Mar 31 2011

1,169!!

I started putting videos on you tube back in November for a bit of a laugh and in the hope of promoting the club. I just cast my eye over the stats on some of the videos and am amazed that this one has been viewed 1,169 times in nearly 5 months 🙂

Here’s the tree this week by way of update.

Mar 31 2011

Recovering from dog attack!

Last September my dog Smudge took a fancy to the apples on this Malus. He waited for them to ripen first of course 🙂

Here it is before he munched them.

and after…

and the guilty looking culprit.

This is the tree today. A few of the more mauled branches didn’t have any tip buds to open. I have been watching it for signs of new buds and today I founds loads. It looks as if it will back bud strongly, perhaps Smudge did me a favour 🙂

The back budding. Looks like a little pair of but cheeks at the bottom 🙂

and some of the flower buds. I was going to remove them but to be honest the tree is responding that strongly, I don’t think I’ll bother for now. I might remove the fruit if that changes.

Mar 31 2011

Little Corky

The little Corky Bark Elm I got from Willowbog last time around had budded after repotting into its new pot.

Mar 29 2011

GAWA

That’s Green and White Army in case you are wondering. I took a half day today as I’m going to the Northern Ireland v Slovenia Euro qualifier tonight.

Got the grass cut first and then had time to take a few photos of a few trees opening quite strongly after repotting. First up is Janet’s Juniper. It’s not Janet’s, it’s mine 🙂 I dug it up from my sisters garden 17 years ago just before she emigrated to Perth in Australia. What was once 4 foot tall and 8 foot wide now looks like this.

This maple that I bought as a rescue job last year is responding really well to repotting. Just have to figure out where to go with it!

My little Chuhin Maple is really pushing this week as well.

with Flash!

My Cork Bark Elm is moving faster than the others in the garden too. I just love it’s new (well secondhand) Walsall pot.

I noticed on the Cork bark that some of the wounds need attention to get them to heal right. The one below is sitting a tad proud and will need carved in a little to allow the cambium layer to roll over without causing an ugly bump.

The one below is healing well but the wood at the bottom needs to be reduced to allow it to roll in.

This one is spot on. You can see it’s rolling in evenly the whole way around the wound. Hopefully covered within the year the way this boyo is growing.

I’ll add the Roddie just to keep up the progression of opening flowers.

Mar 23 2011

Crab Apple Flower Buds

I noticed yesterday that this crab apple was flowering again this year. I waited 15 years for it to get it’s act together and was on the verge of giving it away (who would pay for a apple that doesn’t flower?) when it flowered in 2009. No fruit set that year. In 2010 it had more flowers and it held fruit. Lovely little pea size apples. This year it is covered in flower buds. I even put it in a better pot and restyled it over the Winter. Be good to me and I’ll be good to you 🙂

This was it back in January before repotting but after wiring. I can’t find a photo of it in the new pot, you’ll have to wait 🙂

Mar 23 2011

Bonsai School Videos

I spent most of yesterday watching through footage recorded at our clubs recent Bonsai School with Willowbog Bonsai. It was hard to do any real editing as Peter was in full flow and, to cut out little segments here and there, would have made a mess of the whole thing. Therefore, I have put together 4 videos showing extracts of Peters talk and demo. I have added the first two here for you to view. The other ones will be added later in the week. I haven’t even looked at the footage from the workshop yet!!

Mar 21 2011

Best use?

Over the years I have gathered up far too much material on my benches and plan to thin out this year. To do this I’m giving some trees away and selling others. Most of this is raw or semi styled material. I spent a morning yesterday setting all these trees to the side and assessing if I want to keep them, or how much I need for them.

During this process I found a few trees that on their own were nothing special. To get the best use out of them I decided create a few group plantings.

First up was 4 Dawn Redwoods that had been field grown for 6 years. Four isn’t ideal for a group but one of the trees was a twin trunk so it looks like 5 :-). Hey it works!! The pot is poor but, if you’re going to sell it, who cares :-). Major work required on the deadwood (deadwood on a redwood 🙂 sorry, just had to say that!)

buds - perfect time for repotting

Next up is a beech that I planned to sell but I want to keep it now. I plan to experiment with a few new techniques for beech this year and this one is ideal for it.

Repotted

I also had 6 elms that have been sitting under a bench for years without a second glance. I decided to pop them into the red tray from the beech and get them started as a group planting. Six trees is never going to work, so I put five in the group and the spare is going to Jamie from the club for him to play with. I’ll expect a comment on here Jamie, I know you follow this :-). Here’s the 5 in the group.

None of these are that exciting but I think I’m now getting the best out of the material.

Mar 21 2011

Opening old wounds, in a good way…

This is a Shohin Japanese Maple I’ve been working on for a few years. It has a few major pruning wounds were the height of the tree was reduced. These wounds are healing well but every year I help it heal a little faster. I open the wound around the edge and re-seal it. This forces the tree to produce more callous that it normally would in the year. I have carried out this technique for years on Maples and other deciduous trees with great success.

This is the same tree back in October.

and today.

The wounds in question

This is the wound after the edge has been opened. You can do this with a sharp blade or as I do for speed, a dremel. Care needs to be taken to just open it and no more. No point removing a years worth of callous with a dremel!

I then seal the wound again with cut paste.

To finish off a add a thin layer of PVA glue over the paste. This makes a better seal and helps deter the slugs. I know a few people who add slug pellets into the paste to stop them eating it.

If you keep an eye on the paste it’s easy to tell when new callous is growing underneath. You’ll see a crack appearing around the edge like in this photo below taken from a different maple.

Mar 17 2011

Hornbeam Repot

I gave my friend Stephen a hand to repot his large Hornbeam today. A new pot had been planned and attempted but the tree proved too big and we had to repot it back into the mica pot until a suitable replacement could be found. Here’s the tree after repotting.

Stephen managed to get his sign up outside his ‘Bonsai Studio’. His next job is to raise the roof by 12″ so I don’t bang my head on the light!! 🙂 It’s like walking around Hobbiton, the door should be round. Sorry Stephen 🙂

Mar 15 2011

Maple Moment

I had a Maple moment today when, during a brief period of sunshine, I walked into the greenhouse to check on the watering. I was greeted by buds that had pushed quite a bit in the last few days. The sun on the spring colour was nice to behold.