May 2 2012

Another Tunnel!

At the weekend Stephen, Phil and I put up another tunnel. This one will be referred to in future posts as Stephen’s Tunnel. He wanted to contribute to the collecting process but was unable to put one up in his own garden. He offered to buy a tunnel and for it to go up in my garden. I was thinking of one any way so this worked out for all of us. 🙂

As I had no room at the back of the garden, we put it up at the side of the house where I have a few display stands. The recent removal of my now grown kids trampoline had created space for it.

The proposed site for the tunnel.

Unpacking, note to self, don’t let Phil open the box for the next one! A knife and tunnel cover don’t mix 🙂

Smudge and Rufus giving advice and generally getting in the way.

Another note to self, don’t let Phil play with golf balls [don’t ask!]

Cover going on

Job done

No post with Stephen in it would be complete without the obligatory cup of coffee shot 🙂

All that was left to do was to shift a few of the collected trees into it to allow for more space for access into the 3 tunnels.

May 1 2012

Sunday Signs!

On my usual Sunday walk I couldn’t help but notice just how often we came across signs telling us what not to do. I’m aware signs are helpful but I am getting a little tired of being ‘SHOUTED AT’ in capitals everywhere we go. For example….

and this one was kinda hard to miss!!

This was the only one I liked for obvious reasons 🙂

OK rant over, here are some more calming photos taken on the walk.

Wild primrose

Would love to know what this is..

A close up of the flowers

and now for the wildlife, Spotted this Pheasant in a recently planted field.

A Buzzard circling overhead.

Gulls

Mallard Ducks in flight

Hooded Crows

Evil looking crow 🙂

Pied Wagtail

Wood Pigeon

The hardest one of all was trying to capture a photo of a House Martin in flight. These are the only two that look even half right.

and this big fella to finish. He was keeping a close eye on my dogs.

May 1 2012

Conkers, Bonkers!

I always thought Ben was a little bonkers 🙂 This photo proves it…

This also proves it, a horse chestnut as a bonsai.

That’s maybe a little unfair of me to say this. Ben inherited this tree from his Grand Father who got him started in bonsai and, as you would expect, he’s rather attached to it. The tree is over 40 years old and has an interesting base. Leaf size can be made smaller and it is already getting there. I can hardly say it’s not suitable as I have plenty of trees that I’m sentimentally attached too and will never sell.

Another one of his Grand Father’s bonsai, this one is a Crab Apple.

Robert gave this one a look over as well. A few ideas for it’s future were discussed.

I thought this was rather funny too 🙂

Apr 30 2012

Bertie’s Cascade Cotoneaster

When I was at Bertie’s house last week I spotted this little cascade Cotoneaster and thought that it could do with a repot. He had a suitable pot on the shelf, maybe not the perfect choice, but a big improvement on it’s current home. This is it before and after the repot.

It will be given a year to settle in, and if all’s well, it’ll get a restyling.

Apr 29 2012

Ben’s Berberis Revisited

Friday saw Ben appear with his Berberis. It was repotted in February and has grown strongly since then.

Robert some how managed to get a pass out for the night, he was an unexpected but very welcome guest. I asked him to have a look at the Berberis with Ben and a short time later, with some light wiring, this was the result.

This was Ben’s choice of front but Robert pointed out a few more options. These are still achievable even though we stuck with the original front. This was another angle worth exploring. Some branches would be moved but I must admit I like this option.

For a while it was a bit like, Paddy Scotsman, Paddy Englishman and Paddy Irishman started t style a tree 🙂

Out of interest, this was it in 2008

Apr 28 2012

Where’s Bertie??

Had a couple of friends around last night. One, who I finally managed to catch up with earlier in the week was Bertie, a past club committee member and now current member again. Hadn’t seen him for years and it was great to catch up and talk trees. I tried to capture a photo of him but he is an expert camera dodger 🙂

He spotted me coming and turned his back! Phil giving him a hand thinning out a yew.

Here he ducked behind the yew for cover.

Nearly managed a clean shot here but Phil points out how many failed attempts I’ve had 🙂

This is as good as I got, good to see you Bertie 🙂

This is his Yew that was worked on before we started.

It was first styled as a demo tree by Kevin Willson way back in 1997. Here’s a few other angles and a look at the deadwood.

And after some work. Thinned out and a little basic wiring.

Apr 27 2012

Majestic Scotties

It’s hard to beat a mature Scots Pine.

Great spot for a birds nest too 🙂

Apr 26 2012

Belfast Skyline

Snapped these first two recently whist driving past. I’ll rephrase that! I snapped these whilst a passenger in a car driving past 🙂 They are the famous Harland and Wolff Cranes that can be seen in Belfast docks area , now called the Titanic Quarter. They were built in the late 60’s, early 70’s around the time I was born and are called Samson and Goliath.

They are truly massive erections 🙂

This photos shows both and gives you a better idea of scale.

Apr 25 2012

Taiwanese Flower Market Video

Thought I would share this here. Not the usual sort of video I would share but I found it fascinating to see what’s on offer in a different country. A great explanation from the video taker about what he’s seeing helps too. The older lady must be a relative, either that or he’s being stalked through the market 🙂