SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Hello all,

Spring in Melbourne is glorious and walking around in my garden
is pure delight. Here are just two examples of new spring growth.
They are my two weeping Japanese Maples with their brand new leaves. Below is a recent photo of one of the flower heads of my doryanthes Palmeri, which I had first photographed a month ago. It is only a little bit closer to flowering.

I was sick in bed on the recent class day, so I asked Lucy, my most senior student to take the classes for me. Lucy is amply qualified to teach and I trust her completely with my students. And the students' comments about her teaching were resoundingly positive.

For the senior students I set the theme 'Triangles' and instructed them to interpret this one word theme whichever way they wanted. The only thing I required from them was to produce a good piece of ikebana in the end. I had prepared the arrangement, below on the previous day before I fell ill. I used umbrella grass stems and crucifix orchids. Below mine are arrangements by some of the students. Interestingly, we all used umbrella grass. It is such a versatile material.

Vicky used umbrella grass and Green
Goddess lily

Nicole used umbrella grass stems and flower heads, which
she cut into triangles

Janette used umbrella grass stems, clivia and red
straws.

Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter has just finished its annual exhibition, which was held at a retail space in The District Docklands Shopping Centre. All five schools of Ikebana were represented providing a variety of styles for the public to enjoy. Below are arrangements by two of my students and myself. Unfortunately, the lines on the screens behind the arrangements detract from the work. Keep an eye out for our blog, where photographs of all the arrangements will appear.

Jenny used gymea leaves and one arum lily

Lucy used dowels to create this sculptural piece and one
Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurentii' leaf

For my sculptural piece I used a sheet of perforated
metal, which I bent and had holes drilled into for the
stainless steel pole that went through it and held it up.
I used gymea leaves, which I bent through the structure.

And here is just another arrangement using a strelitzia nicolai flower. With it I used Siberian dogwood which is just sprouting leaves and flowers. I keep trying to find different ways of using this very strong and heavy material.

Bye for now,
Emily

Pussy willow (Salix caprea) and arum lilies in a ceramic vase, much prized
because it once belonged to my friend Gwen Delves

Hello all,

I've tried to keep this strictly an ikebana blog, keeping personal content to a minimum. However, I feel I can now share with you another passion of mine, which precedes ikebana. That's dressmaking.

I started making my own clothes as a teenager when the mini skirt was all the rage and my mother would not make my skirts short enough. To her credit, mum did not forbid me from wearing the scandalously short skirts that I made, thus encouraging me to keep trying and learning to sew. Needless to say, I look back at those early attempts and cringe but perseverance and determination paid off. I can say, without fear of sounding conceited that I'm now quite adept with the needle and thread. I have a large and well stocked sewing room where I like to spend my evenings making clothes for myself and members of my family. This is my time of rest, with the television on in the background, I can spend many happy hours.

Since the grandchildren have arrived I have loved nothing more than to create clothes for all four of them, including the boy. It's just like playing with dolls except that they are real. Oh, and they have opinions and tastes. Like all grandmothers, I'm totally besotted!

Below are the three recent garments I made for the girls.

A very 'Mod' Granddaughter No. 1

A cheeky Granddaughter No. 2

Granddaughter No. 3, who requested an 'Up' dress

A dress that goes up when she twirls

So, now back to Ikebana. Last week, for our Ikebana International meeting we had the great pleasure of visiting Ripponlea Estate. This is a heritage listed 19th century mansion under the care of The National Trust. Apart from enjoying walking through this magnificent building, we wandered around the 7 hectares of equally magnificent gardens and lake. And, as if that wasn't enough, we were, also, given permission to cut materials from said gardens to make arrangements in the ballroom. We, then, enjoyed a pleasant lunch sitting around the swimming pool.

Wendy used bamboo, the leaves of which
she caught together and two crucifix orchids

Nicole used lichen covered crab apple branches with rhododendron

Jenny used flowering crab apple branches and coleus

Lucy used bamboo and clusters of flowers from a shrub
that's unfamiliar to me

I used Fatsia Japonica berries and leaf and strelitzia juncea leaves

A close up of the black berries on creamy white stems.

In my first arrangement of the fatsia berries, the stem did not reach the water. So, at home I re-arranged it in a different container so that it would be in water. It is, now, nearly a week and both the berries and the leaves still look fresh. I'm so enamoured of this plant, that I went out and bought one on Saturday. I suspect it will be a while before I see berries but then all things come to those who wait. We, gardeners are used to waiting.

I like the berries in the black container. Unfortunately, the contrast of
the black berries against the white stems is not as obvious in the photo

I leave you with this little arrangement I made using berries I trimmed off the main stem.

Bye for now,
Emily

The original arrangement

Hello all,

I made the above arrangement after disassembling the piece I had done for St Paul's Cathedral a few weeks ago and the thought of finding a place in my storeroom for the bamboo structure was  too much for me. It was easier and more fun to make another arrangement instead. Its simplicity belies the difficulty in arranging the camellias to look natural and facing up. The large glass vase has areas that are opaque and others that are clear, requiring care in cutting the stems of the camellias short enough so that they are not visible through the glass.

