27th December, 2020

 

Hello all,

A couple of weeks ago I featured Vicky's 'Agapanthus Galore' arrangement, for which I received a number of complementary emails. This week I'm featuring mine. We both have an overabundance of curved and straight agapanthus and, of course, we love to use them.

The arrangement, above, looks deceptively simple. The container is very accomodating in terms of the many holes into which material can be placed. However, there is no access to the inside and I needed to find a way to stop the flower stems from tipping forward. I managed to wedge a horizontal fixture using the holes to get it in, keeping the stems upright as they rested against it.

This next arrangement was done purely to showcase this special agapanthus. At first glance it appears to be an ordinary, white agapanthus. However, on closer inspection, the purple colouring of the base of each flowerette is visible. I bought this plant, called 'Queen Mum' at Heronswood House & Gardens in Dromana last year. It had one flower, which I allowed to go to seed. I then collected and sewed those seeds, which have provided me with about a dozen new plants to share with my students. I am, however, aware that when propagating from seed, the resulting plant may not be quite the same as the parent. A lot depends on which flowers the pollenation came from.

Agapanthus - Queen Mum and loquat branch

And while we're on the subject of curved agapanthus, here's one more arrangement. This time with the amazing Pinellia Pedatisecta leaf.

Just before Christmas I made a number of arrangements to give away to friends and neighbours. I used pine as the basic material, which I had to clean by removing all the superfluous needles along the stems. This left me with half a bucket of pine needles and the challenge to find something to do with them. This is what I came up with:

Yes, it's a baking dish without its base and a silver bauble. Hard 
to believe but the pine needles would number into thousands

Then, I resurrected a technique I tried many years ago of creating a fine mat using pine needles and spray adhesive. It took a couple of tries to get it right but, in the end, I got what I wanted. 

Then I had to figure out how to use it in ikebana. The lightness of the material demanded a light container and what could be lighter than glass. This particular vase was perfect because it has a number of holes along its sides, which allow stems to be inserted. Having found the vase, I went into the garden for floral material and there was the first of my gloriosa lilies flowering proudly.

The rest of the pine needles were spread around the raspberry plants as mulch. They help increase the acidity of the soil.

Another tragedy befell our garden. A large branch, almost a quarter the size of our pear tree, broke off. It was a combination of the age of the tree, windy weather and a greater than usual number of pears.

I notified my students that there were some interesting branches to be had and some were able to come and take some. I, also, made a rather large arrangement, which took me a good three hours of trying one way or another to balance a very heavy branch onto a narrow container. I know! I have no one to blame but myself.

This was the branch before I trimmed it

The final result

I have some news to share with you. I was recently contacted by Mrs. Taruna Agarwal, the Ikebana International president of Mumbai Chapter, asking me to run a Zoom demonstration, which will go live to their Facebook page. This is quite an honour and I accepted readily. The date for this is Saturday, the 17th January but I will post greater details later, together with the invite so that any of you who wish to join, may do so.

I'd like to leave you with this simple little arrangement using my white dogwood, Cornus Norman Haddon, which changes colour as it ages into this delicate pink.

As for the New Year, the collective hope of the whole world is that we see the end of Covid for ever and that we return to some form of normality. I suspect there will be much less revelry this New Year's eve but, however you choose to celebrate it, I wish you joy and happiness and, most especially, GOOD HEALTH!

Bye for now,

Emily

21st December, 2020

 

Hello all,

'Tis the season' and all that. Hence my arrangement, above. The vase is a recent op shop find which turned out to be quite a treasure. I was attracted to the colour and the almost metallic patina but, on closer inspection, I discovered it is actually lacquerware and of quite high quality. The base is about 10 cm thick, presumably to provide the weight for stability. Anyway, I was delighted with it and enjoyed using it for this Christmas arrangement. I used calla lilies and alstroemeria psittacina and the sprayed leaves are strelitzia.

Last  Wednesday we had a much anticipated lesson after so many months without. We were a small but happy group with everyone keen to get stuck into the creativity that is ikebana. Our theme was an obvious one - a Celebratory arrangement. It gives me enormous pleasure to include the work of my students. Please bear in mind that some of them are still studying the curriculum and freestyle work is challenging. But, the important thing was to have a go and enjoy it.

Wendy Sun, bamboo, pine and geranium

Nicole McDonald - cedar, kangaroo paw
and sprayed weeping willow

Dianne Longley - Siberian Dogwood, David Austen roses and agapanthus

Jenny Loo - Gypsophila, celocia and bamboo sticks
sprayed white

'...And a partridge in a pear tree....'
Mine -Pear branches, hydrangea quercifolia and
strelitzia reginae

Lucy Papas- Cedar, Hydrangeas, agapanthus and sprayed
strelitzia leaves

Vicky Kalokathis - Cypress, altissimo roses and net

Shaneen Garbutt wanted to do some revision to finish off book 3.

With leaves only - Canna lily leaves, cordelines
and aspidistra

Vertical Arrangement- Umbrella
grass and alstroemeria

This next photo is of a large arrangement sitting under the staircase at the entry of the house.

Cedar, hydrangeas, agapanthus and
mizuhiki

When our lesson was over we moved to the balcony, where the table was set for a sumptuous lunch, to which everyone contributed. And a good time was had by all!

I'd like to wish you all a very happy festive season and, most importantly, a safe and healthy one.

