MELALEUCA PALLIDA: LEMON BOTTLE BRUSH

   

Yesterday, the morning was very pleasantly warm and as I was passing the glass door to the back garden I was surprised by the return of Spike, the echidna. He had not been seen for some time over the cooler months. In the previous few days I had noticed some disturbance in the mulch and assumed that Laurie had been pulling the occasional weed out. 

More likely it was Spike looking for ants, of which we seem to have plenty. This photo was taken through one of the conservatory windows.

Because I was inside it was easy for me to get this close range photo without disturbing Spike who was searching for ants between the brick paving under the clothes line.

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Last week I showed this photo of the pale yellow "Lemon Bottle Brush", melaleuca pallida, bush in the garden. I have learnt that these plants, previously known as Callistemons, have been transferred into the genus of Melaleuca. This bush has flowered especially prolifically this year. 

The flowers on the bush are quite dense compared to the pale pink one growing near by.

As I indicated last week, I planned to cut some branches to make an ikebana arrangement as I had not used this material last year. I cut four smallish branches, but discovered that I had rather more than I needed. I ended up making three ikebana arrangements rather than throwing the surplus material into the compost bin. 

This was the final ikebana I made. It was unplanned and came about when I walked around the garden looking for some additional material to use with the Melaleuca. I was looking for something that would pick up the pale yellow and noticed these two New Zealand Flax, Phorium, leaves. Each leaf had a yellow margin on opposing sides and dried patches because of ageing or insect damage. They are an excellent example of the wabi-sabi concept of beauty to be found in imperfection. If you double click on the photo you will be able to get a larger image which you can 'zoom in'. The vessel, which comes from Seto City, is made from black unglazed clay with cream splashes that pick up the colour of the flowers.

This second, unplanned ikebana resulted from trimming the longer branches to reveal their lines. I had ended up with a couple of dense masses of flowers that I thought would work well in this modern ceramic vase. 

After completing it I made some additional adjustments when I realised that it would conform to the Sogetsu School curriculum of... 

   

... "An arrangement that is to be viewed from all around"...

... This is the final view of what was initially intended to be the back of the ikebana !  It is slightly disappointing that I cannot turn this into a slide-show.

Here, finally, is what I set out to do. I have arranged three trimmed branches leaning in opposite directions. This has created a sense of movement made by the lines of the stems and the angles of the flowers. The space between them heightens this movement. 

The suiban is silver-coloured lacquer-ware from Kyoto that I bought in Melbourne.

Greetings from Christopher

24th October 2020

SPRING VIGOUR

It is a dull and overcast day as I write this, one where it was a little hard not to feel dispirited in the early(ish) grey morning. As I lay in bed I wondered what new ikebana arrangement I could share with you. Then I remembered that the "Red Valerian", Centranthus ruber, which I had planted a few years ago was now looking rather lush and full of spring vigour.

As you can see from this photo, our Red Valerian is actually pink. However, there is some of the red variety growing wild in the round-about at the end of the street. Very handy should I need any.

Close by is this lovely, pale yellow Calistemon that seemed to suddenly come into flower all at once. I hope to be sufficiently organised to set it in an ikebana arrangement during this coming week.

As I wandered around the garden again this morning, I noticed a branch with an interesting line and three flowers at its end on this soft pink Calistemon bush. I thought I had missed my opportunity to use this one because it had started flowering earlier and not so prolifically as the pale yellow one. However this was just what I needed. Another shade of pink to go with the Valerian. 

At this time of year, with so many plants coming into flower, it is such a temptation to arrange masses of flowers. An explosion of joy. I really like going into the florist shop to be surrounded by the variety, abundance and the fragrance of flowers. It sets me thinking about images of the French Court at Versailles and climbing roses grown in swags. Within the Western style of flower arranging I think abundance and mass can work well. In ikebana it can be difficult. 

At the beginning of this term I had already set my Torquay U3A students the topic of making "An arrangement expressing the abundance of Spring, while still adhering to ikebana principal elements of line, mass and space". Unless one is making a large installation, I think the difficulty for ikebanists is to not lose sight of the individual materials that we use, and swamp them in such an arrangement. 

             

This is my ikebana, made today, from the prolifically flowering Valerian and a similarly coloured Calistemon in the garden. I grouped the flowers separately. Although it is not apparent from the angle of the photograph, the  long line of the calistemon comes forward to the left and I have kept it above the rim of the vessel to avoid a congested appearance. The wood-fired vessel is by Owen Rye. 

Greetings from Christopher

18th October 2020

BANKSIA, VINE AND WATTLE

This week I am focusing on some indigenous Australian plants. The flowers of these plants often have forms that are quite different from those seen in traditional ikebana arrangements. Usually, they have a quite strong structural appearance which works well in ikebana. My thinking is that this is because ikebana really starts with the element of line, and it is line that enables the ikebanist to create space. This is then extended by the other principal elements of mass and colour. 

