Sep 27 2011

Willowbog Collection Part 1

Here are a few of Peter’s own collection. This is also referred to locally as ‘Mr Greedy’s Collection’.

Starting off with my favourite, This big Spruce is a beauty. I kept going back to see it every few hours.

Larch Raft

Hemlock

It was brought in to the workshop area to grace the Tokonoma on the Saturday.

Beech

Hawthorn

Maple Clump

Hemlock

Part 2 coming soon.

Sep 26 2011

Fantastic weekend at Willowbog

I had a fantastic time at Willowbog Bonsai this weekend. Peter and Jean, thanks for having me about the place, your kindness, generosity and friendship is greatly appreciated. I shall try and do justice here to my Willowbog experiences over the weekend. I don’t think all my photos would fit in one post 🙂 I fully intend to milk it for the rest of the week.

I must also say thanks to Peter Warren. I was officially only a spectator for the two days but I felt included in the workshops. More on the workshops in later posts.

To finish off, I’ll share some photographs of Willowbog Farm.

Pointing the way to Willowbog.

Not many trees in these few but I can assure you, the next post will take care of that 🙂

Sep 23 2011

Off to Willowbog….

That me off to Willowbog Bonsai for the weekend 🙂

Peter has kindly offered for me to spend the weekend with him and Jean watching the Peter Warren Workshops.

One thing I can say about bonsai, it has introduced me to many good friends around the world. Many I haven’t met face to face, but hopefully, as the years go by, I will rectify that 🙂

Click below to see what I’ll be watching.

Sep 21 2011

Beginners Blog

I always like to plug other peoples blogs and I thought I would share this one with you.

Dean, also known as Halo on Wee Trees, has recently started this blog to track his bonsai exploits. His first few articles have been excellent. Keep them coming Dean. Pop over to his blog for a look by clicking the image below. I’ve also added him to my bonsai friends list on the right.

Oh, Just ignore him posing with his top off. (That should get a few ladies checking 🙂 )

Sep 19 2011

Stephen’s Trident Part 2

I posted back on the 4th August about Stephen’s Trident. You can read the first part of this Trident’s recovery there.

This was it after the work on the 4th August.

This is the tree today.

To be honest, I didn’t expect this amount of growth at this time of year. No doubt it will hold on to leaves well into the winter. However, it will be tucked safely away in my greenhouse. Not bad for a tree suspected to be dead 1 1/2 years ago.

Sep 11 2011

Tour of North Down Part 2

Next stop was Stephen’s garden. Again this was a first time visit for Stan and Stephen gave him a tour of some of his trees.

I was too busy looking for bugs 🙂

Stephen’s little Bonsai Studio, only big enough for hobbits. He’s still looking for a round door 🙂

Some of Stephen’s trees.

Larch

Deshojo Maple

Hawthorn Raft

Korean Hornbeam

Cascade Hawthorn. Has yet to have it’s first styling. This was it as collected a few years ago.

I love the bark at the base of this large Larch as well.

If memory serves me right, Stephen was giving me stick about waiting for 30 minutes before I offered him a coffee the last time he was at my house . Did I get a coffee at his?? No! Some excuse about having no milk! Just thought I would share that to the bonsai community as a whole LOL 😉

Sep 11 2011

Tour of North Down Part 1

Yesterday I spent the day whizzing around North Down running errands involving bonsai.

First stop was Stan’s house. I was going to drop off some trees at Josh’s house and asked Stan to help with the heavy lifting. I had never been to Stan’s before. He’s a newish club member who appears to be as hooked on bonsai as me!! He started about a year ago and I was delighted to see his progress in his back garden. What impressed me most was his willingness to get stuck in on his own and style trees. Some of the tree were new to me and I was delighted to see his set up.

He’s already got himself some railway sleepers to make display benches.

Moving swiftly on from Stan’s we arrived at Josh’s Garden with a boot full of his trees to return. He was out!! We broke into his garden and left him a few extra trees for his display, kinda like stealing in reverse LOL.

I really enjoyed watching Stan’s face when he saw the size of some of the big trees in Josh’s collection.

Left to right, Hornbeam, Cotoneaster and Mugo Pine.

Lonicera Forest Planting.

Beech and a Turkey Oak.

Beech, Oak, Hornbeam and an Ivy cascading on the end.

and a Mugo Pine on a Rock.

As Josh was out I suggested to Stan that we pop down and get him a look at Stephens collection. After a quick phone call to make sure he was in, we headed in that direction. Photos to follow next post.

Sep 9 2011

Matthew’s San Jose Juniper

This is my son’s San Jose Juniper. It was field grown from a cutting and I gave it to my son to try and add to his interest in bonsai. That’s still a work in progress!

This was it a few weeks ago. I had lifted it in for a quick record photo. I had plans to style it with Matthew at some point.

Then a few days ago this happened! Freak gust of wind and down it went..

The pot would have survived if it had missed the slate on the ground!

This forced my hand a little. I needed to get it into a new pot but wanted to give it a quick styling before I did that. My son wasn’t free to do it with me so I did a quick job on it yesterday and repotted it this morning.

I removed 2 branches.

and about an hour later..

I changed the front slightly to bring the second live vein into view at the base.

This still leaves me with the biggest problem on the tree, the long straight section on the trunk after the first bend. The shari makes this a rather stiff problem to bend.

I repotted it into the only pot I had available that suited the tree. It’s a little big but will be ideal for developing the tree further. This wasn’t a full repot, just a transfer with a little soil removed to facilitate the new potting angle.

and this is it with a little virtual foliage added.

I’m not overly struck on the tree but my son is happy. Next year, once the tree is established in the new pot, I might tackle it again and take drastic action with that straight section by splitting the trunk and using raffia and heavy wire, add some movement. If it wasn’t for the smashed pot I might have tried it now. Ah well, there’s always next time…

Sep 8 2011

Michael’s Scot’s Pine – Part 2

Michael popped over yesterday afternoon to finish off the wiring on his Scots Pine.

PART 1 in case you missed it.

This was it before and after work.

I’m a bit disappointed with the photograph LOL looks much better in real life.

We discussed the problems that this tree has and tried to find solutions. I wanted to remove the heavy bottom branch to the right and change the viewing angle. Michael agreed that it was a possible future option.

This would have been the new front.

and this would be it with the branch removed and repotted.

A nicer flow to the trunk line, shows off more of the flaky bark and removes a heavy lower branch that will only get heavier. It would also be a better balance of foliage with a tree of that weight of trunk.

Back to the front we settled for,I find the bend on the first branch distracting. There’s plenty of branches in there but the branch structure is poor with many leggy shoots.

I didn’t get time to do a lot of tweaking and some other adjusts are needed. Michael was happy with the final product which was the main goal. All the other options we discussed are still there and I hope that next year before a repot he might consider removing that branch. Here’s a pot virtual just to give a better idea of the final position.

Sep 2 2011

Stan’s Cotoneaster

Evening Session:

Stan and his Cascade Cotoneaster came over to my place last night. He had done a little wiring and styling on it a while back, but after a great start, he didn’t know how to proceed.

The apex was a problem, not much to work with. A some point a shari will be needed to disguise the chop mark.