Jun 17 2011

When the Wife’s away…

…the boys will play 🙂

My wife is off to watch Take That in concert in Dublin tomorrow and to mark the occasion, I have 5 guys coming over to play with trees.

Stephen is going to do some major thinning out on his two Satsuki Azaleas seen below.

Phil is coming to sort out a few of his trees that have been staying here of late. Also wants to take a few trays of Satsuki cuttings 🙂

Stan is bringing his recently purchased Chinese Juniper for a little work.

Michael is coming fr the first time for a look around the garden and to ‘pot on’ a sick Deshojo Maple. It had a hard Winter and was pot bound.

Mario might even make a guest appearance from Dublin!

Really looking forward to a good days craic and of course, I’ll be posting the results here 🙂

Jun 17 2011

The Bonsai Art of Japan Episode 5

Just Uploaded to You Tube today, the latest episode of the Bonsai Art of Japan.

My favourite bit has to be the female voice over. How high a note can you hit when you say ‘SANDPAPER!!’ Love it 🙂

Mr Fujikawa, ciggie in mouth, is also a touch of genius 🙂 Great to have the actual master taking part in the videos. Click on Mr Fujikawa below to watch the video.

Jun 16 2011

Favourite Blogs

I think some of the best information on bonsai is coming out of Japan in the form of blogs being written by Western Students working as apprentices. They are obviously kept very busy and therefore blog entries are sparse at times .

First up is Peter Tea from San Jose in California. He is currently studying at Aichien in Japan under Master Junichiro Tanaka . His posts are very informative about bonsai techniques. Usually one or 2 posts a week.

Peter Tea Aichien Journal

Next is Tim Gardner who is studying at Daiju-en in Japan, with Bonsai Master Tohru Suzuki. There a month or so and is posting around once a week. It’ll be good to watch this blog develope.

Tim Gardner Daiju-en Journal

Bjorn Bjorholm, former apprentice of contemporary Japanese bonsai Master Keiichi Fujikawa has this blog/website. The best feature being the Art of Bonsai in Japan Videos. Worth checking in to see what’s new.

Biorvala Bonsai Studio

Last up, and my favourite, is the blog of Peter Warren. Blog titled ‘Tales from the life of a journeyman Bonsai artist. Trying to make sense of the world through little trees in pots.’ Not an appreintice any longer but is currently back in Japan helping out his master Kunio Kobayashi. A fantastic blog writer with witty posts that give great insight into bonsai in Japan.

Peter Warren Saruyama Bonsai Blog

Make sure you go back and read old posts, you get a feel for who you are reading about.

Jun 16 2011

Silver Birch

This Silver Birch was field Grown for a few years and has been clipped back for the last year. I gave it another trim today to remove unwanted adventurous shoots and shorten any extension growth. I’ll be doing this for a year or so to build up a ramified image. I will use wire now and again but I have found them to be wire intolerant as they drop wired branches frequently.

Before Trim

After Trim

Jun 15 2011

Escallonia Flowering – well nearly

After a major pruning over the Winter I didn’t expect my Escallonia to flower this year. However a few around the apex have managed to appear and should be out in a week or so.

Jun 14 2011

Reshuffle

I did a reshuffle on my benches today to change things around a bit. Added a few more accents and changed a few trees around with those up the back in the training area.

Jun 13 2011

Root Over Rock Juniper Update

Whilst in Stephen’s garden today, I noticed the Juniper that we worked on at the end of April. (I actually couldn’t remember when we worked on it, but the beauty of this blog is that you can go back and check. ) Here’s a link to the original post ROR Juniper 30th April.

This was it in April.

and this was it today, oops, it’s 00.25, make that yesterday 🙂

Loads of new growth and no die back from wiring at all. Stephen needs to pinch, especially at the apex, to balance out the growth and vigour within the tree.

Jun 13 2011

Airport Run

I had to pick up my Sister and Nephews from the Airport this afternoon, flying in from Australia. As the flight was delayed slightly, I had time to pop into Stephen’s house on the way to have a look at a few trees. Living 5 minutes from the airport is handy 🙂

His Satsuki has just started on the downhill stretch after flowering. Still worth a few photos though.

A nice hosta accent about to flower.

Big Hornbeam.

Big Larch.

Haws on a Hawthorn.

and I spotted this clump of baby spiders on a Pine just waiting for a breeze to drift off on.

Jun 13 2011

Bonsai School Videos

I’ve been putting a few more videos together over the weekend. These have been taken from the NIBS/Willowbog Bonsai School on Saturday 4th June. I’m up to Part 4 of 8 for the day and maybe a few more from the workshop the following day.

The first two are on Wind Burn and Winter Protection, and the two just added cover tree Structure from Roots to Ramification. They are long, but worth setting time aside for if you have a spare half hour sometime. I’ll be trying to get the defoliation ones done in the next few days. I’m running out of time before my holiday 🙂

Here’s a link to the You Tube Channel. Just click on the pic below.

Jun 13 2011

Shohin Chinese Juniper

This is my little Shohin Chinese Juniper which is really starting to get into shape. I need to do some further work on the deadwood and live vein. I have enjoyed working on this little one and I got to work on another one during a workshop at the weekend. I am now on the lookout of a nice shohin/chuhin one to add to the collection.

This was it last year. When I acquired it, it had some major wire damage at the apex and some poor branches in the wrong places. My treatment was drastic but I’m happy with the result.