MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW

 The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show took place from Wednesday to Sunday this week. The venue was the 1880 World Heritage Site-listed Royal Melbourne Exhibition Building in the Carlton Gardens. The central transept of this spectacular building is crowned by a dome, modelled on the duomo in Florence.

This view is from the south across one of the ornamental lakes

The dome is lit by a clerestory at its base...

...and ornamented with frescos. In this huge hall Ikebana International Melbourne had a great success this year winning a bronze medal for their 'inner city oasis', a Japanese themed courtyard garden. 

It is particularly difficult to photograph in this space. There are clearer and more detailed photographs at the I.I. Blog * .

My student, Nici Thompson, who is a professional florist, contributed this exhibit with a strong Australian theme. She created three structures representing the bottle- shaped boabab * (Adansonis gregorii) trees of the Kimberley area of Western Australia.

It has been a very busy week in the ikebana world. My contribution is a divided arrangement featuring the bright orange flowers and oddly shaped seedpods of crosomia * .

Greetings from Christopher
20th March 2016

* Click on the blue text for further information

BIRDS and FLOWERS

Imagine my surprise when we came home to see this strange looking bird in the garden. It is a Tawny Frogmouth * , a nocturnal hunting bird that looks somewhat like an owl. I have not seen one of them for many years and never in this garden. 

I find them especially remarkable for this head-up pose they adopt (above) when they are trying to blend in with the branch on which they sit during the daytime.

Their mottled gray plumage really blends well with the bark or bleached dead-wood of many eucalypts.

On the first day I unintentionally disturbed the bird, which moved around the garden and I was able to take this front-on, eyes wide open, photo.

The bird reappeared two days later and I managed to take this photo in the early morning sunshine.

Earlier in the week I attended the monthly meeting of Ikebana International in Melbourne. Our guest speaker was an expert in the history of porcelain and ceramics. Members were encouraged to make an ikebana arrangement in a favourite ceramic vessel. I chose this 'swooning' vessel by Graeme Wilkie, in which I have arranged dietes leaves and a single alstroemeria flower stem. I was  a little rushed and the result was not what I had planned.

   

   

At home I re-worked the arrangement and was happier with the result. 

Notice the big difference in the arrangement by slanting the tallest line to the left and then loosely looping the ends of the leaves. I feel this is much more harmonious with the vase.

There are more photos from the meeting at: Melbourne I.I. meeting * .

Greetings from Christopher

12th March 2016.

* Click on the blue text for further information.

SIGNS OF EARLY AUTUMN

Two years ago there was an uplifting article in a Melbourne newspaper about an art installation in an empty allotment in an old industrial area in Melbourne. The artwork was an eye-catching field of Sunflowers * . The idea seems to have been taken up by the City of Melbourne council, which has created a large meadow of cosmos and other annuals on a steep slope of parkland very close to the sports precinct this summer for the second time. 

This view caught my eye in the late afternoon with the sun shining through the sprinkler mist creating a beautiful haze.

With the sun coming from the side the colours were much more intense.

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The exercise for my Geelong class last week, like the previous week, was a combined one. I asked them to make an arrangement using only one kind of material in two or more vessels.

Helen used agapanthus that she disassembled in a suiban emphasising the surface of the water. It is not obvious in the photo but the material in her other tsubo-shaped vessel stretches over the surface of the water. 

Maureen used statice that she also partially disassembled. She lightened much of the righthand side by stripping some flowers off the tips, which helped make the arrangement asymmetrical. 

Her second arrangement was of pomegranate separated into dry and fresh material.

Ellie used hydrangeas that are showing colour changes from the early autumn weather. Each of the three vessels has a different feel but together they make a single arrangement.

Greetings from Christopher
6th March 2016

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COMBINED EXERCISES FROM THE CURRICULUM

This week we have been visited by our friends from Norway, Lennart and Svein. Lennart was the creator of the Nordic Lotus blog * . Its publication is currently in recess. During their visit we took them to see the huge Tree Ferns in the Otway ranges.

Svein and Lennart at the Erskine Waterfall.

There are a lot of steps to descend to the waterfall...

 ...as the falls are 30 metres high.

This pool is below the falls, which you can just see reflected in the water.

On our return journey we stopped to see kangaroos at the Anglesea Golf Course. It was mid-afternoon so they were not very active as you can see.

Lennart joined my class in Geelong, where I had set a combined exercise using a theme from both Book 3 and Book 4 of the Sogetsu curriculum. The combining of exercises is an idea introduced to the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School by Yoshiro Umemura from Sydney. In this case the exercises are Kabuwake (divided groups, using two or more kenzans) and Using Branch Material only.  The important feature of Kabuwake is to emphasise the space between the groups in the arrangement.

Unfortunately, in some of the photos the space seems less obvious because of the flattening in the photographic image.

Maureen used lemon tree branches and Azalea.

Christine used white Crepe Myrtle and Smoke Bush leaves.

Helen used geranium and roses.

Ellie used Casuarina and native Hibiscus.

Lennart used Acacia Baileyana, Nerium Oleander and two different kinds of Eucalyptus, one in flower and the other having seed pods. Here it has been reconstructed in the niche at home after the class.

Greetings from Christopher

28th February 2016

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ROSES, LEAVES and HAIKU

Last week I posted a photo of an arrangement in which I had braced a branch within the 'ikebana niche' in our living room. This meant it was supported and did not need to be in the vessel I was using. 

