21st November, 2022

 

Hello all,

Below is the link to the second virtual exhibition, Celebration, of Ikebana International Melbourne chapter. Please click on it to view the exhibition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt1eJQsC0wg

My student, Dianne, brought to class a whole bucket of fabulous material, amongst them these stunning peonies, which she gave to me. She lives in Trentham, which is considerably colder than Melbourne and might explain why she has better success with peonies than the rest of us. Or, perhaps she's just a better gardener. Whatever the reason I was very grateful to have the chance to work with these temperamental but gorgeous flowers. I had to include a close up.

With all the rain we had recently some plants have suffered from overwatering but others have thrived. Such a one is my Nandina domestica, which has grown so much that it was encroaching on the foot path and had to be pruned. I cut a large branch and removed three quarters of the leaves before placing it in this tall vase. I love the slanting form and was able to secure it using a horizontal fixture. I, then, looked around for flowers and tried several different ones but none satisfied me, until I noticed this strelitzia with its head looking up. I worked on the stem to create the same curve as the nandina stem.

Vicky recently gave me this quirky container, which I love using.

With rhododendron

With Siberian iris

Last week, as I was preparing for class, my brother-in-law, Peter, walked in and handed me two large stems of kiwi vine in flower. He said they were gift from my sister (Vicky). So I put the branch I was working on into a bucket and proceeded to arrange the kiwi vine. The last of my hippeastrums came in very handy as did the inflorescence of the nandina domestica.

Close up of the flowers which have a 
delicate fragrance

As I was clearing up my studio upon our return from our trip, I was going to throw away these golden ash branches, which I had used previously. But I couldn't. So I played with them and this is what emerged. It was, also, a good way to use my last cymbidium orchid.

Bye for now,

Emily