Hello all,

The tragic picture, above, is of our nectarine tree, a casualty of the extreme weather we experienced last week. I was heartsick when I came out on Friday to be confronted by this scene, especially considering that the tree was laden with fruit, only weeks away from ripening. I'll have to think about what to plant in its place. A feijoa, maybe.

My students have been asking for a workshop with bamboo for some time. This required some planning, since we needed a supply of bamboo for everyone. I managed to find such a supply and an excursion was organised for a non-class Wednesday. Those of my students who could make it came along carrying large and small cutters. Philip, the gentleman in charge of the property, was very generous, allowing us to cut as much as we wanted of some beautiful bamboo. We then stripped the canes of the side shoots and took them to my place in readiness for class the following Wednesday.

Vicky, Wendy and Nicole getting stuck into the bamboo

Jenny and Dianne braving the jungle of bamboo and tall grasses

In class the following week we worked on creating bamboo triangles using a particular drilling and wiring method. Once all the triangles were made they were, then, joined together using the same method to create a structure. This structure can last indefinitely, although the green bamboo will fade into beige. It can be kept in its natural colour or painted and can be used time and time again in different arrangements.

The students were not able to complete their structures in the two hour lesson but knew enough to be able to finish them at home.

They brought their structures to the next class together with containers and materials to make arrangements. The photographs, below, are of the finished arrangements. I should point out that, this being the first time they tried using their structures, some of the students were not as prepared with materials and containers as they might be. It's a little bit like using a new container for the first time. There would have been more arrangements but a number of students were absent on that day.

Wendy Sun

Bredenia Raquell

Shaneen Garbutt

Akemi Drohan - new student. Has only had three lessons

Vicky Kalokathis

Nicole McDonald - Christmas arrangement

Wendy Sun using the structure differently

Lucy Papas using her structure in a Christmas arrangement.

Below are a number of photos of my arrangement for this exercise. I have a couple of bamboo structures that I have used in the past, so I did not need to make another one. I chose one that is sprayed white but I wanted to add something to it. I settled on making another, much smaller structure with very thin bamboo and spaying it gold to contrast with the white. Drilling holes into very thin bamboo is quite difficult and I have the scars on my fingers to prove it.But it was worth it.

A closeup of the small, gold structure

I tried a number of different ways of using my structure and I'm going to include some of the incarnations of the arrangement in the photographs, below. When we see an arrangement made by someone else, we rarely think about what might have been tried before the artist had settled on the final product. Often there is a great deal of trial and error and frustration until we get it right.

The first attempt using strelitzias in a tall,
pyramid shaped vase

Second attempt using a taller vase but sideways
so as to appear thinner.

I finally settled on this version

A lucky find during our bamboo collection was this bent piece, which I used with bent strelitzias in a ceramic vase.

I leave you with this arrangement by my student, Mary Sutherland. It is variation number 4, hanging style nageire. Mary used a branch of my dogwood with lisianthus.

Bye for now,
Emily

Loquat branches and Altissimo roses

Hello all,

This afternoon we had our our last for the year Sogetsu workshop. It was led by Elizabeth Angel and she set us the challenge of creating an arrangement using two, non-matching containers. Initially, I created the above arrangement for this exercise but, then, I changed my mind because I wanted to use my Hanashobu (Ensata) iris, which are just starting to flower. I cut the iris in bud together with their leaves, thinking that they would be fully opened by today. Sadly, I was wrong. So, I kept the leaves but replaced the Hanashobu iris wth the Siberian iris.

I arranged them in the traditional way in a wavy suiban and added sprigs of russet coloured Japanese Maple and pebbles. I then added the tall vase, from which I draped the weeping willow, providing a 'curtain' through which to see the iris. Unfortunately, the very delicate, new leaves started to dry and curl by the time I got to the workshop. When I brought it home, I stripped the leaves from the branches and added another branch, as was needed.

The photograph is a little deceptive in the way the willow
looks. In reality it drapes forward

The work in the room was quite varied and interesting. Give Christopher a day or two to post the blog and after that you can go to Sogetsu Ikebana Melbourne for all the photographs.


Last week we also had the last for the year meeting of Ikebana International. We were to make New Year arrangements. Margaret Wilson demonstrated this theme, using corky elm, painted white, waratahs and mizuhiki. Please go to II Melbourne for more photographs from the meeting.

 

Below is my arrangement. I used pine, hippeastrums. variegated euphorbia and mizuhiki.

Nicole moved away from the typical red, white and green and opted for mauve and green. She used pirezii, asparagus fern, dried wisteria and a cheeky green bauble in a mauve vase.

During a recent forage in my garden I noticed that the wisteria was hellbent on climbing the loquat tree and the persimmon tree. With cutters in hand I proceeded to rescue my trees. This, of course, gave me material to play with. Apart from the bulk of the cuttings that ended up in the compost bin, below are the ones that made it into arrangements.

I played with stripping the leaves and just leaving the spikes on the wisteria canes. In the first arrangement, I caught  them together creating interesting shapes. It is not clear in the photo but I arranged the wisteria stems in a roughly spiral shape around the Siberian iris. In the second I created a rough circle and added a curly-stemmed ornithogalum.

I leave you with this cheeky arrangement made with left over pine and re-used ornithogalum.

Bye for now,
Emily

THANK YOU!

Hello all,

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the honour you do me by following my blog. And, I would, specially, like to thank those of you who have taken the time to send me your feedback. It has all been positive, to date but, I suppose, people would be too polite to write anything negative.

