May 2 2014

Image

As requested, the Boston Ivy.

Apr 26 2014

Yamadori Sitka Spruce

This Spruce was collected back in March 2012, full story here.

During the week I decided to give it a clear out of the dead branches and remove a few unnecessary ones. I have chased back the foliage a bit too to encourage some back budding.

After a lot of turning around and a little thought I opted to remove the branch on the right and do a little shari.

It will now be left alone until next year to allow it to recover and back bud. I see two options with it and a lot of raffia in it’s future 🙂

Apr 24 2014

Sumo Cotoneaster

It was time to do a little work on this garden cotoneaster. This was it back in May last year.

This is it before work this week.

I did a little carving to remove the chop marks and gave it a basic first styling.

It’ll now have a year to fill out and see what new shoots pop.

Apr 23 2014

Zelkova Group Planting

I was offered a few field grown Zelkova recently. I had passed comment to the owner that a few of the tougher trees could be used to create a group. As part of a little deal I got to dig up and create the group for myself.

These photos show Stephen and I collecting the trees from the ground, thinning out and planting up a group. One went to an individual pot as it was required for the forest.

In the grow bed

12 years in the ground

heave ho

and out

back at home

Thinning

washing out garden soil

making plans

Single tree

A few options but left tall for now.

getting there

some alterations to be made but done for now.

Apr 22 2014

Full Tilt Rhododendron

Here the Blue Diamond Rhododendron in full glory taken over the last few days.

Apr 21 2014

Another Elm Air layer

I had 3 broom shohin Elms which was 2 too many. I sold one a few weeks ago which got me down to two. I looked at the other two and decided that this one with inverse taper needed to change to make it worth keeping. I opted to air layer it to make a clump style image. This is it before and after the layer.

Apr 13 2014

Getting Close

This Rhododendron is getting close to fully opening. Looks like as good show this year.

Apr 11 2014

Hunk of Wood

This hunk of wood is a Zelkova Serrata that was field grown and neglected for 8 years during this time it grew to 25 feet tall and was a bitch to get out of the ground. It was transferred into this blue tub were it has resided for the last 4 years or so. It weighs a tonne and I wanted to start to try and make a tree out of it. I needed to examine the nebari such as it is to determine the best option for the tree.

On Wednesday night, ably assisted by Alan I managed to get it out of the pot and removed the branches that would definitely not be required in any future design.

Alan and I then repotted the tree and managed to get it down in size to a mica training pot. I would have liked to have made it slightly more upright but the roots and pot wouldn’t allow this this time around. It’s not going to be a pretty Zelkova like many you see but it will have a certain rugged charm in about 10 years time. It’s a big tree as you can see below. It’ll have rotted deadwood features and a rather ugly nebari but powerful in it’s own nasty way 🙂

Some more pruning and wiring required to set it on the right path but it’s an interesting project. The big one in the middle was it in the growing field back in 2003!