Mar 30 2015

I’m Back!

I think that’s officially the longest I have ever went without posting on the blog! I have been meeting myself coming back in work of late, with every minute taken up doing more important things than blogging 🙂 Yes, I do have a life lol.

I did find time to go collecting on Sunday with Phil and Mark. Not great timing with the clocks going forward for BST. It meant that after a couple of hours sleep we had a 5 hour drive followed by a 5 hour collecting session, followed by another 5 hours back home, followed by 3 hours potting up session, followed by a double shift in work today!! I’m feeling pain in every muscle after humping up and down the side of a mountain, but you know what? I wouldn’t have missed it for the world 🙂 Mark had it easy, he only had a 3 hour drive from Cork to get to the site lol.

A wee cup of tea before heading home.

The sort of ground we had to collect over.

Trees, Scots Pine and Lodgepole Pine, all now potted up and under cover. Not a lot of photos taken either but more to follow soon perhaps.

Mar 24 2015

A Tale of Two Accents

First one is my Mukdenia Rossii just starting to flower now and starting to mature nicely as an accent plant.

And a little viola put together by young Jamie at the workshop on Saturday, looking good in it’s Magic Ceramics pot.

Mar 24 2015

Image

Bang Goes the Neighbourhood!!

Mar 23 2015

Hostas Baby!

Yes! Been waiting patiently for signs of Spring so I can assess what accents have made it through the Winter months. A good few of my mini hostas are showing signs of growth now. I can feel some splitting coming on.

Mar 22 2015

Group Workshop

Saturday was a group workshop hosted by myself and Phil. Eight people signed up for the day and you can see one is hiding his identity for employment reasons 🙂

The usual talk though of workshop trees at the start of the session.

Jamie’s Scots Pine before.

Ian B’s Scots Pine before, sadly no after shot.

Mark’s chunky Elm before.

Everyone getting busy.

Maciej’s Larch before.

Alan’s White Pine Before.

and After

Maciej’s Larch Afterwards.

Jamie’s Juniper there for advice and a cut back. This is now going to be a squat heavy trunked tree as we opted to removed the straight section which lacked taper.

Ian B’s Larch after some detailed wiring.

A possible new front.

Piotr’s Juniper afterwards. Should have taken a back shot as I think that’s a better option showing off more of the deadwood.

Owen’s Juniper before

Piotr’s Juniper before.

Mark’s Elm after some branch placement and a repot.

No where near enough photos taken, but in our defence, we were busy! Apologies to those whose trees missed out on photos especially the after shots.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their day with some great work carried out by all.

Mar 17 2015

Happy St Patrick’s Day

To all those with a tint of green in the blood out there in the Bonsai World, Have a great Day 🙂

Mar 14 2015

One to One : Scot’s Pine

Another one to one today, this time helping out with a tricky repot of a Scots Pine. I love this tree! It’s been in a wooden box for a few years to increase vigour after a few years dealing with Needle Cast. I helped with the first styling of this tree back on 11th September 2001, an easy date to remember due to the tragedy that unfolded as we finished the tree.

This was the tree today.

And after a tidy up and old needle removal…

Then the repot

and the result

Over exposure but kinda cool all the same …

It’s been nice to keep a connection with this tree over the years. I even looked back in my files and found some older photos.

September 2001

March 2002

And a virtual image I made back in 2002. Not too far off the mark.

Stephen reworking the tree back in 2004

2011 with Stephen for scale. The tree isn’t really that big, Stephen is tiny!

Being inspected by Peter Warren in 2012

Mar 11 2015

One to One : Zelkova Group

Had another one to one session on Tuesday night, this time helping to get this Zelkova group planting on the right track. This is a very natural looking group put together last year after the trees had been field grown for a number of years by a previous owner. The group needed a serious working through planning for the best approach for each tree and branch. We had some die back to deal with and a few straight branches to sort out.

This was it last April after putting it together.

This was it on Tuesday night. Extension growth has been cut back a few times over the last growing season.

This is it after pruning last night with it’s new owner. Still some branches in need of work but care needs to be taken not to lose the naturalness of this image. Another year in the training box gaining vigour will allow for more detailed work next Spring and perhaps a pot.

Mar 10 2015

Signs of Spring

Some signs that Spring is reaching my trees.

Trident Maple

Japanese Larch

Hawthorn

Malus

Berberis

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.