HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Hello all,

Yes, this is the first post of my blog for 2020. I hope it is the first of many.

Above is a photo of the traditional, Greek, New Year's bread baked by Lucy, which we cut at midnight on New Year's eve. The coin which was in it was won by two people as the knife fell on the coin. The winners were Peter and Parthena. I'm sure they'll have good luck all year.

By the way, as I'm writing this post, I have one eye on the television, watching the Golden Globes. So, if there any mistakes forgive me.

I've spoken of my efforts to protect my precious plants and it paid off, judging by the state of my hydrangea, below. I've been using a bluing agent on some of my hydrangeas trying to change the colour to blue but, obviously, I din't use enough of it because they have turned mauve. I'll keep trying. I have others that I have allowed to remain pink, happy in the alkaline soil.

OK. I just paused Quentin Tarantino so I can concentrate.

During this unprecedented hot weather, I've noticed the resilience of some plants which, rather, surprised and pleased me. One of them is my dogwood, Cornus Norman Haddon, which has been in flower for some time and has remained unaffected by the heat. The flower petals are quite thick and seem to be impervious. I just had to make an arrangement, below. It's loosely based on variation No. 6 with the summer calla lilies for the hikae.

The other plant that has surprised me is my Stephanotis, which is reputed as being rather difficult to grow, as it hates sudden changes in temperature and is prone to mealy bug and scale. Mine was a much prized gift from my colleague, Joan Norbury some years ago. I chose the position to grow it because I wanted it to grow over some unattractive cables that were running down one wall. It has done that and more. It has reached the roof of our two storey house. It produces pure white, heavily scented flowers in summer, which are thick and waxy. I absolutely love them!

I placed a stem in a container but I would not call it an arrangement. Apart from removing some superfluous leaves and flowers, I did little else.

My garlic flowers are also doing very well despite the heat.

Remember this arrangement? I made it almost 6 weeks ago. The flowers have grown bigger but the lower stems, which were in water, became soft and unable to hold up the flower head. So, I cut them shorter and reworked them in  the next arrangement.

And speaking of reworking, here is another'. I used the same dried material in both arrngements. The second one being on the wall. The reason it looks darker is because it's wet.

I'm very blessed to be surrounded by generous people who, every so often, arrive with materials or containers for my ikebana. Just over a week ago I came home and went straight to the back garden to water. There I found  three palm spathes that were not there before. A group text to the immediate family revealed nothing, other than some members asking 'what are palm spathes?'. I found out some days later that they were dropped off by my cousin, Nick, who has helped me many times over the years. He is an engineer with knowledge and machinery that he generously makes available to me any time I need it.

My first inclination was to store the palm spathes away but, I felt, I owed it to Nick to make an arrangement.

I sprayed th inside of the spathe gold as well as the kiwi vine.

It's been an absolute blessing to get some rain here in Melbourne but it's hard to rejoice in it when there are so many people suffering such unbearable loss. Our thoughts are with them. On a positive note, however, it is heartening to see the generosity of Australians and others willing to help. My daughter-in-law, Jeannine had filled her car with various items that she collected from the whole family intending to deliver them where they were needed. She was told to hold off for the time being, as there were already TOO MANY DONATIONS!

Bye for now,
Emily