Jun 8 2011

One other small purchase

I did buy one other thing, it was only a pair of scissors 🙂

I usually don’t bother with stainless Steel tools but I fell for these. Stephen has been gathering up a set of these as well and after using his the other week, I decided it was time to treat myself. As Peter forced me into letting him buy the Chinese Takeaway on Saturday night, I invested the money saved into these. This is the one purchase I managed to slip under the wife’s radar this weekend. Pity it wasn’t the Pine 🙂

If you fancy a pair for yourself : Willowbog Bonsai Tools

Jun 7 2011

Juniperus Rigida

I hadn’t planned to buy another tree this weekend but there were three that caught my eye. I waited until the rest of the guys had had their pick and two of them had gone. The one I preferred however, was still there!!

I have never owned a Juniperus Rigida, Temple Juniper before and fancied this one. I have had numerous other varieties of juniper over the years and to be honest, I sold most of them.

This one presented a new challenge for me. I have to get to know the variety and it’s habits. Peter was very clear about a few issues with the variety and I took these on board. What attracted me to this one? Well, the deadwood is beautiful and mostly natural. It was once a much bigger tree but now the majority of the trees foliage comes from one live vein. There is a smaller vein running up the back of the tree but this looks weak. I’ll wait and see how it progresses.

What amazed me most about this tree was just how hard the deadwood is. Even at the base, what looks soft and rotted is actually hard. Peter says that’s one of the reasons that this variety is used by the Japanese. They tend to avoid the soft wood trees, always thinking to the future of the tree.

All I’m going to do with this one is clean up the deadwood and define just where the live vein is at the back of the tree. I may give it a little lime sulphur but really want to keep the natural colour of the wood. I’ll feed it strongly and pop it into my poly tunnel. Conditions in there should be perfect. No styling work is planned until I get to know the tree.

Jun 7 2011

Removing Flowers

My Satsuki is nearing the end of it’s flowering period and will soon need to have all the flowers removed. I have already completed this task this year with my Rhododendron, this can be viewed on an older post.

Lee, who commented on that post, was asking for clarification on what I meant by removing the seed pod. Here is a step by step through the process.

Here’s a typical flower on my satsuki.It’s getting a but tatty looking and will soon fall.

This only means that the flower petals will fall. Left behind is usually the ovary and the stigma. Below you can see the same flower bud with the petals removed and the other bits, also including the stamen, remaining.

This is the part that must be removed to avoid the tree wasting energy in producing seed. This can be picked out with fingernails but it is best to remove with scissors as shown below by cutting through the pedicel or stock behind the pod.

This is the removed seed head. If you get it early, it is still small and a lighter colour.

Below is a typical sight on my satsuki at the moment. The petal has fallen and the pod with style and stigma is all that remains. Notice it is bigger than the one above already and is a slightly darker colour. Energy is being wasted.

Hope this helps explain the process. I’ll maybe add this as a permanent page on the blog somewhere for future reference.

Jun 7 2011

Twin Trunk Scots Pine

I have been looking to get a half decent quality Scots Pine for my collection. I only have a small semi cascade and a few bits of average raw material. I was after a nice semi styled or raw tree. I asked Peter Snart from Willowbog to bring a few bits over for me to have a look at. I had seen a few of them in photos but wanted to wait to see them before making up my mind.

This is the one I opted for. Slightly further along development wise that I wanted but it was exactly what I wanted shape and style wise. In the photo I thought it was only about 60cm tall. When he opened the van and I saw it was 100cm, I had a big smile on my face.

There is plenty of work to do with it. It has a slight mealy bug problem, but most pines do this year. It needs to be de wired, but that’s a great way to get to know the tree. A few of the older straggly needles also need cleaned up. I’ve already sprayed the tree with insecticide and will do the other jobs this week.

I’ll then leave it for a while and look at wiring it towards the end of the year.

This is one angle. Second trunk apex needs be brought forward.

and a slightly different angle.

One of the features I liked was the bottom branch on the smaller trunk. It has been styled as another apex. I had been looking at a few of these in a few photos online recently and I quite liked them, especially on pines. That helped seal the deal 🙂

The bark is great and a stronger red colour than I’m used to seeing. Peter is going to find out a little more about the tree from it’s previous owner. I love to know the full history. I think it’s important to keep the history with the tree.

It’s in an Ian Ballie Pot which I think suits the tree well, so unless I drop it off a bench, I’m happy to keep it as is.

Jun 6 2011

Weekend in photos

I’ve just updated the club website with all the photos and given a full run down of the weekend. No way I’m adding that all here!! Here’s a few links if you fancy a look see.

Saturday Bonsai School

Sunday Workshop

Jun 6 2011

Wild Weekend?!

A wild weekend used to involve alcohol and woman, now it’s bonsai and the odd bottle of Red Vino, 7 in the end I think 🙂

Saturday I spent hosting a Bonsai School for 20+ in my garage. Peter snart from Willowbog was kept busy between 9am and 6pm in all aspects of pruning deciduous bonsai.

My Back Garden

My garage during school

Peter Snart - Walk like an Egyptian 🙂

Sunday I helped Peter out with his beginners workshop. This finished at 6pm and after a quick bite to eat he got to work on carving a Yew for Stephen. Nobody needed rocking to sleep, I can tell you!

Peter thinning out Stan's Larch during the workshop

Stephen's yew getting some refinement.

We packed the van this morning and he currently on the way back to Willowbog Bonsai for a well deserved rest. Thanks for a great weekend Peter.

I’ll elaborate more here over the next few days. I’ll even post a few pics of my latest acquisitions 🙂

Jun 4 2011

Busy Busy Busy

Just had a great day at the NIBS bonsai school with Willowbog Bonsai. Got myself a cracking Scots Pine 🙂

I haven’t even had time to upload any photos as yet. Expect a barrage on Monday. Workshop tomorrow!

Jun 2 2011

Tidy Up

As most of my club are going to descend on my garden this weekend I did a tidy up. My shoulder is just about useless this week, so Stephen came down and gave me a hand clearing the garage.

I moved a few trees around. Here is my display area this afternoon.

Jun 2 2011

Flowering Accent

For the life of me I can’t remember what this one is! It’s true, once you pass 40 the memory goes down hill rapidly 😦

Jun 1 2011

Hawthorn Shield Bug

Spotted this fella today.

and I found this Angle Shades Moth on my Korean Hornbeam last week. I was wondering what had been nibbling little holes in the leaves! Don’t think it was this though.