Sep 21 2013

Weekend Rewind Part 5

I suppose Monday isn’t technically the weekend, but Peter was still with me that morning and was kind enough to look at a few tree.

Sadly I was that intent on listening and learning I didn’t photograph everything but I did get a few.

This Hawthorn was discussed on the blog last year and Peter told me to wait until he was back over to get a look at it.

I laughed when I saw this photo as it makes Peter look a touch indecisive but I can assure you the opposite was true.

We played about with a few optioned on how much to shorten the branch by using cloth to cover up.

Checking for Chuhin 🙂

And about the only photo with me in it after a whole weekend! Peter lifted my camera for the snip.

After pruning unnecessary branches and shortening of the cascade.

A few other trees were looked at and talked through which I found very beneficial and then it was time to head for the airport. Thanks again Peter.

Sep 20 2013

Our First Club Meeting

I must say that I am delighted to see this, onward and upwards chaps 🙂

Lyons Bonsai

Well the first bonsai club meeting to happen in Cork in the past ten years, took place tonight, and what a night it was. Ten people came to our meeting from all part of Cork, Kilkenny and Clare. There is a great mixture from Novice being myself up to people doing bonsai for years. The night started with everyone getting to know each other, and then we moved on to talk Bonsai. We discussed each others trees and shared our thoughts on them. It was a great bunch of lads and the next meeting will be only better.

Discussing Trees 🙂

Adrian and Piotr discussing his tree.

Owen, Matt an Peter looking at Matt’s tree.

Matt’s little Tree

Matt’s Cypress in his patented pot 🙂

Peter’s Common Beech

Ray’s Scott’s Pine

Peter’s Little White Pine

Marks very nice Larch

Nice little Cone (not acorn thanks Ian 🙂 ) on the…

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Sep 20 2013

Casual friday: bonsaiempire post my article

Melanie's dream's

I am overwhelmed.

Bonsai Empire, one of the most visit bonsai site worldwide published my article.

http://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/summer-festival

Thank you

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Sep 20 2013

Weekend Rewind Part 4

We had a few other trees knocking about at the workshop on Sunday, there for various reasons. It’s always good to take advantage of Peter’s eye for design and talk through a few options on a few trees. This large San Jose Juniper was there to be studied with a view to grafting Itoagawa foliage onto it in the future. An interesting discussion about the various options and technique involved.

Phil also brought along his Pine from the January Ryan Neil workshop for a few photos to show progression. Wire had to come off after only six months as it was biting in alot! Not bad for a tree that was sawed halfway through in two places. See here for the video.

A few more of Phil’s trees there for advice and work.

A change of front for Sharon’s Deshojo Maple.

A small alternation on Sharon’s Korean Hornbeam.

Lastly I put the Peter to work on one of the most important tasks of the day. 🙂

Sep 19 2013

Weekend Rewind Part 3

Sunday saw the start of the last group workshop, this time at a little less frantic pace with only 4 taking part by design. Stephen was still wiring, I think he spent the night in the garage after finishing his Indian 😉

As usual we started with a talk through of the main trees. I was going to be working on a root over rock Itoagawa Juniper. Sharon was joining us for the day and was also working with a Chinese Juniper and Phil was back with his one from Saturday and another shohin one too. Peter therefore spent some time talking through Juniper care.

A rare sighting of Stephen not wiring, needless to say he was doing his next favourite thing, drinking coffee.

Sharon happy at her work.

Phil’s finished Juniper

He then moved on to the shohin one. Again Peter and him couldn’t agree on how many branches to remove.

Is that Stephen still wiring??!! 🙂

This is my Juniper from the workshop. We had an interesting discussion about design option for this tree. Should it flow over the rock or could it be tilted to go the other way. Here you can see what we opted for. The branch to the left will need to fill out and be a little longer. The apex was an issue as there isn’t a lot there to work with at the moment. We also had to work without removing too much foliage to ensure continued strong growth next year.

Before

Some roots were removed to try and emphasize the fact that the tree is on the rock and not beside it. The root crossing over was reduced by half by removing wood from the back. This will allow the tree to get used to reduced sap flow from that root and I will hopefully be able to remove it at the next repot.

Some of the deadwood was reduced as it was hiding the flow of the live vein. A large branch has also been removed from the front of the tree to show the strong movement.

Drum roll please, Stephen has finished wiring!

Phil demonstrating what wire Stephen was using in his own special way.

The Scottie before tweaking by Peter

and after

The proud daddy

Showing you Stephen’s wiring.

That’s enough for one post, I’ll share a few extra bits from the Sunday workshop tomorrow.

Sep 19 2013

Weekend Rewind Part 2

Saturday saw the first of two weekend workshops with Peter Warren. We started off with the traditional talk through of one tree from each workshop participant. Phil’s Itoagawa Juniper was one of the first to be discussed and here you see Peter removing a front branch to allow us to see the quality of the trunk on this tree.

These are a few of the trees being worked on.

Everybody into action. Once the wiring started you could almost hear the little brain wheels turning 🙂

Come on Ben look interested!!!

