AGAPANTHUS

 

Hello all,

Agapanthus. Yes, I know, common as dirt and a noxious weed according to some councils. I, however, love them. Mass planted they make a stunning show in all soils and conditions.

I first started growing them about 30 years ago. We had two, mature pine trees in the front corner of our property. I had attempted to grow any number of pretty annuals under those trees with heartbreaking results. My sister-in-law, Toula, gave me my first agapanthus plants and, in time, I added more and more. I soon filled the whole patch with agapanthus, which did very well. Then, when the pine trees died and were removed, as was the root competition, the agapanthus became bigger and stronger with some of the umbels measuring 30 cm in diameter.

They are as tough as old boots, as Peter Cundall used to say. They require absolutely no care what so ever. No watering or feeding with only one job required and that is to dead head them before the seeds get into waterways and become a problem.

For us, ikebanists, it is a very useful material because it has many stages, all of which can be used in ikebana. The photograph, below, shows the different stages of the life of the flowerhead.

I had fun making a few arrangements now that the flowers are at their best.

I enjoyed watching these two stems grow after
I tied them together as buds.

The very tall, strong stems in the arrangement, below, were nature's doing. I had nothing to do with their shape. However, balancing the very heavy flowerheads was quite challenging.

The flowers in the photo, below, are quite special. The white are of the cultivar 'Queen Mum' and have a blue shading at the base to white at the lips. The dark coloured one is 'Agapanthus Purple Cloud'. I grow both of these plants in pots as I haven't found a good spot for them in the garden.

Wondering around the garden, I noticed a number of orange coloured flowers. I collected a few and made an arrangement which fits into two different themes in our curriculum - 'With Flowers Only' and 'Colours in a similar tonal Range'. I used tiger lilies, Lilium Lancifolium, orange cosmos, dahlias and crocosmia crocosmiiflora, in a self made container.

At our last Sogetsu meeting, Akemi Suzuki ran the workshop and the theme was to find something old, perhaps damaged, that has some personal value and to use it in ikebana, thus giving it new life.

The only thing I could think of was my precious container, which had broken and which I had glued back together using the kintsugi method. I used a branch from my weeping elm and sprayed it gold to reflect the kintsugi repair on the container. I added Jacobean lilies and aspidistra leaves. Please go to Sogetsu Victoria for photographs of Akemi's examples as well as those of the members.

The new year is almost upon us and I'd like to wish you all a very safe, healthy and happy 2025.

Bye for now,

Emily

 

Hello all,

I have two clumps of strelitzia reginae, which behave rather differently. The one growing in full sun produces masses of flowers of a normal size. The other is growing in part shade and has only ever produced about 10 flowers every November-December but they are really big. The stems can reach two metres and the 'beak' of the flowers has been known to reach 30 cm.

The flowers in the arrangement, above, are of the latter ones. Comparing their size to the hydrangeas in the arrangement, one can get an idea of just how big they are.

During this crazy time of year, having fallen behind on many of my chores, I've been running around like a hairy goat trying to catch up. Particularly in the garden. I even had to employ some help but I still have heaps to do. 

Below is the photo of our natural Christmas tree measuring 8 feet.

This is a close up of some of my hand made, crocheted decorations. I have more than 60 of them all together, which I made over 30 years ago. Having used them every Christmas since then, they became soiled from the resin of the pines and were in desperate need of washing and re-starching. This is a very time consuming job and I'd put it off year after year but no more. This Christmas they look pristine.

I made a few Christmas arrangements around the house, some of which I have already shared with you. In the wall arrangement, below, I used Cashmere cypress, Cupressus cashmeriana, white agapanthus and red roses. I finished it off with strands of silver mizuhiki.

Unfortunately, the photograph can't capture the sweeping form of the cypress, which 'hugs' the vase. So, I'm including a side view of the arrangement to give you an idea.

Every Christmas I like to bake a whole lot of traditional, Greek cookies to give to my friends and, for some, I also make floral arrangements. I made four such ones so far and here they are.

Gold sprayed cycad leaves, hydrangeas, hypericum berries and crucifix orchids

Blue coloured conifer that I can't identify, hydrangeas, hypericum
berries, fine silver threads and Christmas baubles.

