May 13 2012

Titanic Belfast

I have family home from Australia at the moment and they are visiting some of N. Ireland’s best sights. On Wednesday we all went to Titanic Belfast recently open on the exact site were the Titanic was built and launched 100 years ago. Here are some of my photos from the day.

The entrance sign

Also known as the big TIT 🙂

The actual building, designed to look like the prow of the ship

Some of the signs on display at the entrance to the exhibit showing the political situation in Ireland at the time. Northern Ireland didn’t come into existence until 1922 when partition took place.

My wife pointing out on the big map where her Dad was born, Coniston Street Belfast.

A lot of family pointing going on.

The Big H&W for Harland and Wolff the shipyard owners.

An example of a First Class Cabin

Second Class

Steerage cabin

A view overlooking the site of Titanic’s launch into Belfast Lough. This was the site of the Arrel gantry built to enable two massive ships to be built side by side. the one to the left is where the Titanic was launched and the Olympic was launched on the right. Seven men fell to their death from the 270 foot high gantry.

Had a laugh at this book.

I really enjoyed the exhibit which was very interactive and was packed with information.

We also got to see the original drawing offices where the plans where made for the Titanic. It is about to be renovated to become part of the Titanic Quarter attractions. A beautiful old building and my favourite part of the day.

The hardest working vacuum cleaner in Ireland. Plaster and paint flaking off everywhere.

Original Door glass at the reception area

Office view overlooking the iconic cranes of Belfast docks.

My wife Allison taking it all in.

Amazing old staircase in the drawing office.

and a great feed in the Dirty Duck afterwards 🙂

May 13 2012

The Other Elm

This is the other Shohin Cork Bark Elm that I’ve been working on. Strong growth this Spring and it was time for a trim back to produce further ramification on the right parts of the tree.

The moss is a real pain in the Arse on this one!

This is another little Chinese Elm that was salvaged for a few quid from a local store. I really am a sucker for a sad case. It’s now a lot smaller that it started out and it needed another trim.

May 12 2012

Tale of Two Leaders

I got this little Shohin Corkbark Elm from Willowbog Bonsai last year. It was repotted this Spring and after a slug attack on the new emerging shoots, it’s eventually got around to growing. It’s been a strange yellow colour and has produced some variegated leaves.

At the BSA Exhibition in March I watched Peter Warren working on a very similar tree during a demo. I thought it would be hard to make any real changes to it, but he proved me wrong. As you can see in this photo taken during the Winter, the tree has two leaders within the canopy. Peter explained that this was disturbing to the eye. As you follow the movement of the trunk line and then reach the two leaders, you don’t know which way to go in following the flow of the tree. [ Not his exact words, he said it much more eloquently than me :-)] Peter removed part of one of the leaders and adjusted a few other branches making a tree with far less disturbing structure that was more pleasing to the eye.

As I had repotted the tree, I didn’t want to attempt this until it was clearly recovered. The other day I decided it was time to follow Peter’s advice on that similar tree and reduce the second leader. This was the result.

It will look a little sparse for a few months but will fill in quickly resulting in a better tree. The tree has to take a step back to progress forward.

I love moments like this where you think you are happy with a tree and then someone waltzes in and with one snip shows you a better option. I have a far idea that Peter might be doing that a lot when he stays with me in October. Can’t wait.

May 11 2012

Rigida Juniper

Lifted this Rigida Juniper out to give it a weeding, the shame, the shame 🙂 I bought this last year and have horror stories ever since about how hard they are to care for. This one appears happy and I gave it a pinching on the branches that required it. The extension growth on the lower branches has been left to thicken the branches.

May 10 2012

Hosta Relocate

As my collection of Hostas keeps growing, I decided to relocate them to a shadier spot in the garden as I felt that there old spot with the rest of the accents was to sunny. Here’s the corner they now occupy between two of the poly tunnels. Note the grit try they are sitting in.

May 9 2012

Mario’s Japanese White Pine Update

Part of the fun in looking after Mario’s bonsai while he’s working in Dubai is that I can put them up here to show him what he’s missing 😀

May 9 2012

Back for Another Year

My Poly Tunnel frogs from last year are back doing their best to keep up with the slugs 🙂

This one posed briefly while I was poking around with the camera.

May 8 2012

Escallonia case Study Update

I’ve just updated the Case Study Page looking at my Escallonia transition from 2001 to today.

Did a little work on it today. This is the before and after.

May 8 2012

Kusamono

I put this kusamono together a few years back. It was my first attempt at a mixed planting as opposed to the usual one pot one plant accent. It’s actually starting to mature nicely, shame about the pot now. That’s a little bit of Irish mud rock in there.