MASTERCLASS #28

 

Hello all,

For each of the participants of the recent Masterclass I provided a branch of hawthorn berries, a branch of crabapples and a single hydrangea. They were instructed to study their materials and then select a container.

My example, above, is a wall arrangement, which I photographed on the table against a dark background because I can't get a good photograph against the white wall.

Akemi removed all the leaves from the hawthorn and the crabapples. She made a feature of the hawthorn branch, securing it upside down and added a small cluster of the crabapples and the one hydrangea to the back.

Bredenia emphasized the asymmetry in her arrangement by placing the large, hawthorn branch, heavy with berries to one side and the smaller branch of crabapples to the other. The hydrangea, then, becomes the focal point and the element that ties the two together.

Lucy chose a heavy, ceramic container with a split down the middle. She placed the long, hawthorn stems sweeping forward and added a small branch of crabapples and the single hydrangea.

Cymbie placed her materials inside and outside of the container, which has holes all around it. In this case the placement inside the container is as important as the outside because the stems are visible through the holes. Therefore Cymbie did not use a kenzan and, the removal of the leaves of the branches, meant that they did not need to be in water.

Christine followed the line of the lip of the container and created a sweeping line with the two different branches. She added just a small hydrangea allowing the branches to be the main focus.

For Mary I set the theme 'With Leaves Only'. Since Mary has no garden she has to resort to buying flowers and, with Valentine's Day on Friday, we felt flowers would be both scarce and expensive.

A walk around my garden and we came up with a number of interesting leaves. Mary used New Zealand flax, Curculigo, Canna lily and calla lily leaves in a ceramic suiban.

Last week we had our first Ikebana International meeting. Our guest speaker was Dr Jacinta Burke from Rose Care. She is a lady with a long list of credentials and her presentation was both entertaining and informative. We, the members, were asked to bring arrangements using roses.

In my arrangement, below, I used some more prunings from my wisteria, from which I removed the leaflets, leaving the stems only. After the heatwaves we had recently, the only roses I could find in the garden were my trusty Altissimos.

Bye for now,

Emily

2025 - FIRST CLASS

 

Hawthorn berries, crabapples and dahlias 

Hello all,

Classes for the year began last Wednesday. We all enjoyed getting together again after such a long break. Studying ikebana takes a very long time, which means that students and teacher get to know each other quite well and develop a unique relationship. I genuinely miss the girls when I haven't seen them for a while.

For the first class I set a relatively easy theme - 'Seasonal Materials'. My example, above, is of a wall arrangement which I photographed against a black background rather than on the wall on which it is hanging. When photographing against a white background, the colours seem to be distorted somewhat, whereas against a black background the colours are rich and vibrant.

Cymbie used a stem of rose hips and hydrangea in a ceramic container. The stem reflects the shape of the container.

Bredenia sacrificed a number of pomegranates for her arrangement and added Corymbia ficifolia and Amaryllis belladonna in a large, ceramic container.

Mary used Portuguese laurel, Prunus lusitanica with its berries, amaranthus and hydrangea in a footed, ceramic suiban.

Lucy's vertical arrangement comprised of hanging amaranthus, hydrangea and crabapples in a ceramic vase.

Vicky used a long, contorted hazel stem, Corylus avellana contorta, in a vertical arrangement and added a single geranium flower.

Nicole, who tends to favour baskets, chose grass seedheads, nandina domestica, hawthorn berries, hydrangea and belladonna lilies.

Lei's curriculum lesson was 'What Ikebana Can Do Today'. She planned for her arrangement to be placed in the waiting room of her hairdressing salon. She started with an interesting, metal container and added palm fronds, which she trimmed heavily, massed statice and a single anthurium. This arrangement could fit into two curriculum themes - 'The Shape of the Container' and 'Repeating Similar Shapes'.

Wendy's curriculum theme was 'With Leaves Only'. In this exercise the interest is created by the different colours, shapes and textures of leaves. Wendy used young strelitzia nicolai, New Zealand flax, canna and cordyline leaves in a large, ceramic vase.

Dianne's exercise was 'Fruiting Branches'. The challenge in this exercise is to balance the branches, which are heavier than normal because of the fruit on them. Dianne used nectarine branches and added kniphofias. It required some stabilizing of the kenzan by wedging a horizontal fixture over it to prevent it from tipping over due to the weight of the fruit.

