22ND JUNE, 2026

 

Hello all,  

For last week's class I had set two themes - a 'Vertical Arrangement' and a 'Horizontal Arrangement'- for the advanced students. I did so because they are quite easy and I was certain the students would be able to cope.

Mine is the horizontal arrangement, above. Vicky  had trimmed her kiwi vine and gave me a large number of gorgeous vines, part of which I used here. I, also, had gypsophila, a stem of phalaenopsis orchid and alstroemeria psittacina leaves. The ceramic container is by Paul Davis.

My arrangement, below, came about when I was removing some dead leaves from my strelitzia nicolai. Normally, these leaves are quite wide but this one had an interesting, narrow shape, ideal for my vertical arrangement. I was able to find some long stems on my camellia to add to it for the floral focus.

Apart from the camellias, there are not many flowers in the garden this time of year. That's why it's such a joy when the Japanese flowering apricot (prunus mume) comes into bloom. I couldn't resist using it for a second, vertical arrangement.

Lucy's vertical arrangement comprised three sansevierias and one amaranthus flowerhead draping downwards.

For her horizontal one she used a triangular, ceramic container with openings on both sides, through which she placed two gymea leaves and a cycad frond.

Vicky's kiwi vine features in her vertical arrangement, together with a Green Goddess lily and a NZ flax leaf in a footed, ceramic container.

For her horizontal one she used equisetum stems, knotted together at the end and added a single stem of Oriental lily in bud.

Nicole used three arum lilies, in different stages of opening and umbrella grass (cyperus ulternifolius), with the tops trimmed back.

For her horizontal one she used stems of cotoneaster epiculatus and nandina domestica nana in a squat, tsubo vase.

Lei, for her vertical arrangement, trimmed three palm fronds and placed them in a flat trough, at different heights, then added snapdragons behind them.

And for her horizontal one, she managed to balance a tortuous willow stem over the tsubo vase and added a single protea to complete the arrangement.

Dianne's class theme was 'Focusing on the Uses of Water'. She made two arrangements in large suibans. The first was pond-like using a log and winter iris (Iris unguicularis). The materials were placed to the side, leaving the water uncluttered.

In her second arrangement Dianne placed a Mahonia stem diagonally across the container, thus reflecting on the surface of the water. She added sprigs of mahonia and winter iris on the kenzan to complete the arrangement.

In this week's camellia arrangement I used the red camellia, whose name I've not been able to find and some clivia berries in a quirky, ceramic container. 

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS #31

 

Hello all,

Walking down the street yesterday I found some bark from a gum tree lying on the ground. I picked up one piece and brought it home. It was one of those times when an arrangement almost makes itself. Placing the camellia branch took some effort but, by and large, it was an easy arrangement.

For the recent Masterclass, as before, I provided three different types of materials to each student and instructed them to use as much or as little as they wished.

Angie secured a rather heavy pine branch (pinus radiata) in a ceramic container and added two proteas. She took care to place the materials to the left, leaving clear space to the right of the container.                     

Vicky took time to remove all the leaves from her cotoneaster apiculatus branches and, with some effort, managed to secure the heavy branches slanting sideways. She added an Oriental lily with a bud, leaving a clear space on the left side of the rectangular container.

Bredenia also removed the leaves from her ficus obliqua Moraceae, leaving just the little figs. She used the hakea branches hanging downwards and placed the Oriental lilies to the back, in a tall, ceramic vase.

Lei had a large cotoneaster frigidus branch, which she trimmed heavily, revealing strong angles in the stem. She also reduced the leaves emphasizing the pendulous berries. The stem of the single protea followed the line of the cotoneaster stem.

Swann also had a large cotoneaster epiculatus branch, which she cut down and placed in a ceramic container, together with fig berries and Oriental lilies.

Lucy also reduced her cotoneaster stem and secured it in a ceramic container, which has a semi-circular shape. She used both of her Oriental lilies and only a small sprig from her large pine branch.

This week's camellia arrangement is in a bamboo basket and features, again, the kamo-hon-ami camellia. I also added some clivia berries to the back.

Bye for now,

Emily

 

Hello all,

The wall arrangement, above, is on a piece of slate, into which I cut a hole and placed a flat, plastic bottle behind it to hold water and the stems of the materials. It took a bit of engineering with thick wire to make it all come together. The materials are half a monstera deliciosa leaf, cumquats and kamo hon ami camellia.

The theme for the regular Wednesday class was 'Complementing an Art Piece'. Below is my arrangement.

I bought the art piece, which is made from reconstituted stone, when I became a mother for the first time. The sentiment depicted by the piece moved me deeply and I had to have it. The materials I used are one large and one smaller monstera deliciosa leave and two pomegranates.

Lucy's art piece is a stylized, metal, tribal mask. She used two gymea leaves, half a monstera deliciosa leaf and a single chrysanthemum in a ceramic container.

Lei chose one of Henri Matisse's papier decoupe pieces, which he created during the final years of his life. Lei used monstera deliciosa leaves, partially stripped and cut out more holes to mirror the work. The flowers were pink snapdragons. The container was a ceramic trough.

Vicky's plate is by Erte, a Russian-French artist and designer. It depicts the Queen of Sheba. Vicky used a metal vase on top of which she placed a scrunched up, thick, black wire. She then added chrysanthemums and a single camelia. She placed the vase on a gold place mat.

Dianne's class theme was 'In a Suiban Without a Kenzan'. She arrived with several, large pieces of nandina domestica. It took some effort to create this arrangement, which is challenging at the best of times, let alone when there are heavy branches to deal with. She managed, however, it with a little bit of help and started to remove some of the leaves but ran out of time. She promised to fine tune it at home. The flowers are chrysanthemums.

