Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2024

 

Hello all,

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show ended its 5 day run last night. It has become a tradition for the Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter to take part in the floral competitions. This year there were 8 arrangements by members representing 5 schools of ikebana. As this is the 65th anniversary of our chapter, the theme for our arrangements was 'Celebration'. The chapter provided each one of us with two bunches of mizuhiki - one silver and one gold - as a common thread. We were to use as much or as little of this material as we pleased. Also, we were required to use a black container.

As has happened in previous years, we were, again, awarded a silver medal.

For my arrangement, above, I thought  'what better way to represent 'celebration' than with fireworks'. I used agapanthus flower inflorescences which I sprayed gold and the stems black. I wanted to represent a skyline at night, hence the umbrella grass stems wired together o represent skyscrapers. Five bunches of the darkest coloured statice filled the large, wide container and, finally, the mizuhiki cascading down from a piece of bamboo.

Lucy Papas used two large, fan palms one side of which she sprayed gold. Yellow disbud chrysanthemums and dancing lady orchids (oncidiums) were the floral materials and two bunches of mizuhiki added to the festive look.

Cym used a donut shaped container with three openings. She secured two monstera leaves through the top opening and into the bottom one. She added red anthuriums, phalaenopsis orchids and gypsophila. She wound the mizuhiki into a circle, reflecting the shape of the container and allowed some to cascade down, below the plinth.

The three of us who made the arrangements, above, are members of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana.

The arrangement, below, was made by Chieko Yazaki, the head of Shogetsudo koryu School of Ikebana. In her large, black urn, she used black pine (Pinus thunbergii), Chrysanthemums, oriental lilies, bromeliad and a dried branch. She draped the mizuhiki generously around the front.

Chieko's student, Magdalena O'Kane, made the next arrangement. She used a dried branch, pine, lotus pods, swan plant flowers (Gomphocarpus physocarpus), cellocias and hypericum berries. She draped the mizuhiki to follow the line of the branch.

The next arrangement was made by two members of the Ikenobo School - Joanne Huang and Angela Chau. I don't feel qualified to explain or comment on this arrangement except to say that it was quite lovely. If you look closely, you will see a small piece of mizuhiki at the bottom right side.

The arrangement representing the Ohara School was made by Felicia Huang in two ceramic suibans. She used a number of materials creating a pond-like arrangement. Again, I have to refrain from commenting as, I fear, I won't do it justice.

The arrangement by Naomi Cullen of the Ichiyo School could not be photographed very well because of its position in front of two other arrangements.

And, finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my student, Lei Wang for the great job she did in photographing our arrangements. 

Bye for now,

Emily

19TH MARCH, 2024

 

Hello all,

Some of you may have noticed that this post is one day late. It's because I was preparing my exhibit for the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS) until very late last night. I'm one of eight members of Ikebana International, each one of us having installed an arrangement celebrating 65 years of our Melbourne chapter. I will include photos of the exhibits in my next post. In the meantime, I recommend visiting the show. There's quite a lot of floral work and garden design to see and, more importantly, plants to buy.

The garlic flowers in the arrangement, above, were given to me by Dianne some time ago and I used them in an arrangement with canna lily leaves. Then, when the leaves died, the garlic flowers were still viable so I tried using them in a different arrangement. The branch is of a Manchurian pear and the pendulous material is amaranthus. I won the ceramic container at an Ikebana International raffle.

Speaking of Ikebana International, we had a meeting and workshop last week with the guest presenter being Mizuhiki-artist Anna Konecny. She guided us in making a flower using mizuhiki and a number of the members created an arrangement in which mizuhiki was used.

It's uncharacteristic of me to be unprepared but I was that morning. So I lifted out the garlic flowers from the previous arrangement, picked a fresh amaranthus stem and the first bunch of mizuhiki I could get my hands on. The result, below.

I had asked my colleague, Trish Ward, who has an amazing garden, for some cuttings from her hydrangea paniculata 'Tardiva', so I could try to strike them. She, very generously, gave me a number of stems with gorgeous blooms. These flowers are so showy that they require no other materials. I trimmed off most of the leaves and placed them in a large, ceramic vase. An example of the lesson 'Using One Kind of Material'. I took cuttings from the lower parts of the stems and placed them in a pot with seed raising mixture. I'll let you know if I'm successful.

I had another, large branch of Manchurian pear and, as luck would have it, I was given a bunch of stunning store bought Hydrangea paniculata (I think it's 'Limelight') by my student Cym Reeves. So the two came together plus I added some roses.

Another example of 'Using One Kind of Material' is the next arrangement. I love my agaves but they can get unruly and encroach onto the path. So I trimmed a few 'leaves' and kept the interesting ones to arrange. I tried adding a number of different materials in the arrangement but the agave clearly wanted to be left alone.

In the next arrangement I, again, used agave but this time I added two haemanthus lilies that have just come up from, what appear to be, dead rhizomes. Once the flowers die down, large, fleshy, green leaves will grow, which I prize much more than the flowers.

Yesterday we had the Sogetsu Victoria AGM and workshop. Aileen Duke presented the double theme of 'Using an Ordinary Household Item' and 'Colours in the Same Tonal Range'.

My household item was a stainless steel fruit bowl/bread basket, a gift from my sister, Lucy.

I balanced the bowl on its side over a small, ceramic suiban with a kenzan in it. Underneath the bowl I added a sprig of nandina domestic nana in its autumnal colours and on top of the bowl, through the holes, I placed two pink roses and three, thin amaranthus stems, draping down.

