I’m sure everyone’s sick and tired of seeing this one but the colour has changed again.
Tag Archives: bonsai
Clean Up and Tuck Away
I started the process of cleaning up a few of the bits of raw material to tuck away into the poly tunnel for Winter Protection.
This little Hornbeam was field grown and has only been the victim of my chop and grow procedures.
Dead leaves removed. I don’t want any hiding places for little beasties over the Winter.
The original chop will need some carving work to look more convincing.
This Wild Pear was also put away. I will be leaving the branches to extend further next year to thicken before cutting back next Autumn.
Shohin- Europe Bonsai
Morten Albek has revamped his website and it’s well worth a look if you are into Shohin Bonsai. After recently joining the BSA I am trying to bring myself up to speed with the differences between shohin and other sized bonsai. It’s a deep and boundless topic!! Morten’s site has many great articles and I have spotted a few things that are new to me. To visit the site just click below. Morten’s blog has been added to my favourites on the sidebar.
Dig It!
I bought this folding spade the other day under the pretence that I’ll keep it in the car in case of Winter snow.
My real reason was to add it to my collecting kit bag 🙂
Not bad for £6 🙂
Trees from Friday Night
Here are a few of the trees worked on on Friday night. Some were styled some were discussed.
Phils Scots Pine before old needle removal.
and after…
Hugh’s Scots Pine after needle removal, shown from a few angles.
One of Ian B’s Mugo Pines grown from seed.
and after styling
and another one before.
and after
Michael’s Juniper
A little Yew I worked on.
and after, still work to do but ran out of time 😦
Does Anybody Irish still do bonsai??
I’m posing this question to try and scare up some bonsai interest in the Republic of Ireland.
We have members a plenty in our club north of the border but, to the best of my knowledge there isn’t a bonsai club, study group or similar in the ROI.
Of the 2 guys who have made contact with me from Ireland, one was Polish and the other Romanian! So, are you reading this from Ireland? Are you interested in getting together with other bonsai enthusiasts in your area? If you are, drop me a few lines and I will endeavour to get you in touch with like minded people.
Last night I had a few mates around to play with trees. Ovidiu, who lives in Dublin, came up to visit me for the first time. [First of many I hope] I met Ovidiu through the Wee Trees Bonsai Forum. He’s keen to work with others to progress his love of bonsai. This is the main reason for this, ‘Calling all Irish!’ post.
After meeting the chaps last night he was keen to get stuck in. As he stayed over night, we got stuck into a Cypress today that he had brought with him. He had done a little bit of wiring previously and wanted help with making a few decisions. Usually I’m not a big lover of this species for bonsai, but this one seemed to be suited to the techniques that we carried out.
Before
We cleared away the surface soil to find about 3 inches of trunk line previously unseen. We wired the main branches and added a little deadwood.
Ovidiu at work.
The result after todays work.
Side by side before and after.
A great time had with Ovidiu last night and today, he also has a great taste in wine 😉
I await the flurry of Irish replies….
Chuhin Maple, Colour at Last
I was starting to think that this maple had forgotten about Autumn this year but a little colour has started to creep in. Another week should see it at it’s peak colour.
Week by Week Maple Colour
This little Shohin is a pleasure to watch in the Autumn.
October 15th
October 22nd
October 30th
November 2nd
New Tunnel Step by Step
Over the last few days I’ve been getting ready for the arrival of my new tunnel.
This is the area where it’s going to be. The bench you can see is falling apart and this is the time to make better use of the garden.
Bench cleared ready for destruction!
Timber!!
Now the problem is the overly tall Hawthorn hedge to the back of the garden. This will shade out a lot of the tunnel.
The frame of the tunnel was put together yesterday by my son and I. Pretty straight forward and the heavier frame on the Pro version seems to be worth a little extra.
3m x 2m x 2m.
A quick lift over the fence into it’s new home. I haven’t made my mind up what angle to place it at as yet. The wind was strong yesterday so I wasn’t going to chance putting on the cover. That is a job for today.
El Tim Blog speaking out
I thought I would mention this Spanish Bonsai Blog that I’ve been following for a while. I’ve just added it to My Favourite Blogs sidebar.
I understand that reading translated Spanish can be a bit of a chore, Google Translate is far from perfect! But sometimes its worth the effort.
If you click on the image link below you will be taken to a recent post about the collection of yamadori in Spain. It is an honest look at the devastation, dare I say rape, of collecting sites in Spain. I have collected yamadori myself, always in manageable numbers with permission. I understand the temptations to go mad and take risks with trees, I’m not blameless in this either. However, the wanton destruction of top quality yamadori as described here is totally unacceptable! Non-collectable trees should be left for everyone to enjoy in-situ.
This isn’t just a Spanish thing either, it’s happens everywhere when there’s money to be made. In my view, it’s bonsai’s dirty little secret. I have no doubt that some day, some news reporter on a slow news day will twig on to this and it will make National News. ‘Bonsai Butchers ruining the environment’, or words to that effect. What a sad day for bonsai that will be! 😦
Bonsai Eejit 