Phil having a hoke

Stephen wiring, a common theme for the whole weekend, he might actually still be out in my garage now wiring away 🙂

Stan in is usual spot at the back bench working on a San Jose Juniper.

Valerie working on her cascade Pine.

Ben B in action, and please note Stephen wiring in the background.

I got to work on some of Mario’s trees with Peter, a remote workshop between Dubai and Belfast! This is his little Itoagawa Juniper after wiring and at a new angle. More for Mario on his trees later in the week.

Peter dispensed a lot of wisdom regarding Junipers over the weekend, both scale foliage and needle foliage varieties. That is what workshops should really be about, gaining the knowledge to improve the trees over the next few years, not over working them in a workshop to achieve a nice photo at the end.

Phil’s Juniper at the end of day one but still to be further worked on during the Sunday workshop.

Valerie’s Pine now in need of a new smaller pot. Calling Mr Snart!!

Ben B’s Juniper, another pot on the horizon.

Stan’s Juniper, note foliage not over pinched or pruned for the health of the tree. Pruning this back now will slow the development of the tree and take twice as long. Problem branches removed and the rest placed, shari also extended.

The heavy bottom branch was split slightly from the truck to achieve the proper angle.

Ben F’s Squamata Juniper. This one was an eye opener for me as regards Peter’s approach. I have often seen these gutted and fine wired in a workshop to create an image, but we all know just how many branches can die after this and foliage that stops growing and goes brown within the year due to over pinching. Peter set the basic branch structure on this one but left far more foliage than I thought would be the case. He said that the foliage on this variety is far from ideal in is habit and a different approach is needed compared to a Chinese Juniper. As the young branches harden off in their new set position then further pruning can take place. This method will result in a quicker finished image but still have decent branch structure underneath. A lot of carving now required young Ben 🙂

Ben B also got some direction on his Scots Pine to give him some homework to carry out before our next garage night. Get wiring that man 🙂

Phil under instruction

Stephen was still wiring 😉

Oh, and Peter has a new best friend, my Maggie.

That was the Saturday, all that was left was some wine and Cider to drink and an Indian meal with good company.

Sep 18 2013

Weekend Rewind Part 1

Now that I have a few hours I am sitting down to sort out my posts for the next few days and will be going back over all my photos from the weekend to share here.

After picking Peter up from the George Best Airport, [yes, that’s what it’s called. The pilots are extremely talented but can sometimes be drunk 😛 ] we popped into Stephen’s house for a coffee and a quick look around.

I would have taken a photo of Peter looking at trees but Rufus was far more interesting. Please note the similar colour tones between Rufus and his owner.

Stephen did however have a yew that was covered in berries, not a common occurrence but they have got to be one of the nicest looking berries around, just don’t eat them!

We then moved on to Phil’s house where his back garden is in a state of major change as he sorts out his bonsai display area.

Not much to see here in the way of trees so we popped up to his storage area 🙂

Inspecting the big pine Phil bent at the Ryan Neil workshop back in January. Growing strongly and even had to be de-wired in July 6 months after wiring. The guy lines have stayed on and their is signs of backbudding.

Great Autumn colour on this Hawthorn too.

Peter then got to witness the worst piossible way to display bonsai at a local Flower show in Belfast. Our club traditionally displays here in the competition classes. It’s usually the following week but they moved it forward resulting in a clash with out weekend of workshops. We still managed to display a few trees for the public consumption.

Peter and Phil disagree which tree came first or second.

As the excitement was too much for Peter I had to take him home and feed him before we went to the club night. No point sharing those photos here as they are already on the club site here.

Sep 17 2013

2013 Virtual Tour of Crataegus Bonsai

Michael Hagedorn

It’s been a year since sharing photos of my yard. The moss garden, which definitely takes a pause in the full sun here in Portland, Oregon, USA, is taking off again now with the helpful rains. It has a bald spot in the middle where I originally had a nice crop of Kinnikinnick growing, but it turned out to be a haven for weeds. So now the moss is colonizing that area.

Otherwise, there is only one thing blooming on the accent bench this late in the year, a Birdsfoot Violet. And fall color is just beginning to show up on the deciduous trees. Enjoy!

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Sep 16 2013

First Club Meeting Approaching Fast

Be there or be Square 🙂 If you have always wanted a club and wanted to learn more about bonsai then support Adam and Piotr and make this happen.

Lyons Bonsai

Well the time for our first club meeting is fast approaching, and was long over due. There has been a lot of interest from all over the country and we have people travelling long distances to be with us. Just a reminder it is on this Friday night at 8.00pm in the Blackrock Hurling Club, Cork. Any questions or queries don’t hesitate to contact me.

It will be a great night and dont forget to bring a tree with you. Roll on Friday 🙂

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Sep 16 2013

Fly Away Peter…

That’s Mr Warren away back home, and me back to work 😦

A great weekend of bonsai and lots of learning moments for me and I’m sure a lot of others in the club. I hope to get time over the next few days to share some of the photos and hopefully get a few videos put together for next week.

Just wanted to say a big thank you to Peter for his investment in raising our level here in Northern Ireland. His experience in Japan really does bring a different perspective to Bonsai in the UK. I look forward to having him back here again next year, and fingers crossed, maybe for something a little different.