TWO FLOWERS, ONE LEAF

At the beginning of November, among my Melbourne students... 

...Julie-Anne's Sogetsu curriculum exercise was to make an Upright Variation Number 2 in a suiban. In this variation the Hikae (main flower line) is set on the left side of the Shin (principal upright branch line) leaning forward at an angle. Her materials are Eucalyptus leaves, most likely E. pulverulenta and Chrysanthemum flowers

I set the senior students the exercise of making an ikebana focussing on "colours in contrast".

Marisha used two differently coloured bunches of Alstromeria, white and red. They were set in an earth-coloured cylindrical vase.

Jacqueline set some unidentified blue flowers with three red Anthuriums, one of which is just visible at the back of the arrangement. To these she added a dried branch as a linear horizontal element to the otherwise vertical arrangement.

The two examples above do not strictly conform to the set exercise because the colours are not directly opposite each other on the colour wheel.

Eugenia used two green Aspidistra leaves for her main colour, which she contrasted with two small buds of Red orchid cactus Disocactus ackermannii.  Her black vase and branch lines created a non-colour foil to the two principal subjects of the ikebana.

Aileen began with a glass vase that conformed to the exercise being predominantly orange, and having blue glass knobs on its surface. She chose for her botanical material Strelitzia flowers, that also have these colours.  Blue paper tape was added to reinforce the contrast with the vase.

In the garden...

...to my delight the Grevillea robusta tree is having its best flowering yet. This, no doubt, is a result of our part of the state having its wettest Spring in the last 12 years. Unfortunately, the north of the state has been much drier.

The Strelitzia juncea is also flowering well. The Grevillea is well out of reach, but the Strelitzia is not. Therefore it is ideal for this week's ikebana.

I picked two flower stems from the S. juncea and a single small leaf from the base of the Strelitzia nicolai, elsewhere in the garden. The leaf has a particularly attractive, slightly spiralling, curve, which is lost with the flattening effect of the photograph. The tallest flower sits within the embrace of the front of the leaf while the lower flower sits at the back of, and outside, the fold of the leaf. 

The vase is by the US ceramicist Mark Bell.

Greetings from Christopher

7th December 2025