29TH JANUARY, 2024

 

,

Side view

Hello all,

My arrangement, above was made using two Pinellia Pedatisecta leaves and five orange dahlias. In the photographs only four flowers are visible. The fifth is sitting low at the back.

I usually start my classes on the first week of February. This year students indicated that they would like to start earlier and I was happy to oblige. So, we had a lesson in last week of January. The theme for the advanced students was an easy one. They were to make a freestyle, summer arrangement.

Jenny used a single kahili ginger flower and variegated New Zealand flax in a tall vase, which she chose for the colour which is picked up by the pistils of the flower.

Nicole chose the fiery colours of orange crocosmia and red dahlias in a black container with two openings.

Bredenia used a couple of pineapple lilies (Eucomis Comosa), burgundy coloured calla lilies and one hydrangea in a ceramic vase.

Lucy had a newly acquired and as yet unused, ceramic container with many 'pods'. She used a branch of a very special rose. It was gift from our auntie, whom we lost 12 years ago. She also used yellow cone flowers (Echinacea paradoxa) and stems of viburnum opulus.

Wendy's curriculum lesson was 'Focusing on the Uses of Water'. She placed a single strelitzia reginae flower head into a large, rectangular vase, drawing the eye to the inside of the vase and the water.

Shaneen's lesson was 'Shape of the Container'. She used a ceramic container with a curved opening, which, unfortunately is not visible in the photo. She repeated that curve on the umbrella grass stems that she wired together and finished the arrangement by placing a hydrangea coming from the back.

Dianne's lesson was 'Repeating Similar Forms or Shapes'. She curled the tops of variegated New Zealand flax and placed them, coming forward, in a heavy, ceramic container with two openings. Three orange kniphofias played a secondary role to the flax.

Lei's lesson was from Book 5 - 'Composition with Branches - A Two Step Approach'. The first part of this exercise is to create a free standing structure using cut branches...

...Then a container is used with the structure, into which fresh material can be placed. Lei used a ceramic suiban with a bark-like exterior and added a single belladonna lily (Amaryllis belladonna).

The next two photographs are of quite a large summer arrangement of mine, using seven different materials. See if you can spot the differences.

Ok. I'll tell you. This is an exercise in trimming. In the first arrangement the miscanthus is left untrimmed and in its natural state. I felt that it looked a little messy. Admittedly. this is a lot more noticeable in the photograph than in reality where the spaces between the materials is obvious. In the second photo the long, unruly leaves of the miscanthus have been trimmed and, I feel, the arrangement looks better.

Bye for now,

Emily

22ND JANUARY, 2024

 

Hello all.

According to the callendar, we are well and truly into summer but you wouldn't think so seeing how cool and wet it has been. Mind you, I'm not complaining. I dislike the heat and I like the rain in my garden. I do, however, sympathise with those who like the heat and the pool/beach.

The crocosmia are in full bloom on the rockery at the front of the property. They tend to grow very long and, invariably, end up flat  on the ground. Then, as the flowers reach for the sun, they create these interesting curves. The agapanthus flowers are past their best so I removed the flowers and left the seed head. I prefer it this way as I wanted it to be subordinate to the crocosmia.

I have my sister-in-law, Betty, to thank for my pineapple lily plant (Eucomis Comosa). I grow it in a pot and have been watching as four flowers have emerged and grown until they were ready to cut. I used three of them in the arrangement, below, together with curled aspidistra leaves and hydrangeas in a spherical container made of onyx.

With the remaining flower I made another arrangement in a container with two openings. Again I used aspidistra leaves (mainly because they were there in the bucket) and squiggly grass. Try as I might, I could not capture the interesting curve of the flower in the photograph, so, I've included a side view as well.

Front view

Side view

All my hydrangea plants have been quite prolific this year and I have enjoyed using them. Those that are in deep shade have produced quite long stems and interesting curves. I wanted to take advantage of a couple of them.

Towards the end of the season of my strelitzia reginae, I leave all the spent flowers on the plant so that I can have a large number of them to create an arrangement such as the one below. Sam really likes this. He says they remind him of flamingos.

