HORIZONTAL IKEBANA with FRESH AND DRIED MATERIALS

We were very surprised to see Spike at lunchtime on Wednesday as the temperature was quite cool, at 11 degrees centigrade. Although Echidnas tend to be much less active in the winter months, they do not really hibernate.

Here is Spike walking past some Silver dollar plant Crassula arborescens, plants just outside the window.

In my Melbourne class...

...Chen made a Slanting Variation No.3 arrangement. The branch material is sometimes known as the Rough-barked apple, Angophora bakeri, the flowers are Geranium.

Julie-Ann's exercise was a Slanting Variation No.2 in a nageire vessel. She used unidentified branch material and yellow Chrysanthemum flowers.

Aileen's exercise was to make an ikebana "Incorporating Narcissus". She has used the "paper white" species, looping the leaves and bending the flower stems to create sharp angles that reflect the design of her vase.

Aileen made a second arrangement using variegated Ginger leaves Alpinia zerumbet. In this instance,she arranged the leaves first, and then "incorporated' a small mass of re-used Narcissus from the previous ikebana. 

Over the last few weeks a couple of leaves on the Tree Philodendron Philodendron bipinnatifidum have faded, then fallen. In the process, the colour change is first to a warm pale yellow before becoming progressively straw-coloured. The lobes of the leaves curl in different directions, creating a loose mass.

I had been watching these changes and wondering how to use them in my ikebana. The leaves lent themselves best to being arranged horizontally as the major element in this narrow, dark-glazed Japanese vase. A Birds nest fern Asplenium australasicum frond provided a strong contrasting line to the right. The rich pink flowers are Geraniums.

Greetings from Christopher

18th July 2026