The May Sogetsu workshop was led by Akemi Suzuki, who chose as the subject 'Creating Windows'. She demonstrated three arrangements, one of which is in the photograph, below with Akemi looking through the 'window' that she created. She used polygala branches and dietes leaves in a quirky, ceramic container.

For my arrangement I used the red stemmed, Siberian dogwood to create an oval 'window' that protruded forward. The roses that can be seen through the window are called 'Lolita'.

Side view showing the forward 
movement

Lucy made triangular windows using corky elm which she sprayed with two different coloured sprays to create a burnt look. She used nerines for the floral focus. 

For this week's camellia arrangement I have used the first to open of the red flowering camellia (name unknown). So far I've been using the white, kamo hon ami camellia because it starts flowering in April and finishes in September. It does not produce masses of flowers but it does have a long flowering period.

Bye for now,

Emily

 

Hello all,

The theme for our last, regular class was 'Mass and Line'. In my arrangement at the top I made two masses - One with chrysanthemums, a gift from Mary, and the other with cumquats. I arranged the chrysanthemums loosely and the cumquats more tightly. The 'line' is a branch from my weeping elm, that has a distinct zig-zag form.

In the next arrangement I used spent agapanthus flowers for the mass and curved agapanthus stems for the line. Interestingly, these materials were lying on the table after having being removed from another arrangement. Looking at them, the arrangement seemed to morph together in my mind.

Nicole made two small arrangements, in both of which she used nerines for the mass. The one to the left also had alstroemeria psittacina leaves and a prunus stick for the line, The line to the one on the right was an umbrella grass stem.

Lei's arrangement was made in a container with a split down the middle. She used leucadendron flowers for the mass and a long, thin bamboo for the line.

Vicky made two arrangements using the same two materials. The mass was made using alstroemeria psittacina leaves and sansevieria cylindrica for the line.

Lucy created a tight mass with chrysanthemums and added a dried and sprayed agapanthus stem for the line, in a glass vase.

Mary's arrangement was made using marigolds and a stem of cornus Siberica alba for the line, in a ceramic suiban.

I saw a whole diosma shrub cut and thrown on the verge in a nearby street. I resisted the temptation to take some of it the first three times I drove past it. On the fourth I gave in (I always carry cutters in the boot). I made the arrangement, below, in a container that I chose for its colour. I created lines by stripping away the lower parts of the stems to give the illusion of a continuation of the lines from the container. I was particularly taken by the movement of this material. The focal point was a bunch of proteas in different stages of flowering.

One of the left over branches had an interesting line, begging to be used. I placed it, together with a rose in a vase that has no opening at the top but two openings, on either side of the neck.

And now for this week's camellia ikebana. I secured the camellia stem in a small, lop-sided vase and added some cumquats, reused from a previous arrangement.

Bye for now,

Emily

 

Hello all,

I have an olive tree of which I'm not particularly fond for two reasons. Firstly, it doesn't produce many olives (my husband, who comes from Kalamata, had visions of jars filled with marinated olives) and, secondly, I don't find it useful in ikebana because the leaves grow in all directions and they have a very distinct underside. 

However, when I had a close look at some of the branches I was trimming away, I noticed the branch in the arrangement, above, which had potential for ikebana. After careful trimming, I was left with a branch with beautiful movement.

Then the challenge was to find floral material to put with it. At this time of year there are not many flowers in my garden but I do have some rather straggly chrysanthemums. I placed them in a small mass with their stems following the curve of the olive branch. The glass vase is a much prized gift from my daughter and son-in-law.

A few weeks back, to my great delight, my pot of heamanthus coccineus produced five flowers. It's always a challenge using these flowers in ikebana because they have a short stem. I chose two matching, curved containers into one of which I placed the flowers in graduating heights. In the other container I placed sansevierias in graduating heights and finished off with the addition of a wisteria vine, sprayed white. 

At last month's Masterclass we worked with table mats in arrangements as an unconventional material. I, later, played around with one of the mats by wetting it and reshaping it. As it happened, the red, glass bowl was sitting on one of the tables in my studio and I pushed the wet mat into the bowl and left it to dry. It replicated the shape of the bowl. So then the challenge was to find a way to use it. Feeling a little playful, I made the arrangement, below, using spent agapanthus flowers.

In our May Ikebana International meeting Jo Reitze, a painter of some repute, conducted a power point presentation of her work. She specializes in painting gardens, in particular commissioned work. We, the members, were asked to bring arrangements inspired by our gardens. 

I'm almost always inspired by my garden, so it was easy for me. I love the strong, sculptural look of agave and I have three, large clumps growing. The flower I used is called a 'Cleome spider flower'. I had planted some seedlings a few years ago and, it appears, a seed survived in one of my pots and grew into a tall plant. The juxtaposition of the soft, delicate flower against the strong agave appeals to me.

The arrangement, below was made by Wendy. The green material is small sections of giant philodendrons. The container is a coloured glass bowl and the flowers are disbud chrysanthemums.

Photograph curtesy of Lei Wang

When I find interesting materials I have to use them, even if I have nowhere to display them. Below is a case in point. The bean like material in the arrangement are seed pods from the 'Port St John creeper', which grows over the fence from my neighbour's garden. Together with hydrangeas, I made a simple arrangement based on the 'Variation No. 4 Hanging' style.

At the II meeting one of our members had sent along small cuttings of golden pine from his bonsais. As they were very short stemmed, I placed them in my curved container and placed another container behind it, in which I placed two proteas.

This week's camellia ikebana is in a self made container which I call Aladdin's Lamp but which I use quite infrequently.

Bye for now,

Emily