Writing this blog is quite a commitment and requires a lot of time but it is, also, very rewarding. In order to have material to post, I have to create and photograph a variety of different arrangements and I have to double check the spelling of names of plants. I also have the advantage of the knowledge of my readers, who, very kindly, write and give me information that I may need. All of this means that I am learning and growing as an ikebanist at a much greater rate than I would have otherwise. So, as a 'thank you' I offer you the photographs of my herbaceous paeone flower, above. This plant has been growing for at least ten years but is quite parsimonious in its flowering. This year it produced only one flower, but what a flower! And, while I'm at it, if anyone knows its name, please let me know.

Here's how the arrangement, below, came to be. I found a large leaf of the strelitzia nicolai on the ground, having been forgotten there from when I last cut a flower from that plant. I picked it up intending to cut it up and put in the garden waste bin. But, when I looked at it more closely, I noticed that the parts of the leaf that were exposed to the sun, had dried a very rich brown colour, which contrasted beautifully with the green of the remaining of the leaf. Add to it the heavy brown stem and it was an arrangement begging to be made. I had to bend the stem of the strelitzia reginae to have it peaking through the cut in the leaf.

This is quite a large arrangement, measuring 1.2 m across. The ceramic vase is
from Headquarters

Below are two more arrangements with my squiggly ornithogalum. I have these plants growing in three large pots and I love them. They are beautiful, whether straight or curved. The only down side is that they have all flowered at the same time. However, they can be forgiven because they are quite long lasting as cut flowers

I have been wanting to use at least a small part of the gymea lily (dorianthus palmeri) because I certainly can't use the whole flower head, as it is too big and heavy. Plus, I like seeing the flowers in the garden. They attract the attention of every passer by as well as many birds.

This next arrangement has three elements that I, absolutely, love. Firstly, the glass plate came with a television that we bought many years ago. It was the base on which the set was to sit. However, since we had the TV mounted on the wall, the plate was superfluous. Lucky me! I must confess, I was happier about getting the plate than the TV.

I placed a shallow plastic container with a kenzan underneath and put the thin stems of the iris through the two holes to reach the container underneath. That's the second element I love - the Siberian iris with its electric purpley-blue colour and thin straight stems. It is quite ephemeral and the flower dies within a couple of days but a second flower opens straight after, making it last a little longer.

And the third element, this dried date palm remnant that I sprayed silver. Its squiggly lines make a great contrast against the straight stems of the iris.

I had a small bunch of spear grass, which had been bought for another purpose but wasn't used. I couldn't allow it to die in the bucket, hence the arrangement in the glass vase. The orange rose bud is called 'Lolita"

And, with Christmas around te corner and the hippeastrums in full bloom, I could not resist.

Bye for now,
Emily

Doryanthus palmeri

Hello all,

My gyamea lily (Doryanthus palmeri) above is in full bloom. The flower head, which measures about 80 cm in length and 30 cm in diametre, comprises of numerous individual flowers. The plant that has produced the flower will die but smaller plants will take its place. I will have to remove some of those because it will create crowding. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to dig them up with roots intact, as I would love to be able give them away.

This is an Australian native plant originating along the Eastern coast. It is tough and drought hardy and its long glossy leaves are very useful in ikebana, especially because they can last a number of weeks without water.

This next bit of my blog falls under the category of 'Doting Grandmother', so I ask for your indulgence as I include photographs of my granddaughter's art pieces. Hermione is all of 7 years of age and the work that she brought to show me had been done at school and had been displayed there together with other budding artists' work. I have to admit, I was blown away by her creativity.

Acrylic paint on board

Robot

In the drawing, below, Hermione has superimposed a drawing of her face on perspex over other drawings depicting her life. I'm absolutely amazed at how well she has captured her likeness.

And here she is with her latest ikebana arrangement.

So, back to ikebana. This next arrangement was a long time in its creation, starting with the growing of the ornithogalums into these twisted stems. When I cut them I thought it would be very easy to arrange them, as there was enough interest in the stems to make a good arrangement. I was wrong! I tried a number of containers with several openings but they didn't work because the stems flopped to one side or another. Then I thought of using a kenzan to hold them where I wanted them to stay. That, too, didn't work because the soft stems are not strong enough to hold the weight of the flowers. I needed to give them a support. I came up with, what I thought, was a great idea - to fit each stem into a piece of bamboo and push that into the kenzan. That, too, didn't work because it is very difficult to push bamboo into a kenzan, especially if you can't get your hand inside the vase. So, then, I split the piece of bamboo into two pieces and wired then around the flower stem. I was, then, able to insert the split bamboo into the kenzan successfully. Phew!

I could not find any accompanying material to use in this arrangement because it would interfere with the squiggly stems. It is an example of using only one kind of material. Also emphasizing curved lines.

Spring really is a wonderful time with an overabundance of materials in the garden. However, my wisteria has been a disappointment for decades, producing very few flowers and each year I threaten to remove her but then I relent and give her another chance until the following year. Well, this is definitely her last chance. I will cut her right back but I want to do it when I can give the class a workshop, early next year. The arrangement, below, was very pleasing with the wisteria flowers and the first of my Queen Elizabeth roses. Unfortunately, the wisteria branch with the leaves looks flat even though it was coming forward.

Flag Iris are so ephemeral that they provide a very small window of opportunity to use them in an arrangement. There is a very specific, traditional way of arranging them, which I did in the piece, below. I used two S-shaped containers and two different iris, although they look similar in the photo. I, also, used weeping willow and Japanese maple to complete the piece.

On a previous post I accused clematis of being show offs but, I think, hippeastrums could give them a run for their money. What do you think?

Hippeastrums and gymea leaf

Bye for now,
Emily