I enjoyed using leaves sprayed gold at Christmas and wanted to try them in a different way, hence my wall arrangement, below. There's a gymea leaf (doryanthes palmeri), a New Zealand leaf flax sprayed gold, dietes leaves and hydrangeas.

Our persimmon tree is laden with fruit and our grandson, Xavier can't wait for them to ripen. The photograph, below is of the perspex collar I put around the trunk of the tree in an effort to protect the fruit from possums and rats. It has a smooth, shiny surface so that little claws have nothing to latch onto and I smeared vaseline on it for good measure. I, also, trimmed all the surrounding branches that were touching the tree as they could have been used as scaffolding by the nasty vermin. Of course, these measures can't protect against birds and bats.  I'll let you know how my experiment goes.

There are quite large corderlynes next to the persimmon tree, which I trimmed back, as I mentioned above. As I was cutting them up to put in the compost I decided to spared a couple of them and arrange them instead.

Without access to the inside of the container and working only through the holes on the sides, it was quite challenging to secure the large branches in place. I asked Sam to hold the torch of his phone over one of the holes so I could see inside. I'm happy to say it is now very secure.

Bye for now,

Emily

15TH JANUARY, 2024

Hello all,

The strelitzia reginae leaf in the above arrangement had been used in another arrangement but was still in good condition when the other materials died. Therefore, it had to be used again. I'd been deadheading the roses and came across a few useable flowers on the 'Lolita' plant..I had the idea of using the leaf low with flowers peaking from underneath but the length of the leaf required a very long suiban.Since I didn't have one I used two, wooden, triangular suibans instead.

The aeonium Arboreum has developed interesting curves and I've been meaning to cut some. I needed an arrangement for the entry to Sam's office and I wanted something long lasting. Hence the aeonium. I cut the stem, below, and looked around the shelves of containers for inspiration. I picked this coppery coloured bottle, mainly for its colour. However, when I placed the stem into the opening it was quite snug and I have a great aversion to arrangements that looked squashed in. 

....So back to the shelves and another choice. The opening of this Graham Murphy container was bigger allowing some space around the stem. Then, I trimmed some unnecessary  stems, thus emphasising the curves. Finding a way to make it stay upright was far from easy.

I would categorise this as an arrangement using only one kind of material because I could not think of any other material that would be suitable or necessary.

The flowers on the calla lilies are finishing (I could only find two) but what I found fascinating are these leaves that have mutated to create frills on the edges. All the other leaves are normal, except for these three.

The tiger lilies (lilium lancifolium) have grown taller than two metres so that some of them have fallen, resting on rose bushes near by. I had to shorten the stems, considerably, to use them in this wall arrangement. Looking around in the garden for complementary material I couldn't go past the agapanthus. This is an arrangement of 'Colours in contrast'.

My student, Cym, has requested some summer lessons because work commitments prevent her from attending during the year. We decided on revision working on the same theme on two, consecutive lessons. That theme being 'In a Suiban Without a Kenzan'.

In the first arrangement she used two branches of Japanese beauty berries (callicarpa) in flower and two stems of crocosmia.

In her second arrangement she used nandina domestica stems and agapanthus.

Bredenia was, also, keen to have a lesson and she used the opportunity to make an arrangement to take to a lunch, to which she was invited. She used variegated New Zealand flax, hydrangeas and anthuriums in a spherical container.

Bye for now,

Emily

8TH JANUARY 2024

 

Hello all,

After Christmas my family went on a weeklong holiday down south. We rented a house large enough to accommodate all 15 of us. It was not what one would call a restful getaway but it was a great bonding time for all of us. We played games, watched old family videos, cooked and ate and cooked and ate and cooked and ate some more. The little girls performed a talent quest and all the kids enjoyed the pool. The weather was not great but there were a couple of days when the beach could be enjoyed. 

Dennis, my son, had hired equipment to record everyone's personal story. This was most important for mum who's 93 years old and her memory is diminishing. We loved it so much that we're planning another such trip next year.