The arrangement was very pleasing with the main stem sweeping forward. However, in the photograph the branch appears to be sweeping upwards...

... so we cut the branch to lower it, thus making the arrangement more balanced.

Bye for now,

Emily

ZIG ZAGS

Hello all,

The stems of hydrangea in the arrangement, above, caught my attention by their interesting zig zagging form. I chose a container, whose shape reflected the zig zags.

There's a clump of soft rushes, Juncus effuses, around the corner which I see every time I drive past and always think that I should cut some. Yesterday I did. I've always been drawn to graphic designs and I wanted to see what the rushes would allow me to do. My first thought was zig zags. Below are two arrangements that are quite self explanatory. The flowers are crucifix orchids, Epidendrum Radicans.

And now, on to other things. The beef steak begonia, Begoniaerithrophylla, which I grow for the leaves, is looking very healthy in this warm weather. During winter it suffers, which is not surprising given that it is an indoor plant and I have it growing in a pot outside. I particularly like the fibonacci spiral of the leaves and the dark red of their underside. Sadly, that's not visible in the photograph, below,

.

In the depths of the very back of the garden I spied a bromeliad, Queens Tears. It is so lovely that it just needed to be placed in a vase. However, its stem is soft and droopy, which necessitated some fixings to stop it from resting on the lip. The leaf is another beef steak begonia.

I'm a little short on content this week because we're in the midst of a heat wave, which affects the plants as well as people. I've been spending hours on watering and protecting sensitive plants from getting cooked. And, as unpleasant as it is for us in the city, my thoughts go to those risking life and limb to fight fires that are destroying our countryside and to those families that are at risk of losing everything.

Bye for now,

Emily

27TH JANUARY 2025

 

Hello all,

My arrangement, above, started from my finding the asparagus fern (Asparagus setaceus) at the bottom of the garden with the delightful, little, bead like seed pods. I then, had to consider which container would be most appropriate. The drapey form of the fern suggested a tall vase from which to hang. I then scoured the garden for other materials - three red roses, two pineapple lilies ( Eucomis) and amaranthus.

Last week I featured a couple of arrangements using pine (Pinus radiata) but I still had more pine branches in the bucket, so here's another one in a self made, ceramic container. I used several stems of crucifix orchids in the space in the middle of the pine branch.

Keeping my wisteria under control is a constant battle. It's growing on the fence near a loquat and a persimmon tree and is constantly climbing onto them. It is quite a difficult task to disentangle it from the branches, often having to cut away said branches. During a recent such pruning session, I selected from the large pile some canes to use in ikebana. As I wanted to feature the curves of the stems, I removed all the leaves, leaving only the stalks. The ceramic container with the openings on either side was convenient to hold the canes in place. The space created was most important, so I kept the flowers, Hydrangeas and crocosmias, to one side.

In the interest of reusing and recycling, I created an arrangement with materials I had used before. The branches are from my weeping elm and are sprayed gold and were used in two previous arrangements. The pineapple lilies were, also, used before. The only new item was the agapanthus.

 

I was delighted to find a number of book leaf pines, Thuja orientalis aurea nana, in my daughter's garden and I helped myself to a couple of stems from the lower side of the conifer. Selecting a container was very easy. This one, practically, jumped out at me. The ginger flowers with their heady fragrance were beautiful but, sadly, did not last very long. I've removed them and will add some other flowers to replace the ginger.

At the bottom of the garden, in a shady spot, I found a very healthy looking hosta plant in flower. This plant is a favourite of snails, so that, finding one whose leaves are not eaten is a bonus, not to mention finding it in flower. 

In the arrangement, below, I used both the leaves and flowers and finished it off with some more wisteria.

In spring I had planted a punnet of leek seedlings in a large pot. As they grew and went to seed, I manipulated them to create interesting curved stems. I used two of them in the arrangement, below, and added dietes leaves at the base.

A couple of posts ago I featured a stem from my daughter's garden with which I was unfamiliar. A number of you wrote with suggestions of what it might be. I'm sorry to have to tell you that you were all wrong. Lucy helped me identify it. Silver senna is its common name and its botanical name is Senna Artemisioides. Now we all know. I'm looking forward to seeing it in flower in spring when it produces yellow flowers. I'll keep you posted.

