Aug 15 2015

Kusamono & Accent Workshop

In an effort to further the knowledge and interest in kusamono I’m holding a workshop on Saturday 29th August starting at 1pm.

The session will look at accents in general and specifically kusamono, shitakusa and kokedama (mossballs). We will look at examples of kusamono, how they are displayed and how plantings work when displayed with bonsai. Participants will be able to select their own plants on the day, indeed the workshop cost of £25 includes 4 plants (to a max value of £20) from a large selection available! Can’t do better that that!! Feel free to bring your own plants to supplement your options and any pots you want to try. I will also have a selection of Magic Ceramic Pots available for anyone keen to add to their collection.

Workshop open to all, tea and coffee available all afternoon, sign up via bonsaieejit@gmail.com for a fun informal session and walk away on the day with your own special creation.

Some of the plantings on display

Shitakusa: Hosta ‘Surprised by Joy’

Kusamono created at recent demo at Greenmount.

Kusamono created Spring 2015

Kokedama Ferns

A small selection of the plants available at the workshop, selected for their suitability for this type of planting and in most cases hard to find at run of the mill garden centres.

Aug 2 2015

Roses Grow on You

The other day Stephen and I did a little propagation of some mini roses in a cutting session. About 6 varieties in total I think with the very tasty super mini getting multiplied 😉

If all goes well I’ll have a nice stock of these next year.

Jul 17 2015

Accents for the week

A few accents looking good this week.

Jul 4 2015

New Accent Pots & Tiles Added

I’ve just added some new accent pots and tiles to the Magic Ceramics page. Full list available here.

MC153 £10.00

MC149 £10.00

MC148 £10.00

MC147 £10.00

MC132 £8.00

MC143 £12.00

MC135 £12.00

MC130 £8.00

Jul 3 2015

Hostas, Garlic and Slugs

Last year I had a reasonably slug free hosta experience but my little minis are raised up on a stand avoiding the ground loving slug.

I was chatting with Stephen aka The Bonsai Baker (also known to blog once a year 😉 ) He adopted the use of a home-made garlic spray this year and is raving about the results. He got the recipe from Ian Scroggy up at Bali Hai Nursery here in Northern Ireland. Stephen says that it smelly to make but it’s only for a few hours but the results are amazing. He uses the ice cube tray method and sprays once a month which works for him. Just don’t get the cubes mixed up when you go to add ice to your drink! Anyway, below is Bali Hai’s recipe for them. Give it a go, I am.

The Garlic Recipe

Get two large Garlic bulbs place in a plastic bag get either a roller pin or hammer and crush the garlic the bag helps to hold the small crushed pieces together. Once finely crushed add contents to two pints of boiling water let it boil for 2-3 minutes or until the garlic looks like it is blanched. Let it cool best to do this outside it does smell a bit. As soon as it is cooled get an old pair of stockings and place them over the saucepan and drain off the liquid into a jar the stockings help to filter out the small garlic pieces. Now you have a concentrated liquid of garlic. With this liquid put two tablespoons into your watering can about two gallon size or 10 litres and with a fine spray rose on your watering can water this over the leaves of your hostas best to do it in later afternoon after the strong midday sun has passed over. Spray your plants every 14 days during active growth ie from the first shoots starting to emerge to late August-September. You can also pour your garlic concentrate into ice cube holders and freeze it that way it cuts down on the smell and just use 2 ice cubes to 10 litres of water.

Try making your own garlic spray and just do one or two plants to start with so as you can see the difference with the Hostas that you sprayed and ones you left alone. Within a month you will see a good difference. I know the smell puts people off making their own but it is worth it I can assure you. Make sure when spraying the plants that the leaves are dry so as the spray will stay on the leaves and the liquid will dry on thus giving the protection. I only spray every 14 days but weekly would be even better. “Garlic Barrier” also do a granule form that you can mix in with the compost I tried this on 100 pots of Hostas but did not get the same results as I got from the liquid sprays but this was only a small scale trial it might work for you and there is hardly any smell of the granules.

Jul 2 2015

Accent : Geranium Saguineum Elke

Jul 1 2015

Absolutely Magic

These are my new accent pots from Magic Ceramics. This guy just keeps getting better and better! I’ll be adding some new pots to the sales page soon.

Loving these ceramic tiles, great to use as an alternative to the wooden jitta. All that he made have been snapped up but new ones on the way.

My new favourite pot, which I’ve named ‘Alien Egg’. Lourve it!

This bad boy gives a few options for planting with the split.

Another great one.

This one’s just nuts. No idea what to plant in it yet, but inspiration will come.

This one’s got loads of layers to it, can’t wait to pot it up.

Jun 9 2015

Kokedama: Mossballs

I’ve been admiring the work of others in the last few years in the creation of kokedama or commonly known as mossballs. This year I decided to give them a go for myself. There seems to be a multitude of ways to create them so I tried a few different ideas but the best way I can find it to use fine bonsai wire to hold them together. Here’s a few of mine. Again early days as they’ll take a while to fill out but I’m happy so far.

Iris Gracilipes

Epimedium and unknown x 2

Japanese Forest Grass, creeping mint and unknown.

Jun 8 2015

Carex flacca – Glaucous Sedge Accent

A nice native Sedge that I like for accents and kusamono.

Jun 6 2015

Agapanthus Accent

I’ve been trying to get this Agapanthus down to a size that works as an accent and it looks like this year Iv’e done it. Still to flower but I’ll post again when it does.

The first 3 photos show it in the middle of May with flower stocks emerging. I was hoping for them to stay a little shorter this year.