The first of the indigenous plants that I want to focus on is the Banksia. Recently my friend Heather, an excellent gardener, gave me some flowers from her Banksia 'Giant Candles', which is a hybrid of B. ericifolia and B. spinulosa. The inflorescences of that hybrid are really huge, up to 40 cms tall.

 

This photo is of B. ericifolia that I took in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, 25 kilometres north of Sydney, in June last year. The large inflorescences are a rich orange and, in this instance, were glowing in the late afternoon sun.

In this close up, which shows part of one of the flower spikes on the bush above, you can see the curiously hooked end of the styles (part of the pistol). For the ikebanist this can be either irritating, because things stick to its 'velcro' like surface, or ... 

... on the other hand that characteristic can be used. After I took my ikebana down I attached the second flower on the right hand side to demonstrate this property. 

Back in 2015 I used this velcro-like property to attach the smaller, yellow Banksia, B. integrifolia, at the front of the ikebana for its bright colour. The ikebana was made for a workshop in which we were asked to make a 'Vertical arrangement using flowers'. It failed for technical reasons that you can read about here in my earlier post: 'The Temptation of Banksias'.

The recent ikebana that I made with Heather's banksias are secured in a kenzan. The rich orange of the flower spikes complements the unique ceramic vessel, while the green of the leaves give a feeling of freshness. The vessel is by Janet Keefe, from Ontario Canada.

While I was in the more jungly part of the front garden last week I noticed that a self-sown Bluebell Creeper Billardiera fusiformis, a Western Australian native, was working its way up into one of the Tea-trees. It has been declared an environmental weed in many places in the eastern states. When I pulled it out I was surprised at the length of its twining branches and recognised potential ikebana material. The question of course is what will go with this vine...

...and the answer turned out to be some rather prolific wattle; in this case I think either Acacia saligna or possibly A. verniciflua.

This wattle has clusters of rich golden blossom and quite fine leaves. 

I began this ikebana by stripping the vine of its leaves and then set it at a slight angle across the top of the tall white porcelain vase. The vine is all in one piece, looped and placed so that the thicker section is on the right hand side. Its position is maintained by the use of a vertical fixture. Three stems of wattle have been massed coming forward to the left and all but three of the narrow leaves have been removed. 

Greetings from Christopher,

10th October 2020.

PINK AND YELLOW

  

Last week, when we had a walk in Iron Bark Basin. I checked to see how the Xanthorrhoea was developing.

I was pleased to see that the north facing side of the spike was almost completely covered with open flowers.

 As you can see from this photograph it has attracted a number of bees as well as some butterflies. 

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On Monday, my student Eugenia sent me this photo of  her recent ikebana. She reported that the inspiration came from the pruned remains of a Garrya elliptica, that died. She challenged herself to use her favourite piece of pottery, which is a beautiful but difficult vessel, being a cube shape with deep openings on each side and an open top. She chose banksia and a dried stem of the Garrya as their strength and colours complement the form and tones of the vessel. These were contrasted by the feathery appearance of the Nandina domestica. I particularly like the boldness of the design with the strength of the vessel.

Over recent weeks I have been watching the seasonal progress of a wild Tamarix tetranda, as its flowers form. When the buds are still tight they are a deep maroon, which suddenly becomes a pale pink on opening. I wanted to use some of this material for an ikebana in the brief period of its flowering.

This close up shows both the deep colour of the buds and the lighter pink of the open flowers.

The first time that I used this plant in an ikebana I deliberately picked the branches before the flowers had opened. I made this one-material ikebana some years ago because of the colour match with the then recently-acquired vessel by Graeme Wilkie. The vertical lines of the branch material complement the surface of the vessel which is ridged with strong horizontal lines.

This year I wanted to contrast the pale pink with the bright yellow of the Forsythia intermedia from our garden; a gift from my former work colleague, Shirley.

I have arranged the spreading branches of the Tamarix in an irregularly-shaped black ceramic vessel. The materials include Forsythia, Lady Banks rose, Rosa Banksiae, and an intense pink geranium placed at the back. The flattening effect of the photograph and evenness of the lighting obscure the fact that the Banksia rose at the mouth of the vessel actually extends well forward. Because the vessel is narrow front to back it is important to place materials extending forward and to the rear, otherwise the arrangement will be flat and fan-shaped. 

Greetings from Christopher

4th October 2020

SUPPORTING LEANING MATERIALS

A few weeks ago Laurie took this photo of a Gang-gang cockatoo eating the seeds of a Melaleuca nesophila as we walked into Torquay for our daily exercise. 

