Hello everyone. Well we've returned from Bali having spent all our time at the resort doing absolutely nothing but relaxing by the pool. Now we're back to our busy lives, the trip is a distant memory.

In my previous post I featured a photograph of an arrangement I did at the resort using tropical materials from the gardens. As the time passed and the leaves I used aged and changed colour I rearranged them and below is the result.

Then, on the day we were to leave, I played with the crabclaw heliconia before throwing it away. It was still very fresh and provided a rare opportunity to 'disassemble and rearrange' it. The photographs below are just some of the arrangements I made using the one heliconia and what few resources were available in our suite. I think you can guess I had a lot of fun.

So, back in Melbourne, spring is in the air, albeit a little late but it is a welcome sight anyway.

In one of my recent posts I featured arrangements I made using prunings from my garden. Three weeks ago my neighbour, Robert took out his chainsaw and put it to very good use in his overgrown garden collecting all the cuttings into a huge pile.

This was an opportunity not to be missed, so, with his permission, I climbed over the fence and started rummaging through the 'pile'. I found some treasures buried deep and struggled to pull them out but I was determined to have them. My biggest problem, however, was fighting off his dog that was convinced I was there solely for her benefit and jumped all over me the whole time, bruising me with her claws and pulling threads on my top.

With an abundance of pussy willow in a bucket, I set the class theme for my senior students- 'workshop with pussy willow'.

Below are a couple arrangements I did before class.

Amongst Robert's prunings pile I found a beautiful branch of this conifer with fronds that lay flat against each other. Together with the Strelitzia from my garden I made the arrangement below. It's been sitting on my island bench for three weeks now and still looks as fresh as when I first placed it there. Very versatile material for exhibitions.

We've had some very severe weather the last couple of days that did quite a lot of damage in the garden, the worst of which was the scattering of the petals of my magnolia soulangeana tree. It was looking magnificent but now most of the petals are strewn all over my lawn. I did, however, manage to cut some branches and arrange them before the storms hit.

At our recent Ikebana International meeting one of our members provided a bucketful of daffodils from her garden to sell at the stall and I bought three bunches. Their delicate beauty epitomizes spring but they are not easy to arrange. So I placed them very naturalistically in this trough, which I set on my windowsill where I can enjoy them each time I walk past.

I leave you with this last spring arrangement for which I used my Stachyurus praecox and the first flower and a bud from my Magnolia liliiflora 'Nigra'. The container is one I made many years ago and was inspired by the pipes in the ceiling of the domestic terminal of the Sydney airport. I'm including a side view to show the beautiful curves of the stachyurus.

I bid you all a good night as I'm off to bed. The next two days I'll be very busy preparing for the Box Hill Floral Art exhibition, which will be held at the Box Hill Town Hall on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. Some of my students and I will be exhibiting in the foyer and my two sisters-in-law and I will be exhibiting on the stage together with some Floral Art members. We will each have a painting, which we will reference with a floral arrangement. I hope o see some of you there.

Emily

Om swastyastu from Bali.

I'm writing this blog whilst sitting by the pool in a hotel in Denpasar. Sam and I arrived here three days ago in desperate need of some R&R knowing, that unless we went away, we would not be able to rest. I left the writing of the blog for when I got here because there was absolutely no time to do it at home.

So, here we are at the beautiful Chedi hotel in Sakala. Being winter, the temperature is a perfect 28 degrees with a light balmy breeze and the staff are all extremely friendly and eager to please. It seems no request is too much trouble for them. The hotel is new and luxurious. Also, this being their off season, they are not very busy, making it ideal for us.

It's probably just as well that I don't have heliconias like these growing in my garden because they wouldn't last long but Oh, how much I would enjoy arranging them!

I had to include a photograph of these exquisite frangipanies, which grow in great abundance here because they take me back to my wedding day. They were imported from Queensland for my bridal bouquet.







Surrounded by all this lush, tropical vegetation, the ikebanist in me was salivating. I resisted for the first day but the next I asked Dea from Guest Services if I could cut some material and do an arrangement. She was very helpful, giving me permission and providing me with a pair of scissors.

Of course, I have no containers, kenzans or any other tools but, as an experienced ikebanist, I improvised. I used the waste paper basket for a container and some toothpicks to join stems. I even had to resort to the sewing kit for needle and thread to hold the leaves together. This is the first time I 'sewed' ikebana. The important thing is, I had fun! Below is my tropical creation.

There was a lot going on at home, recently, family wise as well as ikebana wise.

For class I had set the theme 'The Challenge of the New', which was a theme for a class that Iemoto conducted when I was in Tokyo and I thought my students would find interesting. They were to use containers of mine that they had not used before. In preparation I, too, made arrangements in new containers.

The first is in a container I bought from the sale of Glynn Lemeiris ikebana collections after her passing. I used fine wisteria branches twisted around to follow the shape of the container and extend forward. I used my cymbidium orchids and a little bit of some very thorny wattle on the right.