Subsequently I received an email from my New York-based Sogetsu friend, Lynn, who had seen the same idea in an internal restaurant window. In that case,  they had used an espaliered grape vine cutting. The glass vessel seems to contain river stones at the bottom, then finer gravel or sand. I would have preferred just water, with perhaps a leaf floating on the surface. However, it makes a rather striking winter arrangement.

At a class late last year, Elizabeth set as an exercise 'an arrangement using leaves and roses only'. My very imaginative colleague Toula Karanikolopoulos made the work below using New Zealand flax leaves and roses from her garden in a vessel she had made herself. 

In contrast my arrangement is fairly naturalistic and I used dietes leaves with some small pink roses I bought from the florist. The vessel is by the Castlemaine-based ceramic artist Tom Cockram.

On Tuesday 9th February the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International held its first meeting for 2016. The focus was a presentation by three members whose work was represented in the book 'Poetical Ikebana', including on the front cover of the book. Click on the blue text to see the I.I. blog posting for that meeting: Haiku * .

Greetings from Christopher
21st February 2016.

THE EFFECTS OF SUMMER DRYNESS

In mid December I posted the photo below of hydrangeas in a pot in the garden. They have suffered rather a lot in the few, very hot (40+ Celsius) days in January, while we were away. Since we returned home I have pruned them and started nurturing them again in the hope of a few late flowers before autumn.

With the heat and dryness the flower heads have become green and the bracts thickened.

Where they have become damaged, by insects or perhaps water droplets, they are going a deep pink. I am looking forward to see how this develops when the weather begins to cool.

Among my collection of dried ikebana materials in the garden are a few branches with some attractive green lichen. I thought the two elements would make an interesting combination for my ikebana.

Because the branch I have used is dry, I didn't want to put it in water in the vase. I found to my delight that I could wedge it in the niche, where it protrudes a little forward, which is not so evident in the photo above. I have kept the flowers on one side of the arrangement and allowed two leaves to emphasise the space on the right. The cylindrical vessel is by Graeme Wilkie of Qdos Gallery * .

On Monday last week the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana held its first meeting for this year, with a workshop lead by sisters-in-law Toula and Betty Karanikolopoulos. Their workshop had the theme: "Use your imagination with balloons in water or with other material" * . Follow the link to see the amazing imagination of these two ikebanists and the members of the Victorian Branch of the Sogestu School. 

Greetings from Christopher
13th February 2016

* Click on the blue text for further information.

MEMORIES OF SUMMER HOLIDAYS

This looks like being another busy year on the ikebana front, starting with the first meetings of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School * and also Ikebana International Melbourne, * Chapter 29, taking place next week. On each of their websites is a listing of the program for the coming year.

Last week marked the beginning of formal ikebana activities in 2016 for me, with the first classes for my Geelong and Torquay-based students. The theme of the first class was: 'Memories of Summer Holidays'. It turned out to be a fascinating topic that was interpreted so differently by each of the students. I found their very personal explanations of their work quite touching. 

The first two photographs below are by two new students doing their first 'freestyle' arrangement at only their ninth class.

Andrea had gathered some fig branches from her beach house. As you can see the leaves had started to wilt in the heat of her car. However, this made her very aware of the beauty of the veins on the back of the leaves and that became the subject of her ikebana.

Jo brought along materials from her home garden: spent agapanthus flowerheads, an almond tree branch and overblown Mr Lincoln roses. This arrangement contrasts straight and curving lines. 

Maureen created this work that includes 'unconventional' (man-made) materials which represent the clues in a treasure hunt she set for her grandchildren at Christmas.

A couple of days later some of the children became sick. The twisted canes in this work represent the 'knots' in their stomachs. 

Christine spent much of the summer in her large garden where the pear tree has borne more fruit than ever before.

Ellie revealed three memories of summer from her childhood. Above, driving through the Australian countryside.

Exploring rock pools at the beach...

...and carnations, the first flowers she was ever given, as well as the hydrangeas along the side fence of the house they lived in at the time. Notice the three stems that represent the fence, braced across the ceramic trough.

Greetings from Christopher
7th January 2016

* Click on the blue text for further information

PASSING THROUGH THE TROPICS

On our way home from India last week we spent a few days in Singapore, which is famous for its luxuriant botanic gardens. 

At a distance I caught a glimpse of these South American, 'Victoria' water lilies. These are possibly the slightly smaller Victoria cruziana species, from the Parana-Paraguay basin.

The dominant colour in the gardens is lush tropical green, against which many flowers seem positively luminous, especially the orchids in the National Orchid Garden, located within the Botanic Gardens. I was rather amazed to see the paths lined with the delicate yellow orchids, known in Australia as Dancing Lady Orchids. A couple of other orchids are shown below.

   

  

This 'torch ginger' (Etlingera elatior) made a striking contrast to the greenery. The natural distribution of gingers ranges from India to the Pacific.

Also looking very dramatic were some 'Crab Claw', Heliconias from tropical South America.

From this lush tropical environment we returned to summer in the 'Mediterranean climate' of Victoria.

Having arrived home I was stuck by the vivid contrast of these bright pink Begonias and the orange of the Crososmia beside the path.

The intensity and combination of these colours reminded me of the colours I had seen so recently in India. I have arranged them in a celadon bowl by Alister Whyte * .

Greetings from Christopher
31st January 2016

* Click on the blue text for further information.