Silver senna and corymbia

Bye for now,

Emily

,

GLORIOSA LILIES AND GLASS

 

Hello all,

Last week my granddaughter, Hermione, and I went to see the Yayoi Kusama Exhibition at the NGV. She is an extraordinary, multi disciplined artist and the exhibition is quite impressive. We enjoyed it enormously and highly recommend it.

Sam and I first became aware of the artist in 2014, when we were visiting Art Island Naoshima, Japan. Amongst the numerous outdoor pieces of art was the yellow pumpkin, above. It sits on a concrete pier jutting into the sea and is the first thing one sees when approaching the island.

A little bit of trivia about this pumpkin, in August 2021 it was washed out to sea by typhoon Lupit. In the past the sculpture was removed in anticipation of stormy weather but it is not known why this precaution was not taken this time. Anyway, it has since been repaired and returned to its position like a colourful sentinel, greeting all arrivals to the island.

And now to my gloriosa lilies. I had staggered the planting of my rhizomes last year and am now enjoying a steady stream of gorgeous blooms. The only problem is that the flower stems are quite short - approximately 25 cm - limiting the ways that I can use them. I could cut longer stems but that would include buds, thus sacrificing future flowers. So, I played around with glass containers, which, I'm afraid, are hard to photograph because of the reflection of any light in the room.

Gloriosa lilies and plastic covered wire in triangular vase

Gloriosa lily and squiggly grass

Single gloriosa lily in glass in glass containers

Gloriosa flowers and leaves

Sometimes the ikebana gods smile upon us and we come across desirable materials quite unexpectantly. This was the case when, instead of going to the supermarket after my hydrotherapy, I decided to go home. It was pure serendipity and I slammed on the brakes when I saw large branches of freshly cut pine. Now, I always carry cutters in my boot but I needed my trusty, battery operated cutter for those thick branches. So, I rushed home and rushed right back, fearing they would have been mulched in the meantime. Luckily, they were still there. 

I love using pine but, I have to admit, it's not an easy material. I made two arrangements which took a considerable amount of time just to secure them onto the containers.

The first one is a floor arrangement in a very heavy, ceramic container. You will have noticed that the stem of the pine is not in water but that's ok because the pine will last quite a while. In fact the thicker the stem, the longer the branch will last. As the container is so big and heavy, I did not want to fill it with water. So, I placed a plastic cup at the top of the container for the 6 hydrangea flowers stems to be in water.

In the wall arrangement, below, I chose the branch for its interesting form. I trimmed away a large number of pine needles to reveal this shape but I'm a little disappointed by the directions of said needles. Although it is a single branch, the tufts of needles are pointing in all directions, unlike the branch in the first arrangement. I hasten to add that they are from the same tree. I believe it has to do with how old each branch is and from which part of the tree it was cut.

Bye for now,

Emily

AUSTRALIAN NATIVES

 

Hello all,

Those of you who have been following my blog may have noticed that I don't often use Australian native materials. It took me very long time but, I finally, worked out what it is about eucalypts that I don't like. I have been avoiding them instinctively and it recently occurred to me to question why. And here's the revelation - the leaves grow in all directions on a stem and that clashes with my sense of order.

The wall arrangement, above, is made with a eucalypt that I love -  E. Lehmannii. (I did remove most of the leaves). Its chartreuse coloured flowers resemble pom poms. It produced large gum nuts and the buds are tiny, pointy cones which drop as the fluffy flower unfurls. When in an arrangement the little cones make a soft clatter as they drop onto the wooden floor....

.....this is what I found on the floor the morning after I made the arrangement.

We had some very heavy rain yesterday, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Sam and I went to my daughter and son in law's new house to babysit the grandkids. I mentioned before that their new house is on a half acre block with a mature garden. 

In the early evening, when the rain had stopped, I ventured outside. The trees were still laden with water and dripping and the grass was soaked, wetting my feet in my sandals. The birds were starting to chatter again and there was even an odd, confused cicada carrying on very loudly. As I looked around and breathed in the clean air, I realized just how lucky I am to be in a position to enjoy this scene. To me this was like a salve for the soul.

Then, of course, it was time to look around for potential material for ikebana. As a gardener of 34 years, I recognized almost all of the plants on the property. And I was quite delighted to come across a couple I'd never seen before. 