The next arrangement is in a container I have used before however, the metal piece I used with it is new and was bought at headquarters. It helps to support this very heavy curved lily and its leaf

On 10th August we had a family celebration with 35 guests for lunch, preparations for which took up a lot of time before the event and, of course, cleaning up afterwards. There was also time devoted to arrangements around the house some of which are featured in the photographs below. To be perfectly honest, whenever we're entertaining, my first priority is the ikebana arrangements and then I worry about the food.

A while ago, when I was cleaning up around my pots, I discovered that the roots from the agave had escaped the pot and were growing underneath creating a delicate lace-like material. I sprayed it black and used it in this rather large glass container with my home grown anthurium and it's leaf.

For the dining table I wanted something light that would not obstruct guests' view of each other, so I used this glass decanter and light wisteria branches, dietes leaves and the last rose from the garden.

The food was buffet style and was placed on two large trestle tables. The arrangement below was placed on a stand on the table to elevate it above the food and was an interesting focal point for the room as it measures over 1.5 metres across.

The next morning, utterly worn out, I stumbled into the Gasworks Gallery with the same arrangement and placed it on the plinth for the Ikebana International Exhibition. It took a lot to secure it in the car without damaging the long dogwood branches or the lilies but I managed it.

A number of people asked me how I bent the lilies. The answer is I 'train' them as they grow. I push down the buds when they are very young and pliable and secure them, so that as they grow, they reach for the sun, thus creating a permanent bend.

I direct you to the Ikebana International blog for photographs of more arrangements.

Two days later, I had class with Elizabeth Angell who set the theme 'Using Rope or Packaging Material'. I enjoyed playing with some of the rope I have in my storeroom and I made the three arrangements below.

  

I leave you here as the swimming pool beckons.

Bye for now,
Emily

MY WINTER GARDEN

Before I start this post, I'd like to let you know of a couple of Ikabana events that are coming up.

Ikebana International

Melbourne Chapter Exhibition

12th - 17th August

9.00am - 4.00pm

Gasworks Arts Park

21 Graham Street, Albert Park

Box Hill Floral Art Exhibition

13th - 14th September

Box Hill Town Hall

1022 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill

Although this is a western floral art group, my students and I have been invited to exhibit Sogetsu Ikebana in the foyer. Also, three of us senior ikebanists will be given a choice of paintings from which to pick one and do an arrangement to complement that painting. I'm really looking forward to that.

And one more thing - in the Links part of my blog I've added two more - Sogetsu School of Ikebana Victorian Branch and Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter.

So it's winter in Melbourne and I don't mind. I find I work a lot better in the cold than the heat but, of course, I prefer more temperate weather. Today started very cold but the sun has come out and it has turned into a glorious day. I've really enjoyed walking around outside collecting material for my ikebana.

When we built our house 23 years ago, we had plans drawn up for a low maintenance garden. However, I started ikebana shortly after we moved in and started planting all the interesting material I saw the other ikebanists using. At one point I had the number of my local nursery on speed dial. I was also given many cuttings and plants by generous members of our group and every time I use each of these plants, they remind me of the person who gave it to me.

So, now I have a prolific, high maintenance garden so that even in winter I can find many interesting materials such as branches, berries, leaves, as well as some flowers - calla lilies, green goddess lilies, hallebores, cymbidium orchids, some early jonquils, Siberian dogwood, Strelitzias and Japonicas. And, of course, let's not forget camellias. I get very excited when I see the first buds on my favourite, the Kamo Honnami. For those who don't know this camellia, it is single petaled, white and slightly tubular in shape. Not a vigorous grower but produces flowers over a long period. I can't resist including a photo.

When I returned from Japan in mid June, my Japanese Flowering Apricot (prunus mume) had started blooming and has continued to date. It has the most delightful fragrance and delicate pale pink flowers. I used it in this large arrangement with my pink camellias.

I also used it in this tall arrangement in my newly acquired container together with the ubiquitous calla lilies.

Continuing the winter theme, the very first of my banksia rose blossoms had to be cut and I used them with this creamy yellow camellia called 'Jury's Yellow'. I love it for its colour but also because it was given to me by my friend Merryl Jessup. This arrangement also fits the theme 'Colours in the Same Tonal Range'

The camellia in this next arrangement is much loved and used because it prolifically and grows well, so I can keep cutting without damaging or reducing the plant. Unfortunately, I lost the name tag so I don't know what it is called. Another winter flowering tree is the wattle, of which there are many varieties in my neighbourhood and I used one here. Wattles are bright and beautiful but they don't last once they are cut, so I don't use them very often.

This little wall arrangement is made with a piece of dried date palm material and two anthuriums, which I grew in my bathroom.