To quote the late, great Peter Cundall - 'That's your lot for the week'.

Bye for now,

Emily

11TH MARCH, 2024

 

Hello all,

The advanced students were given the theme 'Green Pant Materials' at last class. In this exercise we rely on the variety of green colours, size, texture and shape of different plant materials to create interest. Obviously variegated materials and branches with strong colours are to be avoided.

In my arrangement, above, I used fig branches with the leaves removed, agapanthus seed heads with the seeds removed and young gymea leaves (doryanthes palmeri), in a self made, ceramic container. I left one fig that was yellowing as an example for the students of the sorts of things that must be removed.

Vicky used a number of glossy green, aspidistra leaves agapanthus inflorescences and nandina domestica in a ceramic suiban.

Nicole used a pine branch sweeping forward and aspidistra leaves halved, folded and pinned.

Bredenia used two agave pieces, clivia berries and a small stem of eucalyptus. The agaves look as though they are touching in the photograph but, in fact, they are  not. There is space between them.

Mary used swan flowers (Gomphocarpus Physocarpus), strelitzia leaves and Japanese anemones leaves in a ceramic suiban to create a vertical arrangement.

Lei's curriculum theme was 'Kakebana' , an arrangement displayed by hanging the container on a wall or pillar. She created a structure by joining triangles of fine bamboo and placed it over a slim, bamboo shaped, ceramic container. She added two dahlias at the back and an amaranthus draping forward.

Shaneen's revision arrangement was 'Seasonal Materials'. She had a great number of flowers from her prolific garden but I encouraged her to leave out at least half of them. She settled on salvias, belladonna lilies, sedum and marguerite daisies. Unfortunately, the space between the materials is lost in the photo.

My Japanese flowering quince produced a number of small, inedible fruit, which looked quite charming. I used them with a couple of crucifix orchids in a ceramic vase.

The son of family friends was getting married on Saturday and I wanted to send them a floral gift with the card. I made an arrangement using philodendron leaves trimmed to reduce their size and sprayed silver on the top side. I added white lisianthus and gypsophila in a glass vase.

I went to lunch at my friend Erica's last week and brought a floral offering. I used a manchurian pear branch and hydrangeas in a ceramic vase.

Bye for now,

Emily

 

4th March, 2024

 

Hello all,

In the above arrangement, I cut two very big philodendron leaves, from  which I removed the front three quarters leaving the two sections that point backwards. This greatly reduced the size of the leaves making them manageable. But they were still very dense, so I thinned out the leaves, creating more 'holes'.

The container was an easy choice as it is quite heavy, made of reconstituted stone and could hold up the weight of the leaves. My next challenge was to secure them in an upright position in  the container. A kenzan was not an option. Instead I pushed a skewer through the two stems and cut it to the exact internal width of the container, thus wedging it in firmly. Two, cream coloured, belladonna lilies added the floral component of the arrangement.

We had our first Ikebana International meeting in February with our guest speaker being Naoko Goghlan, a Japanese born and trained potter. After her very interesting presentation and display of her pottery, it was my turn to do a demonstration for the group.

I chose some of my self made containers for this demo. As an ikebanist, making my own containers means I have a better understanding of how to use them. 

The arrangement, below was in situ, near the entrance, as a welcoming piece. I used two, large loquat branches and three hydrangea paniculata flowers in a spherical shaped tsubo vase.

In the next arrangement I used a triangular shaped vase tipped onto its narrow side. I wanted to create a continuous, vertical line from the vase to the New Zealand flax. The sunflower added a focal point. The arrangement would, also, fit into the theme 'Colours in a Similar Tonal Range'.

Container in upright position

I remember just how chuffed I was when I made the container in  the next arrangement. I don't think Da Vinci was any more proud of his Mona Lisa than I was of this vase. Because it has a very small opening, I tend to use with it dry materials, which can be placed on the outside of the container leaving room in the opening for a few, thinly stemmed, fresh materials. In this case, I created a structure by joining triangles made of skewers. Two orange crucifix orchids and a New Zealand flax split in half completed the arrangement.

Since making the next container, I realised that elaborate containers require very simple arrangements, which is one of the reasons that I used it infrequently. In this case I had a large apple branch with one healthy apple hanging from it. I removed almost all of the branch, leaving a short stem and the apple, which I placed in the vase. I, then, added a small hydrangea inside the vase. Please go to II Melbourne to see more photographs from the meeting.

 

In my travels today I came across a Manchurian pear tree with a broken branch hanging down and held by a small piece of bark. Interestingly, the leaves on the tree were quite green. However, the leaves on the broken branch had changed into their autumnal colours.

I placed one branch horizontally in this large, self made container and added two kniphofias that I discovered hiding behind the nandina domestica. If they thought they could escape me, they were mistaken!

Mary's lesson the previous week was a combination of two themes - 'Fruiting Plant Materials' and 'To be Viewed from all Sides'.She used kaffir lime ranches, from which she removed all the leaves, leaving just the fruit. She also used orange cellocias, hydrangeas and amaranthus in a heavy nageire vase. 

The following week her theme was 'Focussing on the Uses of Water'. She placed a single, curved stem of agapanthus into a large, rectangular, glass vase. She had trimmed the inflorescence to fit in the narrow vase.

Bye for now,

Emily