23nd November, 2020

 

Smoke bush and strelitzia reginae flowers in large ceramic container
belonging to Lucy

Hello all,

Nearly 30 years ago, when I started ikebana, I had no garden whatsoever. We had our newly built house on half an acre of land, on which there were only two things growing - an old pear tree and a weeping willow. Can't do much ikebana with that. I would go to lessons and meetings and would be so envious of people with big gardens. Some neighbours and relatives were kind enough to let me have some material but that was never enough. So, I proceeded to plant - with every new plant material I came across, I would ring the nursery, which I had on speed dial, and nine times out of ten, I would find what I wanted. Friends and colleagues also generously contributed to my plant collection

Now, I can say, without wanting to sound boastful, that I have a garden rich with material perfect for ikebana and I haven't forgotten my feelings of envy, so I'm very happy to share my bounty.

This week I'd like to feature my Cotinus coggygria 'Grace' (smoke bush) which has enormously long stems with fluffy green and becoming maroon flowers on the tips. It's a relatively new plant in my garden, only about three years, so I'm still learning how to use it. In the arrangement, above, I used predominately the more mature, maroon flowers with some younger, green ones to the left at the back. It's my 'Birds in the clouds' arrangement.

In the next arrangement, the smoke bush takes a secondary position, leaving the first to the long, rose stem with its prostrate growth. I've been watching this stem of 'Lolita', which had been bent by the strong winds we had recently, trying to decide when to cut it, now, with only three flowers of the cluster open, or wait till later, when the first would have died and new ones open. Well, I'm not known for my patience, so here it is.

The leaves of the smoke bush are also quite beautiful reddish/purple in colour, darkening in summer. In the arrangement, below, they are quite green, which contrast beautifully with the red roses in the white, ceramic container.

The point I was trying to make earlier is that I have quite a number of flowering materials and am struggling to do them justice. I'm compelled to make arrangements with all of them. Yes, I know, I'm addicted to ikebana.

Case in point is the strelitzia plant, which is suddenly full of flowers. I made the arrangement, below with the lesson of 'The shape of the container' as well as the 'colour of the container' in mind, using strelitzias, dietes leaves and bark. I photographed the arrangement with a pale background and with a dark one. I find it fascinating that it makes such a difference to the photograph.

Also, my strelitzia nicolai, the tropical bird of paradise has many flowers but, alas, are too high for me to cut. I used my extendable cutter to get to the lowest one but many flower petals were broken when it fell.

Strelitzia nicolai leaf and flower in wall arrangement

My iris ensata (formerly I. kaempferi) are also in full bloom and I have had much joy in making a number of arrangements. Below is one in two triangular suibans. The leaves of the ensata iris are not very usable as they curve dramatically and are quite thin. I used, instead, leaves from the spuria iris, which are narrower than the flag iris and, therefore, better suited. To complete the arrangement, I used some nandina domestica and flowers from the beefsteak begonia.

Here's another prostrate material, this time a Louisiana iris. The fluffy material is a weed in seed.

Bye for now,

Emily