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