TWO STYLES

Last weekend we had the pleasure of sharing some delights of our neighbourhood with visitors who stayed with us at Torquay. 

This Kookaburra, on one of the bridges across the creek, was rather nearer to our house than is usual - a tribute to the maturing of the trees planted in private gardens and along the creek over the last 40 years.The land where our house is built, was a treeless sheep paddock in my childhood. Further up the creek there is a larger expanse of remnant bushland, and these birds usually prefer that habitat. I have only sighted Kookaburras in our garden twice, and then only in the last 6 years.

We also took our guests to the Iron Bark Basin in part of the Great Otway National Park and were rewarded with the sight of a small 'colony' of Nodding Greenhood Pterostylis nutans terresterial orchids. It is one of the earliest-flowering orchids in this area.

In Torquay I gave my students the exercise I wrote about a month ago; that is: "Disassembling and Rearranging of Materials".

Pamela used a common sedge as her principal material. She removed the flowering part and placed it at the base of the tall straight stems. The purple flower may be a cultivar of Rhododendron alabamense, and the single leaf is a Nasturtium Tropaeolum.

Lyn used Banksia marginata which she set in a shallow bronze suiban. The nature of this material enables it to be deconstructed into at least four discrete elements.

Coralie used red stemmed Silverbeet Beta vulgaris, which had a large yellow root. It was placed upside down and the base of the leaves were cut producing an orange rosette form. Coralie also added a leaf and the sepals of a Camellia flower.

Last week I attended the monthly workshop of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School, which was led by Lara Telford. She had set rhe interesting theme of making two different styles of ikebana. One arrangement was to be "naturalistic" and the other to be "contemporary". In each case we were to use the same materials.

I chose to use Umbrella grass Cyperus alternifolius, and Cape honeysuckle Tecomaria capensis...

For my first ikebana I arranged both materials according to their natural growth patterns. These stems are ideal for a tall arrangement in a narrow space. Unfortunately, this is a little too tall for the vase, by about 25%.

I used a rectangular glass vase for the contemporary ikebana. In this case the radiating leaves have been cut short and held firmly against the flat front surface of the vase. I then bent the straight stems into irregular angular shapes at one side of the vase. Water was added to about one third the depth of the vase and a single orange Cape honeysuckle flower was floated on the surface.

More photos from the workshop can be found through this link to the Sogetsu Victoria Branch website.

Yesterday I assisted Aileen Clarke, the Director of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana Victorian Branch, to make a large ikebana representing the Branch at the Wa Ikebana Festival exhibition. This is taking place at the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne. Two photos below.

Vessel by Graeme Wilkie.

Greetings from Christopher
29th August 2026