Rowallane Trees

My wife and I visited Rowallane Gardens, a National Trust Property, today. It is famous for its Rhododendrons and has loads of interesting trees to admire and learn from. Here are a few of the things that caught my eye today.

On the main driveway in is a row of old Cedars with lovely hanging branches. It’s a pity that the lower limbs are removed for safety. It would be great to see one this size without man’s input into it’s design.

One of my reasons for going today was to see if the large Prunus Incisa or Fuji Cherry was in flower yet. My small one is but alas, this one has a few weeks to go yet.

Another tree that I liked was this Fraxinus Ornus, a type of weeping Ash I think. I loved the Uro’s.

There was a few maples scattered around the grounds but needless to say, no leaves yet. This is a large one in front of the main house and a nice bit of colour on a Sengo Kaku ‘Coral Bark’ Maple too.

A beautiful flowering Quince has been trained up the wall of the Tea rooms.

Here are some of the flowers and shapes that caught my eye.

 

My Surprise

I started this blog in the middle of February as a way of keeping a record of my ‘Bonsai Activities’ and sharing that with anyone who’s interested. Yesterday saw over 300 hits on the blog! I never thought it would be that busy, that soon. It’s been a busy month for bonsai and I’ve posted a lot and this may slow down a tad. Iv’e been off for a few weeks due to a family bereavement but I’m back to work tomorrow. I’ll keep the posts up as best I can, I go nowhere now without my trusty camera.

Thank you for your interest and please leave a message on the blog somewhere to let me know you’ve been. I have made so many bonsai friends around the world through Blogging and Facebook. I just hope that I get a chance to meet you all sometime.

Regards

Ian the bonsai eejit 🙂

Frankie’s Juniper

Yesterday Phil and his Dad Frankie gave me a hand to repot the hawthorn and I returned the favour with Frankie’s big Juniper.

This was styled at our club Winter display back in December. Details here.

Here’s a few photos of it yesterday.

Phil, Frankie and I in a Reservoir Dogs stand off 🙂

New Walsall Pot for the juniper

San Jose Juniper

If you squint your eyes you can see it in the future 🙂

Phil and Stephen checking out a lump of deadwood that needs to be removed to allow the tree to sit at the right angle.

Small saw...

... then big saw!

Mix added - Akadama, Kyodama, sc Pink and grit

Well Watered after potting

Keep watering until the water runs clear, leave it for 10 minutes and water again.

Watering until all the dust is washed out is important. As you can see above the water is still dirty and you keep going until it’s clear.

It’s a lot of filling out to do this year but it grows very fast. Phil has left it in my Tunnel for protection. I have very reasonable rent rates 🙂