DEMONSTRATION AND EXHIBITION

 

Hello all,

The time is quickly approaching for our exhibition and the demonstration by Master Instructor, Kosa Nishiyama, in celebration of our 60th anniversary. We're quite excited and are working very hard preparing for it all. We'd love to see as many of you as possible to both events. To my interstate readers, Melbourne is glorious this time of year and might act as an added incentive to visit.

Our exhibition will be held at Whitehorse Artspace  over four consecutive weeks with changes to the exhibits each week.

It will run from 26th October to 23rd November.          

Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm (Saturdays 12.00 to 4.pm)

And now to our regular ikebana. For last lesson the advanced students were asked to make a spring arrangement. In my wall arrangement, below, I used a large wisteria vine and added pink roses and purple flag iris.

Lucy used a metal stand on which she placed a glass vase, then added jasmine, clivias and cymbidium orchid.

Jenny used apple blossoms and mauve lilacs in a ceramic, curved container.

Nicole used branches of hawthorn in bloom and rhododendron in a curved, ceramic container.

Shaneen came with swathes of materials but used only four - Japanese maple, clivia, day lily and freesias in a ceramic suiban.

Mary used crab apple branches in bloom and three arum lilies in a ceramic vase.

 

The following week Mary made a freestyle arrangement in a tsubo vase, using nandina domestica and arum lilies.

Lei made a freestyle arrangement using viburnum opulus, blushing bride (Serruria florida) and a prunus stem in a gorgeous, ceramic container.

Bye for now,

Emily

SPRING IN MY GARDEN

 

Hello all,

After 33 years of planting in my half acre property, I am inundated with so much material this spring that I'm tripping over myself trying to arrange as many as possible. The snow ball tree (viburnum opulus) is currently flowering and, for me, it is at its best when the flowers are still green.

 
In the arrangement, above, I wanted to contrast the vibrant, lime green of the flowers with the equally vibrant purple, Dutch iris. The container is made of resin.

Still with the snow ball tree, in the next arrangement, I used a ceramic vase with three holes on each side. I placed two stems through the side holes and one through the top and draped the branches over the container. 

My white lilac shrub was a gift from my parents a couple of decades ago. It is now looking a bit sad and has dropped some limbs. It has produced only a few flowers this year and, I fear, I might be losing it.

My daughter and her husband have recently moved into their new house, which is on a half acre lot. As I was inspecting all the plants on the property, I came across a loquat tree with a branch that had been partially broken but continued to grow towards the sun. An opportunity not to be missed. So, I brought it home and placed it in one of my taller vases.

I debated whether to add any more materials and I tried a few but was not happy. I did not want to conceal the interesting bend of the stem at the top. I, finally, settled on some snow ball flowers because they have a draping effect but which allowed the bend to be visible.

  

My crucifix orchid is, also, quite prolific and I've been manipulating some of the flower stems to interesting curves. This one is sitting in front of the mirror in the powder room. People can enjoy the beauty of the flowers up close when washing their hands.

Then, there's my wisteria, which has been the source of great frustration over the years because it stubbornly refuses to produce more that a few flowers each spring. I have threatened to remove it more than once. This year, however, after being heavily pruned, it has produced quite a lot of flowers. Below are a couple of arrangements featuring this beautiful, fragrant material. At this stage the racemes are not fully open. In a day or two they will look much fuller.

Wisteria with arum lily

 

Wisteria with clematis

Bye for now,

Emily