Video

Looking Forward to the Weekend

I’m looking forward to the weekend spent at Willowbog Bonsai at the BSA’s 7th Exhibition. I have my camera batteries charging 🙂

I thought I’d share these video done at the last exhibition in 2012 to show what’s in store. I’m reliably told that the standard will be up again this year 🙂

Stepping across the finish line

Thinking about packing my bag 🙂 Sorry Peter I can’t carry wine on the plane 😦

New pot for the shinpaku

Sequoia Sempervirens Repot

I field grew this Sequoia  for a number of years and last year I did a little basic styling to get the main branches placed. Here’s a previous post. I don’t know a lot bout the species but I’m fond of having novelty trees 🙂 I did a little looking about online and it soon became clear that they can make a rather nice bonsai. They appear to readily ramify. I decided that it was worth investing a little more time in this tree this year. It’s been in this pot for 3-4 years and it feels tight as a drum  so the first step will a repot to establish exactly what I have here.

DSC_0598

This is what I found in the pot. It’s been a strong grower. It was planted in a mix of moler and grit 50/50.

DSC_0599

You will notice however that the top few inches appear empty and even a little at the bottom. I therefore had to investigate where exactly the nebari of this tree is. The base is swollen considerably, which is common with the species. It also sends out feckin hundreds of suckers!!

DSC_0600

There was some serious growth in the middle though.

DSC_0601

DSC_0603

After removing the top 2 inches I eventually found a more suitable base level even though I had to remove a few heavy roots. This is it placed in a mica training pot. It will be given able time to recover and then some foliage refinement will be carried out. I also plan some carving at the base reaching up to mid tree. All a bit scrappy at the moment but this years new growth will make a massive difference.

DSC_0620

Portaferry To Ards

I had the pleasure of working in Portaferry this morning and on the way home I took advantage of a sky clear of rain and stopped along the way to take a few photos. Photoshop and photomerge came in handy too but still doesn’t do the scenery around Strangford Lough justice.

Gashou-en

Juniper styling

Michael was with me last riday night but didn’t manage to get all the wiring done so he popped over on Saturday afternoon and after giving me a hand repotting a Sequoia, we finished the wiring and did a little shaping.

This is the tree before.

DSC_0606

DSC_0607

And afterwards

DSC_0609

DSC_0615

Field Maple Repot

I repotted this one with a friend during a one to one session last week.

DSC_0517

 

It had been in this pot for a long time and had been potted in peat by the previous owner. When we got it out of the pot the smell was grim, a stale rotting smell. The pot was also holding a lot of water. There had been no mesh over the drainage holes and we found holes leading up into the root mass and a few slugs gorging themselves.

DSC_0520

DSC_0521

DSC_0522

This is it much later and into a smaller pot.

DSC_0527

RIP Harry Tomlinson

Sad news today, Harry’s book was my bonsai bible back when I started bonsai in 1993 and I’ll never forget the wacky adverts in the Bonsai magazine.. Notice from the family below, my thoughts are with you.

It is with great sadness that we must announce that Harry Tomlinson died on early Sunday morning the 2nd March 2014

As many of you may know Harry had been suffering from alzheimer’s for a number of years. Unfortunately his condition had deteriorated rapidly during the last week.

We hope that many enthusiasts throughout the International Bonsai community will have been inspired by Harrys bonsai teachings, artistry, books and good sense of humour.

Letter of condolences may be sent to Greenwood Bonsai Studio.

There will also be an open book of condolence alongside one of his many bonsai creations.

A memorial service wil be held at a later date.

Petra, Corin and Paul Tomlinson