13 out of 15 of us

Back home and, after taking care of home and garden, not to mention laundry, I'm enjoying using the material in the garden that had flowered whilst I was away. Case in point, the arrangement at the top of this post. I had so many gloriosa lilies that I had to use them somehow. Their short stems make them difficult to use but they look effective in a row like this. The agapanthus stem adds the line and the flower a focus.

And speaking of agapanthus, here's another arrangement with a curved stemmed flower and a partially unfurled, strelitzia nicolai leaf.

I made the next arrangement just to showcase this special agapanthus called 'Queen Mum'. I have hundreds of agapanthus plants of the ordinary 'garden variety' (sorry!), but this particular one I grow in a pot and it has produced only one flower, hence its position of importance.

The individual flowers are white except for a shading of blue on the base of the 'neck'.

These quaint looking berries are from a plant called Arum italicum pictum and are much loved by the birds. I had cut them and put them in a bucket before we went away for fear they would have been eaten before I returned. I used a wire covered in some sort of soft plastic to create the squiggly line and a ceramic container, which was purchased in Vietnam.

Here's an example of an arrangement using only one kind of material. The material is Stephanotis, from the greek meaning fit for a crown. And they are too! It is a slow growing creeper with woody stemmed lianas and clusters of trumpet shaped, pure white, fragrant flowers. 

Some years ago I had mentioned in passing, at a class I was attending, that I wanted to buy a stephanotis. Not long after, my colleague, Joan Norbury, arrived at my door with a plant she had purchased and handed to me. Every time I handle this material I think of her and her kindness. Joan, if you're still reading my blog, thank you, again.

The next arrangement is made with materials with which I'm unfamiliar. The term 'roadsidia' comes to mind. I first heard it from colleagues in New Zealand and have now adopted it.

We've had some seriously wet weather the last couple of days. Like most gardeners, I'm usually happy when it rains because it waters the garden saving me hours of hand watering and because it fills up my tanks. For me, having full water tanks is like having a full fridge. However, this wet spell has gone on a little too long and has damaged some flowers. The Port St John creeper flowers looked gorgeous a couple of days ago and now, not so much. I cut what were still reasonable before they, too were ruined.

Pretty in pink - Port St John creeper and hydrangeas

Below is a photo of the oncidium orchid (dancing ladies) that was a gift from my brother-in-law, George and his wife, Betty last Christmas. Imagine my delight when it produced another flower stem this year. The only down side is that the flowers only last about a couple of weeks but, conveniently, they are at their best at Christmas.

A closeup of the individual flower

Bye for now.

Emily

2ND JANUARY, 2024

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

On 20th December we had our class Christmas lunch at Melissa Cafe, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and exchanged Kris Kringle gifts. Above is a photo of the group minus our Shaneen, who left before it occurred to us to take a photo.

On that morning, before our lunch, two very keen students requested a lesson and I was happy to oblige.

Wendy's class theme was 'Special Occasions,Places or Scenes'. She chose a dinner table arrangement, which she kept low and made sure could be viewed from all sides.

Lei's theme was 'Glass Containers'. She used a large, square, glass vase into which she placed two agapanthus inflorescences and one outside.

And now for some news about 'Love Flower'. You may recall the sculpture, the design for which I had collaborated with John Meade, and which had been on the Peninsula Link exit of Cranbourne Road for the last four years. I has just been moved to McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery. Below are two photos of its current position.

To coincide with this move, the gallery has an exhibition called JOHN MEADE: IT'S PERSONAL.

The next two photos are of me admiring John's work. The photographer of these and the following two photos is Kinfolk Imagery.

As John's collaborator with the Love Flower, I was asked by the gallery to put up two ikebana installations for the exhibition opening and beyond.

John and me beside my installation

Below is the photograph (taken by me) of my second piece at the exhibition.

To those of you, who are not familiar with McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, I strongly recommend that you visit it. We are quite privileged to have such a wonderful place to enjoy all kinds of sculptures outdoors, right here in Melbourne. There's also a gallery, gift shop and a delightful cafe for lunch or coffee, which is often busy, so if you wish to visit it, I suggest you book. There's a pond surrounded by lush green lawn with giant sculptures, on which picnics can be enjoyed.

I'm looking forward to taking the family during the school holidays.

Bye for now,

Emily