Here’s a link to another nice clip from Erik aka Atelier Bonsai Element showing the bonsai garden of Miroslav Škrabal this Spring. A stunning set up it what looks like a stunning location.
Tag Archives: bonsai
Shohin Maple Update
I posted this maple back on the 21st march HERE
(Loving this online diary. Great for checking back when tasks were done.)
Here’s an update on the tree. Every Spring is grows vigorously and has large leaves. I defoliate as soon as they harden off. That’s today.
The next flush of growth will have smaller leaves and a shorter inter-nodal length.
The wounds that I reopened and resealed in March are obviously healing strongly as you can see from the cracks in the cut paste. I’m hoping that by the end of 2012 I have no wounds at all.
One less job to do today
Guess I don’t have to water the trees today. Just had the heaviest shower I seen here in a very long time and it lasted about 30 minutes. I braved a shot out of the window just as it was easing off 🙂 This is back to front week on my benches so the trees get even light.
English Elm Development
This is an English Elm I spotted at Stephen’s yesterday. After it initial flush Stephen pruned it back in an attempt to get back budding, I think we can say it worked. Just look at those buds popping.
I like this tree except for the apex which looks man made with the contrived bend. Although it would set the tree back a bit, I would chop this and regrow the apex in a more natural looking form. Being the apex of the tree and the most vigorous part, it should fill out quickly.
This was the tree back in May last year. A full image but the branch structure was a mess with poor secondary branching and most growth at the branch ends and no internal growth.
This was it at the start of April this year after it’s first flush of growth. Stephen had worked on the tree last Summer and you can see an improvement in the branches from the photo above.
This was it yesterday after responding to a heavy trim 3 weeks ago. You can see the buds popping along the primary branches were there was very little secondary branching. This will improve the quality of the tree.
Hostas and flowers
Stephen’s collection of hostas were just beautiful today and I managed to get a few pics of them and other flowers in his garden. Here’s a selection. Anyone know the name of the blue one? It’s a native bog plant.
Identify Yourself!!
I would love to know exactly what this little fella is! I first saw them about 8 years ago when they started turning up on some of my own bonsai. They don’t seem fussy about what they eat. I have found them on Pines, Larch, Yew, Juniper, Elms and Hawthorn. They wrap themselves up in old needles and anything else to hand and eat the cambium in a ring around the finer branches. This obviously results in dead branches.
I haven’t had them for two years now as I’m pretty regular with my spraying with Provado. However, today at Stephen house, we found them on his Yew and a Larch. The Yew had obviously been a victim of them for years and it must have had them when Stephen bought it last year.
If anyone knows what they are, I’d love to know.
Hidden in his wrapping
pulled from his home
5P for scale
Yew Work, I’ll just Watch
Worked on a Yew with Stephen today at his place. It recently had some basic carving started by Peter Snart of Willowbog. The foliage pads were full looking but the structure was a real mess. It had also been attacked by a little grub that had been working it’s way through the finer branches. We gave it a clearing out and wired some, not all of the pads to create better structure.
This was it back last year.
This was it today after some adjustments.
I’m going to play about with it on Photoshop and try and show how the tree will look when it fills out. It has a lot of filling to do!!!
Flowering Cotoneaster
This Cotoneaster has been in my collection since I dug it out of a garden in 1995. It’s nothing special really and I’m not overly happy with the shape of it. I even consider removing all branches and starting again. What I do like about it is the flowers and the deadwood I’ve created.
This was it back in a garden in 1995.
And here in 1996.
and again in 1998. Shortly after this photo a root died causing a narrowing of the live vein and the death of a few lower branches.
A little bit every day
Jamie commented on one of my posts yesterday and asked if I worked on trees every day. I replied that it felt like it at the moment and that it mostly depended on my work getting in the way.
This got me thinking about what is required to keep on top of a collection. I’m the first to admit that I have far too much sitting about the place and sometimes my better trees miss out on that next step of refinement. I find the best way to stay on top is to do that little task every day. I’ll water everything and then look for something to do that fits the time I have available.
Today I trimmed back a Cork Bark Chinese Elm, trimmed a few extension shoots from my Korean Hornbeam, shortened in the second flush of shoots on a hawthorn and took a few photos of my Cotoneaster in Flower.
Here’s a few photos from today.
Hornbeam after trim
Cork Bark before trim
After trim
Nebari
Hawthorn Raft trimmed.
I must admit that this blog has highlighted just how much I actually do on a daily basis! 🙂
Spruced up
I helped out a new club member yesterday with a few of his trees. One of them was this twin trunk Spruce. We talked about the variety and how to encourage back budding. I gave Stan a quick run through on wiring and handed over to him. He would appear to be a fast learner 🙂
Here’s the before and after photos.
Bonsai Eejit 