Hello all and a very happy Mother's Day to all the mums out there.

Yesterday I ran a workshop for our Ikebana International chapter on the subject 'An Arrangement Expressing a Movement' from the Sogetsu curriculum. This is quite a challenging exercise, particularly for the non-Sogetsu members, who were faced with it for the first time. So I was very pleased to see so many members attending and attempting something for the first time.

Theme - 'Crawling'. This succulent was given to me by my student, Shaneen because
she thought I could find some use for it. She was right

Theme - 'Fencing'. I used New Zealand Flax to simulate
the swords and agapanthus flower heads

Theme - 'Hula Hooping'. I used agapanthus,
Siberian dogwood stems and nandina
domestic nana

Theme - 'Pouring'. I used stripped aspidistra leaves in a ceramic vase, which
I tipped using a metal structure, which I bought at  headquarters.

Nicole expressed the theme - "Embracing" She used
stelitzia flowers and leaves

Lucy's theme was 'Bouncing'. She used umbrella grass stems and
crab apples

For the rest of the photographs from the workshop, please go to II Melbourne Chapter. Christopher may not have had a chance to post them on the blog yet but he surely will.

And now for class.
After the previous II workshop on baskets, I thought it was time to do the same exercise in the class, as it had been a while since we did it last.

I used amaranthus, swan plant  (Gomphocarpus
fruticosus), Japanese anemones and nandina
domestica nana

Vicky used camelias

Bredenia used small Chrysanthemums, pomegranates,
and nerines

This container of Vicky's, shaped as a basket is in fact ceramic with
a wooden handle. She used viburnum opulus branches and roses

Lucy used viburnum opulus branches, stock and Japanese
anemones

My wisteria is hell bent on climbing the loquat and nectarine trees. I'm constantly cutting it back to prevent it taking over. After a recent such prune, I couldn't let the opportunity pass without making some arrangements. Below are two of them.

Bye for now,
Emily