You'll notice that I did not once bring up Covid but I will now by giving a big shout out to all the scientists around the world, who have performed nothing short of a miracle in coming up with vaccines so quickly. All strength to their arm.

Bye for now,

Emily

14th December, 2020

 

Dried and sprayed daisy bush, pine, hydrangeas,
Jacobean lilies and crochet bell

Hello all,

Last week we had our first and only meeting of Ikebana International since Covid and, even though there were a number of restrictions, we all enjoyed seeing each other and catching up. Our theme was to make a celebratory arrangement and the photograph, above, is of mine. I call it 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas'.

My colleague, Lara Telford, gave me some bulbs earlier in the year of a plant that she was sure I would like. She did not know its name, so I was not able to look it up. I planted them and waited. Imagine my delight when this unusual but stunning leaf came up. I took a photograph of it and sent it to Lucy to see if she could find it on the internet and, of course, she did. It's called Pinellia Pedatisecta.

Side view of arrangement.

My strelitzia reginae had flowered profusely and had quite a number of spent flowers, which needed removing. However, once I removed the dried petals, what was left was the 'beak' part of the flower with a strange little growth at the back, resembling a bird's crest.

Strelitzia reginae, fine cane structure in glass container

These two strelitzias are of the double headed variety.
teaming nicely with the cumquats and both of them
contrasting with the blue of the vase

The next two arrangements were done by Vicky. She and her husband, Peter, were entertaining and the house was decked out beautifully with Christmas decorations as well as Ikebana arrangements. I was particularly taken by these two and asked her to send me photographs to share with you.

Agapanthus galore!

Anthurium leaf and flowers

I suspect some of you would be wondering what the white material in this next arrangement is. They are the petals from the giant bird of paradise, strelitzia nicolai. After the flower is cut from the plant, some of the petals will continue to come out. However, there are many that remain inside the 'beak' part of the flower and eventually rot. When I took down my last week's arrangements featuring these flowers, I scooped out the remaining petals and used them as a mass. The crucifix orchids provided the colour and line.

I was issued an invitation by Taruna Agarwal, the II president of Mumbai Chapter to view a Zoom demonstration by Andy Djati Utomo of the Ikenobo school. She kindly told me to share this invitation with whomever I please. So, here are the details.

Zoom Link

 

Ikebana International Mumbai chapter
presents
Ikebana Demonstration of Ikenobo School, Japan by Andy Djati Utomo from Indonesia

Time: Dec 17, 2020
02:00 PM India
03:30 PM Indonesia
04:30 PM Singapore
05:30 PM Japan


Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81775104732?pwd=VVZ0Z0YyYkxod1JkbDFVc05wUHRMQT09
Meeting ID: 817 7510 4732
Passcode: ikenobo
Live on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ikebanainternationalmumbaichapter/ 

 I leave you with this Christmas wall arrangement.

Bye for now,

Emily

Purple haze

 

Hello all,

As I was editing the photographs of this week's arrangements, I noticed that I've used predominately blue and purple coloured flowers. This is because I have an abundance of them at the moment, so, naturally, I used them. And I love them!

Dogwood (Cornus Norman Hadden) and Hydrangeas

The little containers in the arrangement, below, are an op-shop find. And, just like a kid with a new toy, I had to use them as soon as I got home. Looking around the garden, what's left of the iris ensata called out to me. And here they are in an arrangement Using two containers and Using only one kind of material.

There are also some very small flowers in blue and purple hues, including some of my herbs, inspiring me to make some miniature arrangements, something I really enjoy.

This next arrangement has a story to it. It originated with the S-shaped object (The Backnobber) that was bought and sent to me by our nephew by marriage, George. He and his wife are not just family but, also, our pharmacists. As such, George was aware of some back problems I was dealing with and, when he saw this item on the internet, he bought it for me, in the hope that it would help me. The way it works is quite simple but very effective. It allows one to self massage saw spots on ones back without exerting too much effort.

Now, our George is not only a thoughtful and generous to a fault kind of guy, he also has a quick sense of humour. I know! He sounds too good to be true. So, feeling a little playful myself, I made the arrangement and sent the photograph to George with the caption "Look how well the Backnobber is working" He was quick to reply with "That is awesome. That vase will feel great tomorrow! Love it!"

Fresh and unconventional materials.

The ubiquitous agapanthus is flowering everywhere. Mine are a little bit slower than the ones in the neighbourhood. Those of you who have been following my blog for a while will have seen me use this material in all its different phases. Except one. Yes, it surprised me as well. It's this stage in between a bud and a fully opened flower that looks like something out of a science fiction movie. This group of buds were all facing the one direction- north. They look like little hooded heads with faces.

I felt they needed to be arranged in a group just the way they were growing.

 I used this particular euphorbia for mass and I discovered something quite interesting about it. It is obviously at the stage where it has set seeds and it was dropping them copiously on the coffee table together with some kind of chaff. As I've not been very well, I was a little lax in cleaning it up until about three days later when I found seeds not only on the table but all over the room - as far as four metres away from the arrangement in all directions. It must have some sort of propulsion method for scattering its seeds for it to be able to reach such distances. It certainly explains why it keeps on self seeding in the garden.

A number of times I have tried to grow the very expensive giant alium, without success. However, I grow garlic and leeks and let them go to seed giving me plenty of beautiful flowers for a fraction of the price of the alium.

Garlic flowers and wisteria vine

Bye for now,

Emily