Mar 9 2015

Mud Walk

Sunday was our regular walk in the local countryside, this time from the Lead mines in Ards along the Clandeboye Way to Helen’s Bay, about 7 miles. I rarely do the first bit of this walk as it’s mucky, but memories fade regarding this issue and we gave it another go. You guessed it, a mud hole! This is one of the old chimneys from the Lead mines.

This is the state of the paths due to scramblers cutting the shite out of the whole place!!

Helen’s Tower below. An exact replica of this is at Thiepval in Northern France at the site where local men fighting in the 36th Ulster division lost their lives in the battle of the Somme. They training on this hillside before being sent to War.

Some signs of Spring.

Local trees, an old wood.

A laid Hedge, done the old way.

Skinny Beech, but nice.

Mar 7 2015

Some Recent Viewings

Some videos I have watched recently on Youtube. It’s Saturday night now. Pop open a bottle of beer and relax.

Mar 2 2015

One to One: Repotting Session

Saturday was another one to one session for me this time helping to repot some tricky trees.

This Hawthorn collected from a garden by Ben a few years back was one of the first trees tackled. A decision had to be made about a heavy long root that would dictate what pot it would fit into.

First this tree moss covering the lower trunk had to be removed. I hate this stuff. It gets in under rough bark and can cause it to lift off.

We then had to wash out the old mix and any original field soil. This allowed us to see exactly what had to be reduced and allowed us to see that the heavy root could be removed without putting too much stress on the tree. It had done well under Ben’s care and plenty of fine root was in evidence.

My handy root washing system 🙂

And this is the tree potted up at it’s new angle.

Next is a Shohin Cotoneaster. The current pot is too heavy and clunky for the tree.

Ben has this little Epimedium accent in a nice Erin pot and he thought it was a better option for the Cotoneaster.

I think he was right, works for me, especially as the tree fills out further.

This little pine was moved from a flower pot over into this new home. Early days but interesting project.

This Larch from a previous one to one styling was brought along to be repotted at it’s new angle.

This big Juniper was actually first one repotted. It’s a real odd ball of a tree but has been fun to play around with.

This literati Pine also got a move from a flower pot. Early days again for it but going to be really nice in a few years.

A busy but very productive session.

Mar 1 2015

One to One: Zelkova

I helped out with the development of this Zelkova on Friday night. The owner has just bought the tree and wanted to get it moving in the right direction. I know this tree well and have seen it pass through the hands of 2 other club members over the years. It originally came into Northern Ireland from Japan back in 2002 I think. Below is it when it can in and also sitting on the bench in the background in the nursery in Japan.

This is the tree now. It’s had an up and down life here. After some great work early on it went through a period of neglect due to the owners personal circumstances. At one point near death, it was bought by another friend of mine who did a great job of getting it back to full health. Many of the original branches had died and in some places new branches have started to develope.

It has a great nebari, probably the best feature of the tree, and some very old bark on the trunk showing the age of the tree.

Although the image as it sits now looked good from a distance, there was a lot of issues with heavy branches high up the tree, new thin branches lower down that need to be grown on to fatten, and some ugly pruning wounds that need reduced now. We picked a slightly different front that the last owner to improve the trunk line and taper.

This is it after pruning and reduction of wounds, Some branches have been left uncut to allow extension and thickening.

And this it it after some wiring to reposition branches. Still a way to go with this one but give it 5 years of good care and it will be a very nice tree.

Also done in the same session was this little Shohin Japanese Maple. It needed a repot and into something a little larger to allow for development.

This Shohin Korean Hornbeam also got a repot and a serious thinning out of the foliage too. Sorry no before photo. Typical of mass produced imported material but with some effort I think it can make a nice image.

For anyone interested in a one to one, click on the tab at the top.

Feb 27 2015

Great Video from Mr Sellman

Popped this up on the big screen TV using Chromecast. An enjoyable 10 minutes with a cuppa.

Feb 24 2015

Bonsai Europa 2015

Can’t wait 🙂

Feb 22 2015

Agapanthus Accent

First Accent of 2015 potted up yesterday in a nice Magic Ceramic Pot.

An unusual choice for an accent but it’s been getting smaller every year. This year will tell if it’s going to be a success.

Feb 21 2015

Rescue Maple Air Layer Removal… at Last!

The story so far…

September 2011

April 2013

October 2013

I could have removed this layer back in the Autumn but opted to wait until now as the buds begin to swell. I was fairly confident that it had done well last year after a shaky start as it had pushed out a lot of new growth.

On removal of the pot I was please to see some good roots.

With dead sections on the trunk ( see older post links above) I was delighted to see that each live section had produced roots.

The saw cut which got some work before potting.

This hollow up the trunk was really starting to roll over well and instead of leaving a hole to collect water I decided to treat and seal this with wound putty and then seal with cut paste. This will allow it to eventually heal over leaving no hole at all in about 5 years.

Potted up in a wash hand basin to allow it to gain some momentum this year. The original roots on inspection were very poor, I feel that if I hadn’t layered this tree it would already be dead. Which would be a shame with the stunning Autumn Colour it produces.

Feb 20 2015

Accent Season Approaches

Delighted to get home yesterday to find a parcel. Wasn’t expecting anything but Xavier, who I swap with every year had surprised me. Not just plants this time but a very nice wood fired pot as well. Some new hostas and a Sisyrinchium Alba that I’m looking forward to seeing in flower. All now potted up, some put straight into Magic pots too 🙂

Feb 19 2015

Oak Air Layer Update

Thought I’d share this Oak Air layer update with you. I see many people on forums etc asking if it’s possible to layer an Oak with a lot of conflicting answers. This one was removed from the parent tree back in April 2012. At the weekend I decided to repot the tree properly for the first time.Here you can see that it’s done well in the interim.