Last weekend our Sogetsu group had two days of very productive workshops with Yoshiro Umemura, who came down from Sydney. We always enjoy workshops with Yosh and we get a lot out of them. He is a consummate teacher and his calm and relaxed manner is conducive to learning and putting people at ease.

Below are a couple of photos of Yosh's demonstration of an 'Arrangement to be Viewed from all Angles'.

 

Below is my arrangement for the same theme. I used pieces of a very large, dried, tropical Strelitzia, an aspidistra leaf and berries in this big but narrow container. Because it is difficult to work out this arrangement from one side, I am including four different views

.

Lucy made this very interesting spider-like arrangement using umbrella grass, variegated flax and rose hips.

We also had the theme 'Intertwining Plant Materials' and below is my example. I used a bigger piece of the same dried date palm, as above, dietes leaves, variegated flax and one calla lily.

For the theme 'Showing Lines at Base', I found these cottoneaster berries branches that have beautiful curves. Unfortunately, they don't photograph well because the depth is lost. I used this large container that I made years ago and had to employ some serious mechanics to get the very heavy branches to stay upright. I finished off the arrangement with yellow asiatic lilies. I left my hasami in the picture to give some idea of size.

The final theme was 'Repeating Similar Forms or Shapes'. We had an interesting discussion about what constitutes a form or a shape and how it all applies to this theme. I used the stems and a very small part of philodendron leaves to create rough triangles, I added two calla lilies up high and some of the aerial roots from the philodendron at the mouth of this large container.

You can see a lot more pictures from the workshops if you go to the Sogetsu Link. Christopher James puts a lot of time and effort in photographing and editing, so the photos are really rather good under the circumstances.

I leave you with this last arrangement, which I did for my class with Elizabeth using a bare branch. I did it in a container that always reminds me of my father, whom I lost 14 years ago. He and mum had dropped  in on the day I was working on it on my kitchen bench and he sat and watched me the whole time with a bemused look on his face.

THANK YOU!

I'd like to start this post with a big thank you to all of you who are following this blog. My computer tells me there are 4,200 page views to date, which comes as a very pleasant surprise to me.

I mentioned before that there is a lot of work needed in my garden and I allocated last Sunday and Monday exclusively to pruning and weeding. This had two beneficial results - the garden looks a bit more tidy and I had a lot of cuttings for ikebana. So I decided the theme for this post would be 'Ikabana from prunings'.

The arrangement below is made with rose hips from my 'Altisimo' rose, which is a semi-climber and produces some very long stems. They are very thorny and difficult to work with but I love the look of them under water in a glass container. This is also an example of an arrangement 'Using only one kind of material'.

The container in this next arrangement is one I made many years ago and is much loved. I used this very interesting Strelitzia leaf and rose hips. The anthurium was not a pruning but was cut from my pot plant that is growing in my bathroom.

My tropical Strelitzia (Nicolai) is getting a little out of hand so I cut some very large fronds. I removed most of the fleshy part of the leaves, leaving the stem and spine with a little bit of the leaf. Some bending and manipulation later and I managed to get them to stay, pushing against the heavy glass containers. The large calla lilies were all that was needed to complete the arrangement .

This next arrangement is one I'm particularly fond of. The main material was cut from the same Strelitzia leaf that I used in the previous arrangement. It is the lower part of the stem, which is thicker and when split lengthwise it reveals this interesting corrugated effect. The close-up shows this more clearly. The glass container shows it to best advantage and my accidentally broken stem of begonia adds the necessary colour contrast.

This is also an example of an arrangement 'To be Viewed from All Sides'.

There were many dead leaves in my Strelitzia Reginae, which had to be removed. Because they don't require water, these type of leaves are very versatile and can be sprayed any colour. This time, however, I used them in their natural colour in this unusual container and added a couple of hydrangeas that were originally white but have changed colour as they aged.

I also have a very slow growing contorted hazel at the front of my house, which rarely gets cut. It gets long straight suckers coming up from the roots, which must be removed. Whilst doing that, I accidentally broke a piece of the twisted part and, so, it made it into this arrangement and into this post.

I have about 10 Dietes plants alternating with oleanders creating an informal hedge between the neighbours' and our properties. The dietes were looking very scruffy, especially because there were a lot of buffalo grass weeds in between them. So I cut them right down, thus allowing me to get to the weeds. Well, most of them, anyway. Those things are tough to get rid of.

This provided me with bucket-loads of lovely long thin leaves perfect for an ikebana workshop. So I notified my students that for class this week we would workshop dietes leaves. It was a lot of fun to have so much of this material to play and experiment with. Below are photos of my examples.

                                                               Self made container

The tamarillos are also from my garden

and are much loved by my husband, Sam,

who is waiting for this arrangement to die

so he can eat them.

                               

                             A wall arrangement

I leave you with this last arrangement, which I did for my lesson with my teacher, Elizabeth Angell. The theme was Red and Green and I used a Haemanthus lily leaf and cotoneaster berries.

Bye for Now,

Emily