SPRING BULBS

 

Hello all,

I was supposed to be writing this blog on the balcony or by the pool of a luxury hotel in Port Douglas but Covid put paid to that.(Insert strong expletives here!). Two days before we were due to fly north Sam tested positive. He spent the intervening days strictly isolating in his office and me dancing attention, providing all his needs. It was a valiant effort by both of us but, I guess, it was inevitable that I would catch it too. This morning I tested positive. (More expletives!) So, instead of balmy tropical weather we're coping with wet and miserable Melbourne. This is not an attempt to elicit sympathy. I know that many of you have had to deal with Covid, I just wanted to vent.

After the winter months of a serious dearth of flowers in the garden, my bulbs have exploded into flower and I have dozens and dozens of narcissus, a few tulips, arum lilies and hyacinths. Because I grow these bulbs in pots, I remove them when the leaves have died down and store them until next autumn, when I plant them out again. This makes the bulbs strong and I get big, healthy flowers and leaves.

In the arrangement, above, I felt that the white of the containers and the kiwi vine was a perfect foil for the deep blue of the hyacinths.

I know that some people dislike the smell of narcissus but Sam and I love it. I placed the arrangement, below, on the kitchen island bench and every time I walk past it I am assailed by the strong fragrance. You may be interested to know that I wired the leaves to be able to curve them in such a way.

Tulips are probably the most temperamental of the bulbs but I've had a modicum of success with them. I just used horsetail, Equisetum hyemale, in my next arrangement because I wanted to keep the main focus on the tulps.

I use my corkscrew hazel (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') very sparingly as it is painfully slow growing. However, one of the branches was growing too low and had to be pruned. It is at its best this time of year with its squiggly, bare branches and dangling catkins. Hence my arrangement, below. I used pink hyacinths and narcissus in a metal container.

Here's another use of the narcissus. This time with large, fleshy leaves of the Haemanthus Coccineus lily and kiwi vine in a ceramic container.

Of course there are other materials, also, in the garden. I had cut the orange branch intending to use it in a nageire arrangement, however, the fruit were so heavy and the stems so thin that I had to rethink my original idea. I created a morimono, instead. The two little pumpkins were from a plant that had self seeded, most likely from the compost and the camellia is Brushfield's Yellow. The glass piece they are sitting on has two holes and sits on a container with water in it, accommodating the camellia.

Bye for now,

Emily

WINTER ARRANGEMENTS

Hello all,

Let me start this post with an explanation. Those of you who had subscribed to my blog in the past and have been receiving emails of the blog as I posted it, would have noticed that the said emails had stopped for a while. This was not my doing. Changes were made by Google, which necessitated  changing the email sender to follow.it.  This was done by my clever brother-in-law, Peter, who is not only the best handiman I know but, also, a genius with computers. I won't go into the details, mainly because I don't understand them myself, and because I don't think it's necessary. Suffice it to say that the emails will resume arriving as before but under the heading follow.it. 

To those who are not currently subscribed but may wish to, it's quite simple. When you access the blog in the normal way, you can enter your email address in the 'Subscribe' slot and the email with the blog will come to you automatically. I should point out that this is how it works on your computer or tablet. However, on your phone you would need to scroll down to the very end of the blog and click on the highlighted Follow my blog.

So, now back to ikebana. For last class the theme for the advanced students was 'A Winter Arrangement in two or more containers. This is very similar to 'Seasonal Arrangement' but more nuanced. There are materials available this season that don't necessarily depict winter.

The arrangement, above, is mine. I used bare magnolia branches, cymbidium orchids, camellias and alstroemeria psittacina leaves in two ceramic containers.

Nicole used pussy willow (Salix Caprea) and arum lilies in two ceramic containers.

Jenny used three glass containers, Siberian dogwood (Cornus Siberica Alba) and camellia.

Vicky's was a very tall arrangement, using silver birch and leucadendrons in matching ceramic vases.

Lucy used two large, bamboo containers. This created a challenge because, although the containers were large, they were not heavy enough to carry the heavy branches she wanted to use. It took a bit of doing but she managed to balance them both visually and actually. She used bare pear branches, wattle in bud and camelias.

Bredenia's two containers were a recent gift from her daughter and she was keen to use them. She used a bare lilac branch and camellias.

Shaneen's lesson was 'With Branches Only'. She created interest by contrasting the redish colour of the coprosma with the green of the murraya paniculata and by keeping the stems at the base clean.

Lei's curriculum theme was 'A Simplified Arrangement'. She used a piece of kiwi vine and a darling, little camellia in a ceramic container.

Mary's lesson was 'Vines'. She, also, used kiwi vine with a mass of gerberas and alstroemeria psittacina leaves in a tall vase.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS NO. 11

 

For this month's Masterclass I provided all the participants with the same materials - one, large strelitzia Nicolai leaf, two New Zealand flax leaves, a stem of Siberian dogwood and one protea flower. They could use any or all of the materials and they could choose their own containers.

The arrangement, above was done by Jenny Loo. She used three of the four materials in a heavy container with a split down the middle.

