Saturday saw the first of two weekend workshops with Peter Warren. We started off with the traditional talk through of one tree from each workshop participant. Phil’s Itoagawa Juniper was one of the first to be discussed and here you see Peter removing a front branch to allow us to see the quality of the trunk on this tree.

These are a few of the trees being worked on.

Everybody into action. Once the wiring started you could almost hear the little brain wheels turning 🙂

Come on Ben look interested!!!

Phil having a hoke

Stephen wiring, a common theme for the whole weekend, he might actually still be out in my garage now wiring away 🙂

Stan in is usual spot at the back bench working on a San Jose Juniper.

Valerie working on her cascade Pine.

Ben B in action, and please note Stephen wiring in the background.

I got to work on some of Mario’s trees with Peter, a remote workshop between Dubai and Belfast! This is his little Itoagawa Juniper after wiring and at a new angle.  More for Mario on his trees later in the week.

Peter dispensed a lot of wisdom regarding Junipers over the weekend, both scale foliage and needle foliage varieties. That is what workshops should really be about, gaining the knowledge to improve the trees over the next few years, not over working them in a workshop to achieve a nice photo at the end.

Phil’s Juniper at the end of day one but still to be further worked on during the Sunday workshop.

Valerie’s Pine now in need of a new smaller pot. Calling Mr Snart!!

Ben B’s Juniper, another pot on the horizon.

Stan’s Juniper, note foliage not over pinched or pruned for the health of the tree. Pruning this back now will slow the development of the tree and take twice as long. Problem branches removed and the rest placed, shari also extended.

The heavy bottom branch was split slightly from the truck to achieve the proper angle.

Ben F’s Squamata Juniper. This one was an eye opener for me as regards Peter’s approach. I have often seen these gutted and fine wired in a workshop to create an image, but we all know just how many branches can die after this and foliage that stops growing and goes brown within the year due to over pinching. Peter set the basic branch structure on this one but left far more foliage than I thought would be the case. He said that the foliage on this variety is far from ideal in is habit and a different approach is needed compared to a Chinese Juniper. As the young branches harden off in their new set position then further pruning can take place. This method will result in a quicker finished image but still have decent branch structure underneath. A lot of carving now required young Ben 🙂

Ben B also got some direction on his Scots Pine to give him some homework to carry out before our next garage night. Get wiring that man 🙂

Phil under instruction

Stephen was still wiring 😉

Oh, and Peter has a new best friend, my Maggie.

That was the Saturday, all that was left was some wine and Cider to drink and an Indian meal with good company.