EMILY IN TOKYO: 14th June, 2021

Hello all,

We have had some seriously damaging weather last week and in particular on Wednesday, which left thousands of homes in some outer Melbourne and country towns with fallen trees, blocked roads and no power. In some cases power has not been restored and won't be for a while yet because of the damage done, not only to power lines but also transformers and power poles as well. I can't imagine how people are coping in this dreadful cold without heating.

My student, Dianne lives in Trentham, a town that was particularly badly hit by the storms. Apart from having to cope without power, their water was contaminated for some days and they were advised not to drink it. Dianne considers herself lucky because, apart from her electric heating, she also has a wood heater and was able to invite some neighbours to her home to stay warm. Three large trees had fallen on her property. Below is the photo of one of them. Fortunately they did not fall on her house or studio.The added tragedy is the loss of these magnificent trees that would have taken decades and, in some cases, even longer, to grow.

Back to ikebana, I'm continuing making arrangements with few or no flowers. The photo at the top of the blog is made with agaves and cotoneaster berries. I have to confess that, despite my securing the large agave with a horizontal fixture, it fell backwards but, fortunately, didn't break the container. I was able to put it back and took even greater pains to secure it. Keeping fingers crossed.

I looked around the garden for interesting materials and decided to make a green arrangement using curculigo leaves and aeoniums. As is often the case, later when I looked at the arrangement, I had a change of heart. I wasn't very pleased with the use of the aeoniums so I replaced them with the camelia.

During a very welcome break in the wet and windy weather I stepped outside only to be confronted by the myriad gardening jobs awaiting me. I started with tidying up this fern that had self seeded some years ago but which I allowed to grow because it provides a lovely screen for the water tank. I was particularly taken by the uncoiling of the young fronds and decided to make an arrangement using only one kind of material.

I used the larger fronds in this, much larger arrangement. I removed the leaves from one side and gently curved the stems in opposite directions to create a space in the middle. I, then, used the only flowers available - arum lilies.

But I ask you, have you ever seen arum lilies with such long stems? I'm 160cm tall and one of them is as tall as me! It's a shame I had to cut those long stems away in order to use the flowers with the fern.

Another plant that required tidying up is the wisteria. Half way through my pruning I got the idea for an arrangement and dropped the pruning and switched to ikebana. In my mind this was going to be a much smaller arrangement but, somehow, it ended up quite big. This is not unusual for me.

I sprayed the smaller, squiggly pieces of the vine an orangy red colour and the heavier, straighter pieces black, creating a contrast of both colour and shape. At the bottom of the garden I found the first green goddess lilies, which look quite good against the red and black. It's one of those pieces which is very difficult to photograph successfully. So, I'm giving you two views. You might be surprised to know that the one on the right looks much better in real life, whereas the one on the left looks better in the photograph.