The Gang-gangs are winter-time visitors to our part of the world, where they feed on the seeds of indigenous Australian plants. Over the last 40 - 50 years, enthusiastic gardeners have planted many of these species which are more tolerant of our hot, dry summers than exotic plants. The Gang-gangs now seem to have migrated back to the bush where they nest and raise their young. 

Laurie, a week ago, also took this photo of a Wisteria vine at its flowering peak. As you can see I forgot my re-usable mask. Fortunately we have made a point of keeping a packet of disposable masks in the car glove box.

This week's ikebana is a continuation of the use of last week's materials, Arum lilies and leaves. Because of their large size I decided that I would arrange them in a large box-like ceramic vessel that was made by the Echizen-based ceramic artist Yutaka Nakamura. 

To follow the leaning movement of the vessel I decided to arrange the Arum flowers and leaves extending to the left. However, to maintain a feeling of lightness I did not want them to be leaning on the lefthand edge of the vessel and so I needed to make a crossbar support. The box is of slab construction and the walls are quite thin relative to their size. Therefore, to avoid the risk of damaging the vessel, I needed to create a crossbar support mechanism that would not put pressure on its sides .

This was my solution. I have created a cross-shaped support, the upright of which is inserted at an angle into a large kenzan. The lean to the right is to counter the pressure to the left that will be exerted by the weight of the materials. The crossbar has been measured to just touch the sides of the vessel but is not wedged against them.

This is the mechanism in position. The leaves and flowers will be inserted into the kenzan and their lean to the left is supported by the crossbar. Without this they would collapse.

Here is the finished ikebana. Two Arum lily flowers and two leaves are given a feeling of movement rising to the left. Counteracting this is a leaf at the back and a large swirling mass of dried material that moves to the right and down. This material is the dried base of a leaf from a banana plant. It is a variety of banana which has a distinctive red-coloured central rib on its fresh leaf. The dried material also provides a textural contrast to the fresh materials.

Greetings from Christopher

26th September 2020

ARUM LILIES - LINES and SURFACES

* Note to Ursula B. at the bottom

A month ago, in mid August, we had some early warm weather.

The Torquay surf beach looked like this. 

This 'zoomed' photo shows the far end of the surf beach with the cliffs of Jan Juc towering beyond them.

A month earlier, in mid-July, Laurie and I had a walk in Iron Bark Basin on a sunny day after some rain. The understory vegetation has been cleared on either side of the walking track as a bushfire management strategy. As it was the beginning of the change of season, winter to spring, I was on the lookout for a Grass Tree, Xanthorrhoea australis with a developing inflorescence. I have often thought about recording its growth.

 

This photo was taken on the 8th July and the inflorescence was  already about 45 cms from its base.

Last week, on 16th September, the inflorescence had reached about 2 metres and was just starting to flower.

This close up shows the masses of flowers on the more advanced inflorescence of a nearby plant.  Of course it is not legal to collect wild flowers in nature reserves and this is much too large for anything other than an exhibition installation.

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This week I have been watching the development of some Arum lilies, which I find quite beautiful for a couple of reasons. The first is the graceful lines of the stems and the form of the flowers that enchanted the artists of the Art Nouveau movement. The second is the glossy surface beauty of the leaves which contrasts with the matte surface of the complex, three- dimensional whiplash curves of the flower spathe.

In this first ikebana I have focused on the lines of the stems, gently exaggerating the curves with my hands to create a parallel space between them. The asymmetrically placed leaf provides a contrasting mass. The black ceramic vessel is from Seto City in Japan.

In this second ikebana I wanted to focus on the surfaces of the Arum lily.

I have set three large leaves one above the other in a forward movement. Two fully opened flowers are placed below and behind the mass of the parallel leaves. The leaves and the sinuous lines of their edges are the principal subject. The ceramic bowl is by the Melbourne based ceramic artist Isabel Wang.

Greetings from Christopher

19th September 2020

After publishing my post last week I realised that I had not acknowledged the source of information about the use of vinegar in the conditioning of cut plant materials. It came from an out-of-print booklet, "Post-harvest care of cut flowers" prepared by Dr R Jones, Institute of Plant Sciences, Knoxfield Campus, Victoria, prepared for the horticultural industry. 

* For Ursula in Cairns: The Blogger system protects your privacy and I am unable to contact you. I would suggest you contact the Sogetsu Queensland Branch at the following address:

https://ikebanabrisbane.org.au

TAKING A SECOND LOOK

In response to my posting last week one of my students wrote to me saying, in part: "...I realised that I spend a lot of my time worrying about doing garden ‘chores’ instead of just enjoying the garden - especially when it is starting to enter its Spring Best!  That said -inspired by your blog - I wandered around taking photos of as many blue-tending flowers as I could..."

