Aug 31 2013

Guest Appearance

I have always said here that if any of you are in the area on holiday, feel free to give me a shout and pop in for a visit and a chat. Well Nathaniel did just that. Born here in Belfast , and moved to Canada when he was ten, he was back to attend a wedding and catch up with family. As usual with these family holidays, time flies in and he just managed to squeeze in a quick trip to my place.

Nat is a big lover of the videos I post on Youtube and when he saw the club sign in my garage, he was keen to get a snap. He’s a recent addition to the Toronto Bonsai Society himself.

Checking out the benches.

Safe home mate, good to chat.

Aug 30 2013

Garage Night

Tonight for my first garage night in ages. Haven’t been able to manage one with work of late. We had a great night playing with trees and chatting.

They actually all look busy, no chat at all!

Michael on his knees!

Ian hard at it

Shaz and the White Pine

Caleb at his first garage night, will he come back? Ben getting stuck in.

Aug 26 2013

Mame Rowan

Autumn colours already appearing on this little Rowan.

Rooting into gravel tray, only way to keep these smaller ones healthy this year.

Aug 24 2013

Collection For Sale

The observant among you will have noticed a new page tab at the top of the page titled Collection For Sale. A friend has decided to get out of bonsai and is selling his collection of 26 trees, either singularly or multiple trees. If you are interested click on the image below or just just click the tab above for a full run down. No prices listed but offers welcome.

Aug 19 2013

Valavanis Blog

As an avid blogger, I also look for other good blogs to follow. Plenty listed on my sidebar to the right.

Andy, from Canada did me the courtesy of messaging me and linking me to William Valavanis’s new blog. Cheers Andy. As you would expect, it’s a great read. Just click on the image below to pay a visit.

Aug 19 2013

Stephen’s Raft Maple

Leaf size coming down nicely after another defoliation this year. Pictured front and back.

Aug 15 2013

Japanese Black Pine

This Japanese Black Pine given to me by a friend has always been a bit of an experiment to see how far I can get it to back bud on leggy branches. This year I have decided to actually place a few branches to start building a structure. A long way to go, but fun to be had in the process.

This is it before and after wiring. A few branches removed.

Aug 14 2013

Help… A mate out

Ray over on Ronin Bonsai is asking for help in locating some old friends he’s lost touch with. As I seem to have a lot of American followers, according to my stats, I thought I’d help him out. See the old photo below and click on it to read Ray’s request and further details. If America was the size of Ireland you’d a bumped into them by now 🙂 Good luck with the search Ray, I think you’ll need a little luck!

Aug 11 2013

Decision Made

Back in January I posted about trying to make my mind up about whether to keep this Yew Tall or go for a shorter tree. I talked about the sentimental value of this one and the tall character of the tree suited this.

Last night, being on my own while my wife is in America for a few weeks, I decided to drink beer and listen to 80’s music on the radio while playing with trees in my garage. DAB radio has lots of new stations available and this one is right up my street 🙂

So beer in hand, music blasting I sat this tree down in front of me and explored a chop option. No matter what I looked at, I could find a convincing image. I therefore set about thinning and wiring to improve the taller option. This is the result.