On our way home after collecting some Larch and Spruce. I’m wrecked now and we still have to pot up!! Photos show Stephen and Phil knee deep in Spruce.

I may refer to this as Phil’s Hornbeam but it is actually his Dad Frankie’s tree. It was brought down to my place for the Sunday workshop at great risk to Phil and the back of my car! I have that much grit in the boot, I could pot trees directly into it!!

This was it before thinning out by Peter.

Phil for scale

As you can see, it’s a beast of a tree and is a nice image in itself, especially when in leaf. [the leaves hide the stumps] It was field grown and was lifted about 3 years ago when it was cut back hard. The finer growth has been trimmed a few times in the last few years but many of the big stumps are still there needing work. Enter Mr Snart onto the scene on Sunday.

We discussed the tree and what needed done to create a decent image. Not for the best look now but for the best possible potential down the road. Peter carved and cut his way up the tree removing all the stumps and branches that were going to be unsuitable in the final design. This allows the tree to grow now in the right places instead of wasting energy on growth that will ultimately be removed.

This is the tree after the workshop back to bare bones but has taken a big step in it’s future design.

I started this blog on the 10th February 2011. I was looking ahead to Spring and all the events that would be happening with my bonsai. I was determined to try and keep a record of my activities and the progress of my trees. I was inspired by a few other bonsai enthusiasts who were blogging. The first blog I ever followed was Kingii and the adventures coming daily out of Japan. Mike Jones started Bonsai Passion and I decided that if he could do it, so could I 🙂

Here we are now, one year on and I’m truly amazed just how popular this blog has become. I still hold true to my original reasons for starting it, but it has become so much more as it has expanded it’s readership.

I post about my walks in nature for tree inspiration, even a little wildlife thrown in there too.

I link to other people blogs and videos to help get the word out there about what’s going on. There are some great blogs and videos that very few people have found.

I share photos and video from the collections of my friends. Recently I have even shared photos from internet friends, most notably from Harry’s visit to the Noelanders Trophy resulting in 6000 hits on the blog in a single day! For all you non bloggers out there with great photos to share, I’m happy to add them here in the name of bonsai friendship.

365 days on, I now sit at over 640 posts, over 83,000 views from people in 109 different countries.

All this is very flattering but, by far the biggest plus point for me in the last year has been all the new friends I have made all over the world. From the UK to the US of A, Spain, Portugal, Holland and Australia. Those doing their apprenticeships in Japan and even a few at home here on the Emerald Isle 🙂 I really hope to meet some of you soon starting at the BSA Exhibition on the 10th March.

That you all for checking in so frequently. I do my best to post something every single day. One of these days I’m going to skip a post and see if anyone notices 🙂

Here’s a link back to my very first post for old times sake. Jumping In

Regards

Ian [bonsai eejit]