May 12 2011

English Elm Development

This is an English Elm I spotted at Stephen’s yesterday. After it initial flush Stephen pruned it back in an attempt to get back budding, I think we can say it worked. Just look at those buds popping.

I like this tree except for the apex which looks man made with the contrived bend. Although it would set the tree back a bit, I would chop this and regrow the apex in a more natural looking form. Being the apex of the tree and the most vigorous part, it should fill out quickly.

This was the tree back in May last year. A full image but the branch structure was a mess with poor secondary branching and most growth at the branch ends and no internal growth.

This was it at the start of April this year after it’s first flush of growth. Stephen had worked on the tree last Summer and you can see an improvement in the branches from the photo above.

This was it yesterday after responding to a heavy trim 3 weeks ago. You can see the buds popping along the primary branches were there was very little secondary branching. This will improve the quality of the tree.

May 11 2011

Hostas and flowers

Stephen’s collection of hostas were just beautiful today and I managed to get a few pics of them and other flowers in his garden. Here’s a selection. Anyone know the name of the blue one? It’s a native bog plant.

May 11 2011

Identify Yourself!!

I would love to know exactly what this little fella is! I first saw them about 8 years ago when they started turning up on some of my own bonsai. They don’t seem fussy about what they eat. I have found them on Pines, Larch, Yew, Juniper, Elms and Hawthorn. They wrap themselves up in old needles and anything else to hand and eat the cambium in a ring around the finer branches. This obviously results in dead branches.

I haven’t had them for two years now as I’m pretty regular with my spraying with Provado. However, today at Stephen house, we found them on his Yew and a Larch. The Yew had obviously been a victim of them for years and it must have had them when Stephen bought it last year.

If anyone knows what they are, I’d love to know.

Hidden in his wrapping

pulled from his home

5P for scale

May 11 2011

Yew Work, I’ll just Watch

Worked on a Yew with Stephen today at his place. It recently had some basic carving started by Peter Snart of Willowbog. The foliage pads were full looking but the structure was a real mess. It had also been attacked by a little grub that had been working it’s way through the finer branches. We gave it a clearing out and wired some, not all of the pads to create better structure.

This was it back last year.

This was it today after some adjustments.

I’m going to play about with it on Photoshop and try and show how the tree will look when it fills out. It has a lot of filling to do!!!

May 11 2011

Escallonia Update

I cut 2 Escallonia back at the start of March with a view to collecting them next Spring.

This is them back in March.

After 2 months this is the growth they have put out. I was hoping to see budding right to the top of each trunk and I wasn’t disappointed.

May 10 2011

Satsuki Guessing Game

Last year I bought this Satsuki Azalea on the cheap. I hadn’t got one and was wanting to add a splash of colour to the bench. It had been pruned hard and most of what you see here is new growth grown after I got it. It had only been fed with ‘teabags’ for the last 8 years and hadn’t been repotted in that time.

I fed it heavily from last Summer and repotted it this Spring. The one thing I didn’t know and have been guessing at is, what colour and size the flowers are. Here are the first signs of flowering. They look big, too be expected, and there appears to be a few different colours. The tree has a very long way to go before it looks presentable, but isn’t that part of the fun.

May 10 2011

Small Copper

I spotted this ‘Small Copper’ Butterfly in my Poly Tunnel this afternoon. I snaps a few pics, it didn’t seem to mind. I also checked online to see what the caterpillars eat, thankfully nothing in my Tunnel 🙂

May 10 2011

Potent Flowers

Working on my trees yesterday, even on a windy afternoon, I kept getting wiffs of a potent smell. At first I thought it was the chicken pellets but the smell was truly heady and overpowering. Looking up I spotted that the Rowan tree I grew from seed was in full flower and was the source of the smell.

May 9 2011

Flowering Cotoneaster

This Cotoneaster has been in my collection since I dug it out of a garden in 1995. It’s nothing special really and I’m not overly happy with the shape of it. I even consider removing all branches and starting again. What I do like about it is the flowers and the deadwood I’ve created.

This was it back in a garden in 1995.

And here in 1996.

and again in 1998. Shortly after this photo a root died causing a narrowing of the live vein and the death of a few lower branches.

May 9 2011

Beech Loving Wasp

I spotted this little fella on my Beech today. Not a common wasp, may not even be a wasp but it sure looks like one. He was oblivious to me and the camera. I was wondering if it was one of those leaf cutting ones but he never got around to it. Pretty in his own way.

I also have about 20 million of these feckers in the garden at the minute. They do there very best to land on bare skin or fly into your mouth!!