Aug 5 2012

More Bird Capers

On Wednesday we had a stormy day with high winds and rain. I spotted these fellows on on my stands sheltering underneath the tree canopies.

Can you spot both of them in the first photo? A couple of Thrush.

I then managed to get a few shots of a little wren that up until now has been illusive. My favourite bird in the UK. Not great photos taken on the fly through a window, but good enough for my tatty blog!

The Thrush managed to make a right mess of some of my pot contents but I also saw one banging away with a snail against a stone, so that made me happy.

Aug 4 2012

TEAM GB!!

What about Team GB!!

14 Gold Medals to date, 6 today, 3 tonight in athletics alone. 3rd in the Medal Table behind two of the biggest countries in the world.

The rowing team had 3 medal winners from Coleraine in Northern Ireland, that’s more medals for Coleraine than for Sweeden so far!!

To top it off we have Jessica Ennis, Gold Medal winner in the Heptathlon and best looking athlete in the games.

As you can guess, I have done little else this week other than watch the telly 🙂

Aug 4 2012

Janet Juniper Adjustments

I had just started pinching this Juniper, [Full History Here] when I decided I should be taking a few photos for blogging. One handed pinching is rather difficult but my shoulder has improved. It took a while with quite a few breaks but I got there in the end.

This was it at the start, well almost.

I even remembered to use the towel technique for keeping the needles off the soil surface.

This was it after pinching

I decided that it was time to thin down the live vein a little more. This section looks a little thick I wanted to add more continuity between the areas of white wood.

This was it after removing a slice.

A little Lime Sulphur added.

Aug 3 2012

BSA Journal

Got my issue of the BSA Journal yesterday and was amazed that my little Chuhin Maple got four pages.

You’ve seen all the photos here on the blog before as I have recounted the trees story so far. As was pointed out by Fiona at the end of the article, the tree was the victim of some sort of pest attack this Spring and it lost branches. It is recovering better than anticipated with budding close to most of of the removed branches, therefore I hope that it will not be a Shohin next show!! 🙂

Aug 2 2012

Get by With a Little Help from My Friends

I get asked to talk to various groups about bonsai during the year. I always try and spread the word as and when I can. On Monday I got a call from a local men’s group reminding me about a talk today! As I’m still not allowed to drive or lift things with my right arm I had to call on Michael, aka Futter With Trees, to give me a hand. It was one of those nice venues, you know the type, no parking, upstairs room and a long walk through doors with arms full of trees! Glad I wasn’t doing the carting 😀

Did my usual talk about bonsai, What are they, their history, the shapes and styles, their care etc. All went well and Michael even took a few snaps of me blethering away. As you can see I take a selection of trees to display and talk through as part of the session. Everyone was in a suit and tie and there was me, the guest speaker in jeans and a t-shirt 😀 Michael said he also dressed down just to help take the bad look off me!!

I don’t really expect to get any new club members from this today but you never know. I’ve seen these things snowball and produce members via family members etc.

Aug 2 2012

Escallonia Frog

This fellow seems to have taken up permanent residence in my big, recently collected, Escallonia. He buries himself in the sphagnum moss that I’ve used for top dressing and when I water, he climbs to the top of the tree for a shower. Great to have him about.

Aug 1 2012

Renewal

This little Rowan has found a spot to grow. It has self seeded into the top of this rotting fence post.

Jul 31 2012

Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery

When I attended the BSA Show back in March I was very impressed by some of the accent planting. My favourite ones included a bronze animal element. This first one was my pick of them, two fighting hares in the long grass, displayed by Ian Warhurst.

This one was also excellent, a kingfisher in the reeds displayed by Bob Baillie.

and this one showing a frog hiding in the undergrowth, I think this one was Simon Haddon’s but I may be wrong. Can anyone confirm?

Having seen these I grabbed bought a few animals from one of the Show Traders with a view to doing something similar.

Today I was bored, this broken wing is cramping my style. We have a show coming up in September and it would be nice to include my two animals among the accents, this is what I’ve come up with.

First up is my rabbit in the long grass.

I love this one. About 20 years ago I’d have had the shotgun out for this fella but I’ve mellowed 🙂

Next was a crane, or I think it’s a crane! I wanted to do a riverside accent similar to Bob’s Kingfisher. Not as convincing as his but I think the blue pot adds the impression of water.