Jul 13 2015

Barr na Binne Bui

A few shots taken at Barr na Binne Bui in County Mayo Ireland. Weather was shocking but still a great view. 200 metre tall cliffs with mist shrouded coast, a mystical place.

Common Spotted Orchid

These folk had a better angle of the whole thing, stunning coast line.

Jul 12 2015

MABA 2015 Convention

Valavanis Bonsai Blog

The 2015 Mid-America Bonsai Alliance Convention (MABA) was held on July 10-12, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event was hosted by members of the Indianapolis Bonsai Cub held at the Clarion Waterfront Hotel & Conference Center.

The exhibit was GREAT! There were 90 displays featuring 150 trees. Not too many exhibits have 150 trees, all in one room. The layout was quite good, but two of the aisles were a bit close to each other, but allowed people to pass while enjoying the beauty of the bonsai. Nobody seemed to complain because they were too busy studying the bonsai and how they were displayed. I was particularly impressed by most of the displays. Extra care was given to preparing the trees for formal display. The containers were clean; display tables polished and each bonsai had a companion planting. There were a great number of fine quality bonsai displayed. There were…

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Jul 12 2015

Cutback on coast redwood

Nice post Jonas, I found it useful as I have been playing with one of these for a number of years now with local knowledge available in this part of the world regarding this species.

Jul 6 2015

Identity Sought!

Jul 6 2015

Japanese trader at Bonsai Europa selling fine Japanese Shohin pots.

Jul 5 2015

My Favourite.

Ben’s shohin azaleas looking well.

Scratch Bonsai

It’s taken a while to get going but my satsuki azalea has reached its peak of flowering.

July 2015

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Jul 4 2015

New Accent Pots & Tiles Added

I’ve just added some new accent pots and tiles to the Magic Ceramics page. Full list available here.

MC153 £10.00

MC149 £10.00

MC148 £10.00

MC147 £10.00

MC132 £8.00

MC143 £12.00

MC135 £12.00

MC130 £8.00

Jul 3 2015

Hostas, Garlic and Slugs

Last year I had a reasonably slug free hosta experience but my little minis are raised up on a stand avoiding the ground loving slug.

I was chatting with Stephen aka The Bonsai Baker (also known to blog once a year 😉 ) He adopted the use of a home-made garlic spray this year and is raving about the results. He got the recipe from Ian Scroggy up at Bali Hai Nursery here in Northern Ireland. Stephen says that it smelly to make but it’s only for a few hours but the results are amazing. He uses the ice cube tray method and sprays once a month which works for him. Just don’t get the cubes mixed up when you go to add ice to your drink! Anyway, below is Bali Hai’s recipe for them. Give it a go, I am.

The Garlic Recipe

Get two large Garlic bulbs place in a plastic bag get either a roller pin or hammer and crush the garlic the bag helps to hold the small crushed pieces together. Once finely crushed add contents to two pints of boiling water let it boil for 2-3 minutes or until the garlic looks like it is blanched. Let it cool best to do this outside it does smell a bit. As soon as it is cooled get an old pair of stockings and place them over the saucepan and drain off the liquid into a jar the stockings help to filter out the small garlic pieces. Now you have a concentrated liquid of garlic. With this liquid put two tablespoons into your watering can about two gallon size or 10 litres and with a fine spray rose on your watering can water this over the leaves of your hostas best to do it in later afternoon after the strong midday sun has passed over. Spray your plants every 14 days during active growth ie from the first shoots starting to emerge to late August-September. You can also pour your garlic concentrate into ice cube holders and freeze it that way it cuts down on the smell and just use 2 ice cubes to 10 litres of water.

Try making your own garlic spray and just do one or two plants to start with so as you can see the difference with the Hostas that you sprayed and ones you left alone. Within a month you will see a good difference. I know the smell puts people off making their own but it is worth it I can assure you. Make sure when spraying the plants that the leaves are dry so as the spray will stay on the leaves and the liquid will dry on thus giving the protection. I only spray every 14 days but weekly would be even better. “Garlic Barrier” also do a granule form that you can mix in with the compost I tried this on 100 pots of Hostas but did not get the same results as I got from the liquid sprays but this was only a small scale trial it might work for you and there is hardly any smell of the granules.

Jul 2 2015

In need of a little trim

Poor Emma Rose, I look very imposing there !!

futterwithtrees

Yes it’s a pic of our club chairman/dogsbody Ian Y sporting his mid life crisis designer stubble at the kid’s corner during the Bonsai Experience on Saturday past. He mumbled something to me about needing a transplant but I didn’t really understand what he was saying.