This comment and my own experiences of the last week led me to this post's title.

Three days after I photographed the blue iris bud included in last week's posting it suddenly opened fully. As the day was going to be warm and windy I cut it and brought it inside before it was ruined by the sudden heat. What to do with a single flower?

I arranged it within the gentle curve of two Acanthus leaves *. The leaf at the back is deliberately turned to show the veins on its underside. The blue crystalline-glazed vessel is by the Castlemaine ceramic artist Dean Smith. I was disappointed when the iris started to wilt after three days, but a little consoled to discover a smaller and paler bud opening behind the first flower

Recently, I set my Torquay students the exercise of making a single ikebana arrangement using two vessels.   

Val used two black, contemporary vessels in which she set two Strelitzia reginae leaves and one flower, with a double head. This is another example of showing the back of a leaf for the textural contrast it provides.

What a difference a week makes! Suddenly there is an extra zing in her ikebana when the flower started opening.

In spite of these delightful surprises we must not get caught up in the desire for our ikebana to last indefinitely. It is essentially an ephemeral art form and therein lies an aspect of its richness. Each ikebana arrangement is a unique encounter with those particular materials, that can never happen again in exactly the same way.

In the garden the Pandorea pandorana vine is putting on a strong spurt of spring growth and has started to flower. It seems to be especially vigorous this year, perhaps because of recent rain.

Here some of the new growth is silhouetted against the early morning sky. I cut some of the thicker old stems as well as fresh growth and flowers.

I have arranged them in a tall modern ceramic vase with two side openings. The lines of the vine created interesting spaces which I kept principally on one side and emphasised by removing most of the leaves on the newer stem. The contrasting mass of flowers has been placed on the opposite side with a single line of the fresh vine connecting the two sides.

The flowers did not last as well as I had hoped. However, as I walked past the ikebana multiple times each day I realised that I had not taken my photograph from the best angle.

A couple of days later I had to remove the wilting flowers and I added a small bunch of Dwarf Nandina Domestica for the mass that balances the lines. From this slightly different angle each group of green leaves sit in their own space without any further adjusting.

Greetings from Christopher

12th September 2020

* Acanthus leaves are a favourite of mine for the beauty of their shape, shine and deep green colour. Owing to their sticky sap they are prone to wilting very quickly. The remedy is to re-cut the stems under water and then stand in warm, deep water with 10ml of white vinegar per litre for a couple of hours.

Note to Ursula B. The Blogger system protects your privacy and I am unable to contact you. 

I would suggest that you contact the Sogetsu Queensland Branch at the following address:

https://ikebanabrisbane.org.au/

BLUE

A week ago I noticed that the first two flowers had opened on the apricot tree. When the leaves unfurl the tree will give some welcome shelter in the summer, if it is not too ravaged by the possums.

 

In the meantime, the blossoms are a delight to the eye...

...and today, a week later, the blossoming continues. 

Spring has also brought some strikingly blue flowers into bloom. For  most of the year blue is present in our garden in the Lavender and Rosemary by the path. We planted upright, semi-prostrate and prostrate varieties of Rosemary years ago, and all have seeded freely around the garden. Many of these second generations plants have been allowed to grow if they are not in the way of anything else.

This little patch of Grape Hyacinths, Muscari neglectum, came from my parents' garden and are a flower that my mother particularly loved. I am intrigued by the inclusion of "neglectum" in the Latin name. They get plenty of that in our garden.

Next is a small patch of Echium candicans, that I recently transplanted to a position where it will provide a screening function in the garden. It is also self-seeded from an original plant that has since died. 

This wonderfully intense blue is the first bud of a 'Dutch Iris', Iris latifolia, that was given to me by a neighbour. I have planted this one in a pot with a water well, and some others in the garden. It will be interesting to see how those in the soil will manage. In checking the botanical name I was amused to see that it is known as: Dutch Iris, Spanish Iris and English Iris. Take your pick! 

My final blue flower in the garden is this Hardenbergia violacea, a fairly vigorous Australian native vine, growing on a mesh fence and known locally as the Happy Wanderer. In this instance it is wandering into the Nandina domestica, also growing against the fence. The blue is fairly strong and I decided to use it as an ikebana subject. 

  

        

I have cut the long tendrils of the vine into shorter lengths so that I can make a dense mass of the flowers. As a contrast I have added the strong green lines of Costal Sword sedge, Lepidosperma gladiatum, which gives a feeling of vigorous movement to the explosion of the flower mass.

The ikebana vessel is by Graeme Wilkie of Qdos Arts, Lorne.

Greetings from Christopher,

5th September 2020