SOMETIMES WE STRUGGLE

The early morning sun shone brightly on the Gum tree Eucalyptus in the background of this photo. The closer trees framing the image are at the bottom of our garden. The sight was uplifting after several days of overcast weather with rain that was welcomed by the garden. 

During the rain Spring Creek in Torquay rose considerably because its mouth has been blocked for at least a couple of months. The catchment area of creeks along this part of the coast is not large so they are intermittent and do not flow continuously into the sea. The boardwalk across the creek in the middle of this photo was completely flooded 10 days ago.

Overnight the heavy rains caused the creek to breakthrough the sand barrier and the boardwalk became useable again.

In my Melbourne class...

...Chen's exercise was to make a variation of an upright arrangement in a nageire (tall vase) style. The angles did not quite work out as desired so the arrangement is not correct. However, the exercise turned out to be a good practise in fixing techniques. The unidentified main branch material appears to have a pea flower and the "flower line" on the left is a Grevillea.

Julie-Ann's exercise was Variation No 1 Slanting, also in the nageire style. She used a form of Broom Genisteae, for the branch material and Roses for the flower line. In this exercise a wide space is created between the two principal branches.

I had asked the advanced students to make a "Winter Ikebana". Eugenia used some bare branch material and some stems of Chinese fringe flower Loropetalum rubrum, in a tall tuquoise glazed vessel. The two elements were separated to emphasise the contrast between them.

Marcia arranged two stems of Manchurian pear Pyrus ussuriensis, so that the right hand one echoed the oval vessel she used. Two Camellia flowers created a focal point on the left side.

On Tuesday of last week I attended the meeting of Ikebana International, Melbourne Chapter. A demonstration was presented by Cheiko Yazaki, head of the Shogetsudo Koryu School in Melbourne, and her student Helen Marriott on the theme of using New Zealand flax Phormium. Unfortunately, the flax in our garden is still rather battered after last summer's heat and low rainfall over the previous six months. I therefore called on my friend Trish who kindly provided me with some very long leaves. 

Then I began my struggle. Before the I. I meeting I had an early morning engagement, so arrived at I.I. a feeling a little stressed. My only equipment was my Hasami (Japanese scissors) and not my usual tool box; none of the handy extras for making ikebana. I had one long branch of Cape Honeysuckle Tecomaria capensis, with bright orange-red flowers at the end, and the New Zealand flax provided by Trish.

The flax leaves made beautiful sweeping curves, which immediately wanted to straighten themselves out again. I managed to temporarily secure them by inserting them through each other. Finally I had to resort to using some fine wire, the thickness of cotton thread, to hold them in place. The lines made by the flax required me to change my design plan and use the Cape Honeysuckle as a central mass instead of a line extending to one side.

 

 Forty minutes later...

...I had an ikebana that had evolved from what the materials allowed. Lesson, we must hold our preconceptions very lightly.

The wood fired vessel is by an unidentified New South Wales ceramicist and was a birthday present to me in the late 1990s. It was bought at the Meat Market Craft Centre in North Melbourne. Suggestions of the makers identity would be most welcome.

Greetings from Christopher.

14th June 2026