Not just as stunning as the last one I shared in a reblog from El Tim but a nice progression all the same. This one’s for you Stephen.
This is now in the caring hands of the Bonsai Baker but the previous owner has sent me photos of it from a few years back when it started out. He actually grew this from seed!
I’m not sure what dates these where taken but the last two are from the workshop at the weekend.
Alder before
after
Last night I was working on a cedar with a friend in a one 2 one session. This tree was originally a garden centre tree chopped down to create the basic structure required to make a bonsai. It was sold by the original owner to Willowbog Bonsai and in turn sold to my friend. It has been worked on at a few workshops here over the last 2 years, getting deadwood created etc, but now was the time to get it wired and into shape.
October 2012 at Peter Warren Workshop
June 2013 at Willowbog Workshop
Shari added
Cut back after shari added
and now before work starts
And this is it now after last nights work. Not fine wired but starting to come together nicely. Shots from each side, a few close ups and a beer can for scale, also drunk on the night 🙂
And all together for comparison
Leaf size coming down nicely after another defoliation this year. Pictured front and back.
I was taking another 1to1 session last week and the client brought along this ‘Mother and Child’ Field Maple. A large tree that has been neglected for a number of years after the original owner died. The new owner wanted some direction with the tree and we set about removing what was over grown aiming to leave what would make the basis of a good structure of the new
We opted to change the front slightly to bring the child trunk slightly further forward. The original front had both parallel to each other.
This it it after removal of over extended and straight branches.
A few issues remain but these can be sorted next year when we see how the tree responds to this cut back and a major repot to get it out of the peat that it’s in now.
I added this Video to my Youtube Channel a few days a go but thought I would also add the stills here as well.
One of the trees I’m minding for Mario while he spends his days kite surfing in Dubai is this little Satsuki Azalea. For me the tree had a few issues to begin with, namely:
the apex being as wide as the bottom branches
suffers from a floating apex
Missing a branch to the front which I feel is a little too open.
This was the tree back in June 2012
After discussing the tree with Peter Warren in October last year we adjusted a few of the upper branches with wire to try and stop that floating apex. However, it was the wrong time of year to hard prune the apex to try and narrow it. Therefore we could only do so much at that time. This was the tree in April of this year.
After flowering was finished in June I pruned the apex back quite hard in a few places to improve the overall shape. This is the tree now. Less of an appearance of a floating apex and a more overall triangular shape.
This adventurous shoot has appeared on the trunk at a point were I think it might benefit the tree if developed. I’ll let it grow and let Mario remove it if he disagrees 😉
This is one of the top branches that got a major pruning back to old wood. It took a few weeks but it is now starting to fill out nicely but in the right area.
Before and after side by side for comparison
. 
I am still trying to get around to photographing Josh’s bonsai while they are with me . It’s just been so busy at work that blogging is having to take a back seat. I normally have posts scheduled ready to go but this last week has been hectic.
Anyway, here is one of Josh’s that I did take a few snaps of recently. Not great photos but they give the general idea of scale and quality.
Every Summer I look after a collection of bonsai for a friend while he going on holiday to visit family in the South of England. This year saw him downsize to a smaller car which therefore added a few extra runs to his delivery trips to my place. A few of the trees were just too big for his car and I had to pop over and collect the remaining few from him. Some of the really big ones are staying at home under the care of his son who he trusts enough to look after them.
This has resulted in my benches being full to capacity, or even to a point well past that. As you will see in the gallery below, I have crammed my benches and this is only some of them as the rest are in another area. I hope to get time to photograph some of these properly before he returns and share them here with you.
Stephen’s Hornbeam getting a trim last weekend. This one used to be mine, kinda wish I had held onto it now 🙂 And yes, it’s going into a more appropriate pot in the Spring.
Looking nice and healthy Mario 🙂
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