One of them is the tall branch material in the arrangement, below. What I find charming about it is that it has long, thin stems with masses of soft, fluffy foliage at the ends. I haven't worked out what it is called but I'm almost certain it is a native. I teamed it with another native - cream coloured Corymbia ficifolia in a variation No 4 Upright style nageire.

I had featured the arrangement, below on my blog last week. I had the Australian native,  woolly bush (Adenanthos sericeus) with agapanthus. In the interest of recycling and reusing, when the agapanthus died, I replaced them with red and pale pink corymbia ficifolia.

The first of my gloriosa lilies had flowered and I placed them in this very simple arrangement together with curculigo leaves.

A couple of years ago, my sister-in-law, Betty gave me some pineapple lily plants (Eucomis). This is the second year that they are flowering. They're rather soft and floppy and have a delicate fragrance. I used a gold coloured, elm stem for line but also to help with stability.

I was inspired to make an arrangement 'With Green Materials'. This is not to be  confused with the lesson 'With Leaves Only'. Here we can use any kind of material as long as it is green and, also, not artificially coloured. Here I used the seedheads alstroemeria psittacina, aeoniums, gum nuts, pinellia pedatisecta leaves and that mystery material I found at my daughter's garden.

I chose the red, glass container for the contrast in colour with the materials.

Bye for now,

Emily

6TH JANUARY, 2025

 

From Left to right - Shaneen, Lucy, Vicky, Nicole, Deb, Jenny,
Emily and Lei

Hello all,

The photograph, above, is of those of our class who were able to attend our Christmas break up lunch. We went to Harry's Cafe at McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery. We enjoyed a very pleasant lunch (after the raucous people at the table next to us left) and exchanged Kris Kringle gifts. We, also, enjoyed visiting some of the various sculptures around the property including the Love Flower, for which McClelland is now its permanent home. You can view the Gallery's website by clicking on McClelland.

Our group with the Love Flower

Me with a sculpture by Geoffrey Bartlett

We've had a couple of scorching, hot days, which have kept me busy watering and protecting my precious plants. My water tanks were empty, which meant having to resort to mains water. Something I try to avoid. However, today we had good, steady rain, penetrating the soil and topping up my tanks. Just what we, gardeners, love.

In preparation for the heat I cut some materials that I feared would be damaged. The apricot rose and the pinellia pedatisecta leaf would have cooked in the heat but look lovely in my powder room.

I, also, rescued some of the tiger lilies, Lilium lancifolium. I found some lichen covered, pear branches under one of my trestle tables, which, I suspect, were left there by one of the students. So, now I had the flowers and the branches and was looking for a container. The one I chose is a recent gift from my cousin, Steve and his wife, Nieves, who has excellent taste and has given me some great containers over the years.

Sam and I recently reached a significant, milestone anniversary and celebrated by spending a couple of days at the Jackalope Hotel in the Mornington Peninsula. It was a short stay as that was all the time Sam could afford but we did get quite spoiled in that time. As a gardener, of course, I noticed all the plants around the property and was struck by the large number of woolly bush shrubs, Adenanthos sericeus. It is a native to Western Australia and is quite beautiful with its soft, woolly like foliage and lasts a very long time as a cut specimen.  I asked for and was given permission to cut some and couldn't wait to make an arrangement when I got home. I teamed it with agapanthus Queen Mum in a self made container.

You may remember the arrangement, below, left, from a recent blog. About two weeks after I'd made the arrangement, the bull rushes started to fluff up and had to be removed before disaster struck. If allowed, when the fluffy seeds are ready they explode and can make a real mess. I know this from past, painful experience. I then replaced the bull rushes with the more well behaved hydrangeas.

I'm not all that fond of eucalypts in ikebana but there are a couple of exceptions. One is Corymbia ficifolia, which produces clusters of brightly coloured flowers this time of year. There is a street in our neighbourhood lined with these gorgeous, small trees. I helped myself to a couple of stems from the lower part of a tree and contemplated how to arrange them. I decided that they needed no other material but an interesting container. A happy discovery was that the branches are bendable, so I was able to place them in a hanging style, without them springing back.

My friend and colleague, Christopher, has also featured this material in his current blog and, if you would like to read the information he provides, please go to Roadside Ikebana.

Bye for now,

Emily