When I was at Bertie’s house last week I spotted this little cascade Cotoneaster and thought that it could do with a repot. He had a suitable pot on the shelf, maybe not the perfect choice, but a big improvement on it’s current home. This is it before and after the repot.
It will be given a year to settle in, and if all’s well, it’ll get a restyling.
Friday saw Ben appear with his Berberis. It was repotted in February and has grown strongly since then.
Robert some how managed to get a pass out for the night, he was an unexpected but very welcome guest. I asked him to have a look at the Berberis with Ben and a short time later, with some light wiring, this was the result.
This was Ben’s choice of front but Robert pointed out a few more options. These are still achievable even though we stuck with the original front. This was another angle worth exploring. Some branches would be moved but I must admit I like this option.
For a while it was a bit like, Paddy Scotsman, Paddy Englishman and Paddy Irishman started t style a tree 🙂
Out of interest, this was it in 2008
Had a couple of friends around last night. One, who I finally managed to catch up with earlier in the week was Bertie, a past club committee member and now current member again. Hadn’t seen him for years and it was great to catch up and talk trees. I tried to capture a photo of him but he is an expert camera dodger 🙂
He spotted me coming and turned his back! Phil giving him a hand thinning out a yew.
Here he ducked behind the yew for cover.
Nearly managed a clean shot here but Phil points out how many failed attempts I’ve had 🙂
This is as good as I got, good to see you Bertie 🙂
This is his Yew that was worked on before we started.
It was first styled as a demo tree by Kevin Willson way back in 1997. Here’s a few other angles and a look at the deadwood.
And after some work. Thinned out and a little basic wiring.
Stephen took a drive up to Bali Hai Nursery today and brought back a box full of Hostas. Robert and I took a run down to his place for a look around the trees and see what Hostas he had come home with.
As usual Stephen had a cup of coffee in his hand 🙂
We had a good chat, looked around the trees and inspected his growing collection of hostas too.
Stephens new Hostas with labels to show variety names.
Stephen gave Robert this little carnivorous bog plant accent.
Some of Stephen’s existing hostas.
Some of Stephen’s bonsai
I’m quite into my Larch at the moment and Hans Van Meer shared this on Youtube a few days ago. It shows a short video 360 of his very tasty European larch named ‘XL’ 🙂
I was interested in the two deadwood areas on the tree and if he was considering joining these together at some point. I asked him about this on the IBC Thread and he was kind enough to give this comprehensive reply.
Yes joining the top Jin with the deadwood section lower on the trunk is a work in progress. The tree is doing it all by it’s self! This might take a lot longer than doing it artificial by hand but it will look much better in the end! The bark is amazingly thick on this tree, in some places more than a centimeter, and is make up out of many layers of bark. By allowing that section of the tree to die back by it’s self, this thick bark will crack naturally and will eventually fall off, leaving a rough and natural looking edge between the deadwood and live bark! I could never get that edge to look that natural and beautiful if I would do it myself by hand or with powertools! So pattieance is the name of the game again!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Phil had been eyeing up this Larch for a while and eventually took the plunge and brought it home from Willowbog after the BSA exhibition.
He brought it down to my place last week for a few photos in the sun and for a little trim.
Yes, two Ben’s 🙂 Both were at my place last weekend and had a tree or two with them. Here’s what they brought.
First up Ben F. A Fuji Cherry
Ben’s Inherited Japanese Black Pine .
The first styling of his Japanese Larch
and Ben B’s trees. His Fuji before pruning.
and after
His Scots Pine, we gave it a little bud selection and removed some old needles. Ben plans to style this in a Peter Warren Workshop in October.
Jamie is our Club’s youngest member at 15 years old. He’s also one of my top comment makers here on the blog.
After the last workshop at which he did a lot of repotting, he left most of the trees with me for protection in my tunnel. I thought I would share them here so he can see how they are doing.
This is a raw piece of juniper material gifted to Jamie by Ben. Very generous! This has absolutely bounced in the few weeks that it’s been in the tunnel with a lot of fresh new growth.
This is his Japanese Maple that had a major clear out last year and was repotted in February. Nice new red leaves appearing.
This is a Berberis Stump that Jamie collected himself from a garden. It was a little bigger when he brought it to the workshop but the remaining stump is going to make a nice little tree with some time and proper technique. Jamie has plenty of time to make a great collection of bonsai.
John Brocklehurst, as well as exhibiting at the weekend, also had a trade stand. His beautiful ji ita boards could be seen all over the exhibit stands. One was kindly loaned to me for my accent.
This was his display.
John also made a great double act with Mr Warren during the auction. Here’s Trev and Trev in action 🙂
Who dropped one??!! 🙂
Visit John’s Blog by clicking the image below.
Another trader at the weekend was Andy Pearson aka Stone Monkey Ceramics. Andy’s pots looked great. I was jumping between all the potters trying to find a pot for a Cotoneaster that I have and I was unable to get the right size and shape. [same old story] I have loads of Walsall pots and even a few Ian Baillie ones too. I decided that I wanted a Stone Money pot and the one I liked and needed the most was in the auction! I managed to get it 🙂
Don’t take my word for it, go and see how good the pots are for yourself, just click the image below.
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