Dried strelitzia reginae leaves, sprayed gold, agapanthus (Queen Mum)
and hypericum berries. Also, very fine, scrunched up red wire.

Close up of Queen Mum agapanthus showing the
purple colour on the 'neck' of each flower.

Cream calla lilies, pinellia pedatisecta leaves and Christmas baubles

All that remains is for me to wish you all a very happy and safe festive season and, for those celebrating Christmas, may it be as merry as can be!

Bye for now,

Emily

 

VERTICAL ARRANGEMENTS

 

Hello all, 

I looked at some of my photos destined for this blog and realized that I'm in a 'vertical' frame of mind. Many are 'Vertical Arrangements'.

Actually, that's not entirely true. Apart from themed work for exhibitions or workshops, my ikebana is always opportunistic. I get inspiration from the materials that are available at the time. 

Case in point is the arrangement, above. In my travels I came across these bullrushes, Scirpoides holoschoenus, in a very boggy spot. Treading very carefully with my inappropriate sandals, I managed to cut three of them. I, then, went into my storeroom looking for other material to use with them. As I was lifting a particular piece from the hook in the ceiling, the palm inflorescence fell and hit my head. I took that as an omen to use it.

Its natural colour is a very dull grey so I sprayed it with a copper spray. The curve of the branch and its colour determined the container. The challenge was to have the branch sitting upright without touching the container. Physics dictates that it cannot be. I used a sturdy stick, which I attached to  a kenzan at the bottom of the vase. I, then, wired the stick to the inflorescence, which held it in place. The only thing left was to conceal the stick and I did that with the placement of a leaf.

I really liked these misshapen agapanthus stems. They have a lot of character and needed only to be placed in an appropriate container.

The next arrangement came to be because I wanted to use this retro, glass container, which belonged to a beloved aunt, whom we lost recently. Her son and daughter-in-law offered relatives some mementos and this vase was mine. The calla lilies are conveniently flowering and are ideal for this simple, naturalistic arrangement.

As I was cutting strelitzia reginae flowers, I accidently cut a stem with two, large leaves. I stripped half of the large leaf and curled the smaller around it. I've been watching the deep purple agapanthus, Agapanthus Purple Cloud, as it was flowering and waiting for an opportunity to cut and use them.

This is a small, vertical arrangement, which lives in the powder room. The leaves are curculigo and the flower is a calla lily with some sort of mutation. 

I reworked a couple of arrangements to turn them into Christmas ones. 

I replaced the vase of the exhibition arrangement, below, with a tall, red one and sprayed the mahonia leaves gold. I removed the spent strelitzia flowers and replaced them with white hydrangeas and alstroemeria psittacina flowers. I, also, added gold beads and a couple of red baubles.

Similarly, the palm leaves in the arrangement, below, were sprayed gold and the blue agapanthus was replaced with a white one. Also, the container was more suited to Christmas.

Bye for now,

Emily

9TH DECEMBER 2024

 

Hello all,

At our last class for the year I set the theme of making a celebratory arrangement. This has become a tradition with my class.

I used a very tall, glass vase for my floor arrangement and, I have to confess, I took the lazy way out of a challenging problem. When using a transparent vase, the materials inside of the vase must be a part of the whole arrangement. In other words, the vase is not just a receptacle for water. In this case the stems of my flowers would have been visible and quite unattractive. So, since it was a Christmas arrangement, I coloured the water red, thus concealing the stems and giving the impression that it is a red vase.

This was all well and good but it created a new, potential problem. There was a good chance that the white hydrangeas would have absorbed the red dye and changed colour. I did not want that, so I put each stem in a water vial with clean water then placed them in the vase. So far, so good. 

Lei used one red and one white, glass vase for her Christmas arrangement. She added a sprayed magnolia branch, poinsettias, which she cut from her potted plant and coloured beads.

 Lucy opted for subtle colours in her Christmas arrangement. Her palm spathe was sprayed duck egg blue on the outside and a soft gold on the inside. She used dietes flowers and alstroemeria psittacina leaves. Her round, ceramic container was, also, soft gold.

Nicole created a very Australian, Christmas arrangement using kangaroo paw and sprayed gum nuts in two nageire containers.