Last Saturday I ran a workshop for eleven members of our Sogetsu group here at my home studio. I've done such a workshop once before, the idea for which originated with Testunori Kawana's classes I attended in Tokyo.

I provided for each participant a small bunch of three different types of materials and made my containers available to them. I also provided, tools, wire etc. Each participant chose a container and made an arrangement, which I critiqued when finished and then photographed. The arrangement was then disassembled, the container returned and a new container chosen to go through the same process again and again using the same bunch of materials.

The workshop ran from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm with a break for lunch and in that time 66 arrangements were completed. A number of people told me that they could, easily, have done many more arrangements, had time not run out. I had advised the participants not to view the exercise as some sort of competition to see who could make the most arrangements. It would be preferable to make fewer good arrangements rather than many not so good. I believe it is necessary for all of us in ikebana to be challenged once in a while and this type of work can be quite challenging because of the restrictions that it poses. I was very pleased with the quality of work that was produced and the feedback I received was positive.

As a teacher this was very challenging for me, as I had to be available to assist whoever needed help as well as critiquing the completed work and photographing it. It certainly kept me on my toes. One unexpected bonus for me was to see some of my containers used in ways I hadn't thought to use them.

Rather than bombard you with photographs of 66 arrangements, I chose to include one per participant. And, I can tell you, this was not easy!

Sue Healey used a large phylodendron leaf, which she thinned out
and weeping willow stems, which she stripped of their leaves

Jennie Stewart used broom that's just starting to flower, with a strelitzia
reginae in a resin vase

Margaret Wilson used two aspidistra leaves with an arum lily in a ceramic vase

Marilyn Woodland used Siberian dogwood,a strelitzia  leaf,
which she cut into a circular shape and an Asiatic lily bud
in a ceramic container

Vicky Kalokathis used a cordyline stem, whose leaves
she curled and an Asiatic lily in a tall glass vase

Christopher James used my self made ceramic container on its side, in a way I'd
never used it myself. I will from now on. He used two gymea leaves and a stem of
Asiatic lilies

Sandra Gawthorp used a monstera deliciosa
leaf, which she trimmed and a single arum lily
in a ceramic container.

Nicole McDonald used nandina domestica and green
Goddess lilies in a ceramic container

Jenny Loo used a strelitzia nicolai leaf, umbrella grass and arum lilies in a
heavy, ceramic vase

Aileen used a branch of prunus elvins in bloom and a green Goddess lily.
The white container is ceramic. The black part is wooden

Lucy Papas used two gymea leaves and a strelitzia reginae in a square suiban without
using a kenzan

Bye for now,
Emily

My magnolia soulangiana in all her glory!

Hello all,
The photo of my magnolia, above, was taken from our balcony. In fact we enjoy the view of this magnificent tree from the family room, the ikebana room and the kitchen. That's exactly what I had in mind when I planted it there about 25 years ago. I guess the old saying of 'All things come to those who wait' is quite true.

And, of course, I made a number of arrangements using only magnolia, for it really needs no other material to complete an arrangement. Two examples are below.

Last week Sam and I felled one of the trunks of my very tall strelitzia nicolai because it was growing right up against the dining room window. When we were cutting it up I removed the dead flowers and discovered something quite beautiful. I'd never noticed the seed heads before because they are covered by masses of dead petals. Once I removed some of that dead material the woody seed pods were open into a three-petaled flower shape and revealed the bright orange and black seeds.

Close up of the seeds.

This is what the dead flower looked like when I had only partially removed the dead petals

And this is what it looked like after being cleaned and arranged.

I must confess that I have an aversion to arrangements made with only dry materials and, generally, avoid making them. However, in both of the above arrangements I tried to use some other fresh material but it simply did not work. Anything I used seemed superfluous. I contented myself with the thought that the vivid orange of the seeds, which is not visible in the photos, gives some life to the rest of the dry material.

At our last Sogetsu meeting the workshop was run by Emerald Leung, who set us the task of making an arrangement using only two types of materials, with leaves but not flowers, either branches with leaves and/or individual leaves. The aim was to accentuate the elements of line, mass and colour. Please go to Sogetsu Victorian Branch for photographs of Emerald's arrangements as well as those of other members.

I used large gymea leaves for line, a loquat branch, whose leaves created the mass
and for colour, the contrast of the dark green of the loquat leaves and the
lighter green of the gymea.

Jenny used stripped aspidistra leaves and spider plant (Chlorophytum Comosum)

I leave you with this picture of my gymea lily, which has two giant flower 'buds' (should I call them buds? It seems wrong when they are so big). Anyway, they are currently about 2 metres in height. I will keep you posted of their progress. Needless to say, I am seriously chuffed to have two such flowers growing in my garden.

Bye for now,
Emily