Lucy Papas used only two of her materials - a New Zealand flax which she cut and placed into two, ceramic, triangular containers, giving the illusion of continuity. She, also, used a small piece of the Strelitzia Nicolai leaf, which she feathered out and placed it tightly in the opening of the front container.

Christine Denmead used all but the Strelitzia Nicolai leaf. She used a ceramic container into which she placed the split New Zealand flax leaves and protea. She, also, used the dogwood branch upside down.

Vicky Kalokathis used a large, rectangular, glass container. She utilised the space inside as well as outside of the container, with the water adding another element.

While watching the participants working on their arrangements, I was itching to have go myself. So, after class, I had a little rest then gave myself the same materials and got started. I used only the Strelitzia nicolai leaf, severely reduced and the two New Zealand flax leaves. I tried to include the other two materials but I couldn't make them work. This was a good lesson in editing.

Mary Sutherland's class theme was a freestyle arrangement 'With Branches Only'. She used wattle branches and cotoneaster branches with berries in a strong container. The clean, tightly placed stems add tension and also fit into the theme 'Emphasising Lines at Base'.

Having prepared beforehand for the Ikebana International meeting that was held last week, I ended up missing it due to ill health. The arrangement, below, is one I had intended to take to the meeting. There were demonstrations by Heads of Schools, as well as members' contributions. Please click on  II Melbourne to see all the photographs.

Bye for now,

Emily

Kiwi vine

 

Side view

Hello all,

Vicky had pruned her kiwi vine and brought the cuttings to share with the class. It was a good opportunity to workshop this beautiful material. I've given you two views of my arrangement, above in which I used two pieces of vine, nandina domestica nana and an arum lily in a ceramic container.

Vicky had sprayed her vine a dark blue and placed it in the smaller of the two glass vases at the back with the bulk of the 'curls' floating in front of the larger vase, in which she placed alstroemeria psittacina leaves.

Jenny used a Paul Davis, ceramic vase and begonia leaves that picked up the colour of the container. The placement of the vine created form and space.

Nicole used an aeonium flower, which is quite heavy necessitating a heavy container.

I had asked the students to use the vine in a way they had not done so before and Lucy took those instructions seriously. She used a large, cylindrical, glass vase into which she placed the vine and a single dietes leaf. She took great pains to have the leaf continue the line of the vine.

Shaneen and Lei had the same theme - 'Fruiting Branches' and, by coincidence, they both used cumquat branches, from which they removed almost all of the leaves.

Shaneen used a heavy, ceramic vase into which she placed stones to add more weight so as to balance the heavy fruit, which were leaning to one side. She kept a similar colour scheme with the wattle and kniphofia.

Lei also used a heavy, double container but placed all her materials into one. She used with the cumquats a sprig of fragrant geranium.

Wendy's theme was 'A Freestyle Arrangement to be viewed from all sides'. She used pittosporum branches, white ceder, wattle and nandina domestica nana in a metal vase. I've included photographs of two views.

Mary's lesson was 'With Leaves Only'. She used a monstera leaf, cut sharply into a triangle, curled up arum lily leaves and New Zealand flax, which was split lengthwise, in a ceramic container.

Bye for now,

Emily

Camellias and Japanese flowering quince

 

Hello all,

My Japanese flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) is always late to flower. Driving around my neighbourhood I see many vibrantly coloured shrubs in other people's gardens but not in mine. I was visiting my elderly aunt and uncle last week and asked if I could have some cuttings from their shrub. I couldn't wait to come home an arrange them. White camellias seemed the most obvious choice for accompanying material. I managed to make three arrangements, which require no explanation.

This arrangement appeals to me so much that
it gives me goosebumps

At our last class Shaneen's arrangement was 'You in Ikebana' and she chose materials that she grows in abundance and of which she is particularly fond - papyrus and billbergia saundersii flowers'

Dianne's revision lesson was 'Freestyle Arranging and Sketching', where students are required to make an arrangement and, after studying various aspects of the materials, to sketch part of or all of the arrangement.

Dianne used Garya Eliptica, with its pendulous catkins and leucadendrons in a ceramic container with many openings.

Her sketch was quite impressive.

Wendy's theme was 'Showing Lines at Base'. In this composition the tension between the materials and the container is emphasised by the trimming of stems to create clean lines as they enter the container. Wendy used a camellia and branches of a tree that is unfamiliar to me. If anyone knows its name, I would be grateful of an email to let me know.

Mary is also doing revision. This time she made an arrangement of 'Intertwining Plant Material'. She used wisteria, dietes leaves and leucadendrons in a ceramic vase.

I had a rather large branch of black pine (Pinus thunbergii), some of which I used in an arrangement in my previous post. I still had a large piece left and couldn't bear to let it go to waste. So I trimmed and trimmed and trimmed and it still looks very full. But my hands were sore from the prickly needles and I got tired in the end and stopped. I used with it the last of my hydrangeas in a heavy ceramic container.

Bye for now,

Emily