AUTUMN SPLENDOUR

Photograph courtecy of Lei Wang

Hello all,

First of all a word of explanation. Those of you who subscribe to this blog and receive emails whenever I publish a post, would have received advertisements in last week's post. I need to explain that I had nothing to do with that. However, I have taken steps to prevent it from happening again.

And now to ikebana. I made the arrangement, above, for our recent Ikebana International workshop. It was led by Angie Chau of the Ikenobo school. Our theme was 'Autumn Colours'. Most attendees used branches with autumn coloured leaves, however, I didn't have any as all of my trees were well past their best. I chose to go with the strelitzia nicolai leaf from my recent prunings, which was colouring beautifully. The two, strelitzia reginae flowers finished the arrangement. I had to employ some serious mechanics to have that heavy leaf stand just so. I, then, pinned the flower stems to the leaf stem to keep the line clean.

For our recent class I asked the senior students to make an autumnal arrangement in a tsubo vase. Below is my example. I used branches from my viburnum opulus, hydrangeas and oranges in a ceramic tsubo vase.

Cybie used corokia, koala fern and stock in a tsubo vase made of Mexican onyx.

Lei used bare Japanese maple branches, nandina domestica stems and berries and chrysanthemums in a ceramic, tsubo vase.

Lucy came from an appointment and was completely unprepared. After a quick rummage around my garden, she put together the arrangement, below. She used an elm branch, amaranthus and leucodendrons.

Vicky was, also, unable to prepare. She, too, had to look around my garden for materials. She used viburnum opulus, amaranthus, chrysanthemums and pomegranates.

Nicole used poplar branches, cotoneaster berries and nandina domestica nana in a ceramic, tsubo vase.

Jenny used Japanese maple and two different coloured chrysanthemums - yellow and purple.

Mary's arrangement comprised of loquat branches and chrysanthemums. She was not able to access autumnal material.

Cimby's arrangement, below, was of the theme 'In a Suiban Without a Kenzan'. She used fig branches inside and out of the container and added variegated New Zealand flax and corokia.

Wendy's theme was 'A Floor Arrangement'. She chose a corner of my lounge room in which to place the arrangement. She used fresh bamboo to create a structure which, she then, balanced onto a bamboo container, with only one point resting on the floor. She added fresh bamboo leaves and gerberas.

Dianne's class theme was 'Using Both Fresh and Dry Materials'. She used dry acacia aphylla branches and chrysanthemums in a squat, tsubo vase.

Bye for now,

Emily