Mar 25 2011

Bonsai School Part 4

Just added Part 4 of the Bonsai school series to YouTube. I’m now sitting here trying to decide if I’m going to take the day off work. The sun is shining and I’ve a garage to get ready for about 15 bonsai mates coming tonight to play with wee trees. What shall I do?

Mar 24 2011

Larch Check-up

This Japanese Larch is slightly further on that any others in my Garden. I had spent a bit of time working on the branch structure last month. Today I gave it a look again as some buds don’t always grow the way you expect on a Larch.

Here’s the first pad on the left. I just love this time with Larch. All those little green shaving brushes.

If you look at this pad, some of the buds are opening facing downward under the pad. Unless this is a bare area within the pad where you can let it extend and then wire into the space, it’s better to remove these now.

By removing them, you clean up the image with nice clean lines under the pad. Here’s the pad with the two offender removed.

As needles grow and extend during the year the underside of the pads can become very tatty and by plucking any downward facing needles before exhibition you can greatly improve the Silhouette of the tree.

Note to self, keep a close eye on this tree, the wire will need checked again shortly. I hate taking wire off, nearly as much as putting it on 🙂

Mar 24 2011

Macro in the sun

I couldn’t resist getting the camera out this morning in what can only be described as a magnificent day of sunshine.

I’m still learning my way around my DSLR and I’m taking every chance to play with it, as my FlickR account will show 🙂

Here’s today’s Macro offerings. First up is a succulent accent in flower.

Absolutely nothing to do with bonsai but these cacti show beautiful shape and form.

A moss Forest Planting.

This mornings dew on moss seed heads.

Mar 24 2011

Just for Martin

I seem to have some sort of fascination with this Coltsfoot Accent. This will be my 3rd post picturing it as it continues to flower. At least Martin on the last post about it asked for more, so that’s my excuse 🙂

Two more flowers to open on this one but I reckon the first few will have died by then.

Mar 24 2011

Third Instalment

This is the third instalment of the Bonsai School Series from the NIBS.

Mar 23 2011

Crab Apple Flower Buds

I noticed yesterday that this crab apple was flowering again this year. I waited 15 years for it to get it’s act together and was on the verge of giving it away (who would pay for a apple that doesn’t flower?) when it flowered in 2009. No fruit set that year. In 2010 it had more flowers and it held fruit. Lovely little pea size apples. This year it is covered in flower buds. I even put it in a better pot and restyled it over the Winter. Be good to me and I’ll be good to you 🙂

This was it back in January before repotting but after wiring. I can’t find a photo of it in the new pot, you’ll have to wait 🙂

Mar 23 2011

Shohin Off

I was all set to attend the BSA ‘Shohin Off’ Event held last weekend at Willowbog Bonsai but my personal circumstances changed and I was unable to get over. I have had to make do with watching others posting photos of the bonsai on different forums. To show you just how good a weekend I missed, I have added some of the photos here for your enjoyment. I was talking with Peter who said the weekend was a great success and plans are now a foot for next years exhibition. I’m giving serious thought to taking a few of our trees over for a small display.

Mar 23 2011

Bonsai School Videos

I spent most of yesterday watching through footage recorded at our clubs recent Bonsai School with Willowbog Bonsai. It was hard to do any real editing as Peter was in full flow and, to cut out little segments here and there, would have made a mess of the whole thing. Therefore, I have put together 4 videos showing extracts of Peters talk and demo. I have added the first two here for you to view. The other ones will be added later in the week. I haven’t even looked at the footage from the workshop yet!!

Mar 22 2011

Trident Back Budding

This is a large (for me) Trident Maple that over the last few years has gotten a little out of shape. This year I’m determined to improve the branch structure on all of my deciduous trees. Over the Winter I pruned back the branches quite a bit. Some would say, not enough, but I was happy with the amount. I had a closer look yesterday to see how adventurous the back budding has become and was delighted with the results.

Below you can see one of the branches I pruned back and the resulting abundance of new buds appearing.

A few other photos showing this season new growth. I hope to increase the inner ramification and create a more natural looking image of a deciduous tree rather than one padded out to look like a Pine.

Mar 21 2011

Best use?

Over the years I have gathered up far too much material on my benches and plan to thin out this year. To do this I’m giving some trees away and selling others. Most of this is raw or semi styled material. I spent a morning yesterday setting all these trees to the side and assessing if I want to keep them, or how much I need for them.

During this process I found a few trees that on their own were nothing special. To get the best use out of them I decided create a few group plantings.

First up was 4 Dawn Redwoods that had been field grown for 6 years. Four isn’t ideal for a group but one of the trees was a twin trunk so it looks like 5 :-). Hey it works!! The pot is poor but, if you’re going to sell it, who cares :-). Major work required on the deadwood (deadwood on a redwood 🙂 sorry, just had to say that!)

buds - perfect time for repotting

Next up is a beech that I planned to sell but I want to keep it now. I plan to experiment with a few new techniques for beech this year and this one is ideal for it.

Repotted

I also had 6 elms that have been sitting under a bench for years without a second glance. I decided to pop them into the red tray from the beech and get them started as a group planting. Six trees is never going to work, so I put five in the group and the spare is going to Jamie from the club for him to play with. I’ll expect a comment on here Jamie, I know you follow this :-). Here’s the 5 in the group.

None of these are that exciting but I think I’m now getting the best out of the material.