Shaneen's colour scheme tends to be in the warm, earthy hues. In her arrangement she used two matching, glass vases and placed white hydrangea peniculata in the taller vase with a silver sprayed, dried branch and cineraria Silver Dust. In the second vase she used hydrangea macrophylla and a sprig of cineraria Silver Dust. She connected them all together with little, matching baubles.

Bredenia used a branch of woolly bush, Adenanthos sericeus, Which she had cut in May and used in the exhibition we had to celebrate 20 years of teaching. It's extraordinary that a cut branch would last for seven months and still look as fresh as it did when it was first cut. Here Bredenia used it in the horizontal form that it grew in a tall vase and added hydrangeas and mizuhiki.

Vicky wound a string of tiny lights around a large, sprayed branch , which she balanced over a red, glass vase. She added chrysanthemums, alstroemeria psittacina and silver baubles to complete her very festive arrangement.

Wendy is in revision and chose to make an arrangement 'With Flowers Only'. She chose an unusual, glass container in which she placed five, different types of flowers, although only four are visible in the photo.

Jenny used her time in class to make two floral bouquets for her daughters friends, who were getting married. She chose colours that were bright and 'happy' as this was such a happy occasion. The feedback she got from the brides was very positive.

Over the years many have expressed envy at the range of materials that my garden provides. When I say that it takes a great effort to keep a large, high maintenance garden going, I don't think they quite understand. Due to a number of factors, I have neglected my garden in recent times. I'm now working very hard to put some order in my overgrown with weeds garden. One of the biggest jobs is repotting cymbidium orchids and digging up spring bulbs that have finished and replacing them with summer ones, such as gloriosa lilies.

The old saying of 'A picture tells a thousand words' is quite true, so have a look at our BBQ area, below. It's been this messy for weeks and, I fear, it will be for a while longer before I finish. Yes, I'm shamelessly soliciting sympathy.

Bye for now,

Emily

2ND DECEMBER, 2024

 

Hello all,

You may remember my arrangement, below, which was exhibited on the third week of our exhibition, and featured a dug up palm plant.

When I brought the plant back home I replanted the palm in a large pot. In order to reduce the transpiration, I removed a couple of the fronds, which had interesting curves. Of course, I could not let them go to waste, instead, I trimmed the inside of each and arranged them in a small suiban. Looking around for a floral addition, I found this agapanthus with the perfect curve to fit the arrangement. You could be forgiven for thinking that I manipulated it, as I often do but I did not. This time it was just nature doing her thing.

And speaking of exhibits being brought home, the large bamboo structure which was exhibited in the first and second week was left outside the garage where it became a bit of a nuisance by falling over and having to be picked up. I had two choices - to disassemble it and store away the bamboo or to make another arrangement. No prizes for guessing which I went with.

I reworked the structure a bit to fit its new position and placed it against the wall of the entry of the house, incorporating the wall container.  Then the fun and games began as I climbed up a ladder to cut two strelitzia nicolai flowers. With the flowers in position, I needed something green. Enter two strelitzia reginae leaves and the arrangement was complete. 

For the fourth and last week of the exhibition the curator of Art Space, Box Hill, Marguerite Brown selected a number of art pieces from their collection and hung them on the walls of the gallery. It was, then, our job to create an arrangement to complement one of the art pieces.

Below is the Colour Screenprint - Vec Makropoulos 1996 by ALUN LEACH JONES. Next to it is my arrangement (hopefully) complementing it. Unfortunately, the white components of the arrangement are, somewhat, lost against the white background.

There was one small plinth nearby without an arrangement and I was asked if I'd make one for it. So here it is.

Jenny chose the cyanotype - Mona Lisa, 1993 by CAROLYN LEWENS. (I apologize for the reflections on the glass).

 Lucy's choice was a mixed media - Imagined Places by SANDRA CHAMPION.

I made another arrangement, which did not relate to any artwork. It just filled up a rather large space. The photograph was taken at home against a dark background because it is less vibrant when photographed against a white background.

See what I mean?

My dogwood, Cornus Capitata, is in full bloom and is now large enough for me to cut and enjoy indoors. I teamed a branch with the newly flowering hydrangeas in a nod to Variation No. 4.

My smokebush, Cotinus Grace, is also looking quite lush and beautiful. Here I have teamed it with agapanthus in bud, in a wall arrangement.

Bye for now,

Emily