Iris Flowers

My Iris are looking great this year so I thought I would share these pictures with you.

Manuka Bushes

New Zealand Native Manuka bushes do well here and are flowering well at the moment. It was interesting to see these shrubs being sold in Japan as something very special. Maybe people in other countries also find them special but, other than these cultivated varieties, they are often considered to be a weed in New Zealand.

Flower Arrangements

These two arrangements were done by a ikebana teacher for an exhibition we had in Gisborne. Using two almost identical containers for the top picture and a triple container of Estelle's for the second picture. People do not often buy two containers to use like this but they can lead to wonderful arrangements.

Backgrounds for Flower Arrangements

These backgrounds all rest, or are balanced, on small suitably shaped containers set behind them. The square one and the beaten one are mine while the flower shaped one was made by Estelle and all were fired in our anagama. The peonies in my last blog would look great in any of these.

From a Special Garden

Yesterday I visited a very special garden and an old house that is being lovingly restored. Peonies do not grow well in my garden so it was a thrill to see these ones looking so gorgeous.

Two Tall Containers

The pleasure of having a large anagama kiln is that tall containers like these will fit so easily. The arrangements were done by an Ikebana teacher for an exhibition we had in Gisborne some time ago.

Two Buckets by Estelle

These two buckets were made by Estelle and have been shown in several exhibitions of our work. In Japanese they are known as "Oke" and, although made of clay, often look like traditional wooden ones.