flowerhead low in the right hand side of the Alabaster vase.

Maree's exercise was "An arrangement without a Kenzan". The  branch material most likely Viburnum odoratissimum, from a florist proved to be particularly difficult because of the lack of strong side stems to secure the branches. As a result she decided to revise the exercise in the next class. This is an important lesson for all of us practising the art of ikebana. Materials must be carefully chosen so that they are suitable for the particular exercise.

Above is Maree's successful revision of the exercise. This time she used bare Magnolia branches with strong side stems. The floral focus was made with two incurve Chrysanthemums.

Jo's exercise was to make a "Minature ikebana". This is not quite as it sounds. The exercise is to encourge the ikebanist to look very closely at the elements of which plants are made. Having done so, they are then required to harmoniously arrange the elements by placing them in a variety of very small vessels. This work really is difficult to photograph and is best appreciated by close inspection.

My own ikebana is the fourth photo from my demonstration for the Geelong Gallery in conjunction with the current "Cutting Through Time" Exhibition.

  

 

    

I came across a large piece of Eucalyptus bark, with a beautiful rich red-ochre coloured underside, while walking along the creek path. Because of its size, I chose a largish bowl-shaped vessel by Isabella Wang. The full width of the bark is just over one metre. As the bark is dry and does not need water I have arranged it so that is "floating" above the vessel. Three Coastal Banksia, B. integrifolia, leaves and flowers from the garden have been added, giving fresh life to the ikebana. The harmony with the wall behind is purely coincidental.

Greetings from Christopher
9th June 2024