Wrong Tree Mate

This young blackbird snuck into my garage on Saturday past to get away from the heavy rain. It perched on top of the wrong tree 🙂

I had to catch another on in the poly tunnel before it done itself a mischief! Another smashed a pot in the greenhouse!! Found a few plants ripped out of the pots too, but you got to love them all the same 🙂

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BSA 2014 Exhibition Part 2

Here’s Part 2, this time Valentin Brose takes us on a tour of the exhibits. Valentin has got to be one of the nicest artists in the European bonsai scene.

 

Kusamono -Rose, Epimedium, Astilibe.

I wan’t to get this new pot planted up and I opted to do a little combo kusamono using a white flowering rose, Epimedium akebono and a dwarf Astilbe. It will take a while to mature but I think it should make a good mix.

This is the pot, made by Alberto Vignori from Milan I believe, I just loved the quality of the finish and the colour.

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And this is what I put together. I was aiming for the three levels within the planting, ‘Heaven, man and earth’ as tends to be the aim with these. The rose is the tallest element and is light enought to look the part. I then picked the Epimedium akebono for the middle level, again it’s got a small leaf and I love the form of the plant. Last is a little Astilbe that can hardly been seen at the moment but it will grow. It gives me the lowest element. I topped off the pot with some moss just to give it a more finished look and to keep the soil from washing away until the plants bind together. I look forward to seeing this one when the rose is in flower. I feel that all elements flowering at once would be too much but I think that each should flower at a different time allowing this to be used multiple times in the year.

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2nd Magical Bonsai Accents Exhibition

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BSA 2014 Exhibition Part 1

Finally I’ve got around to putting together all the little bits of video and photos from the British Shohin Association Exhibition at Willowbog Bonsai back in March this year.

This is part 1 of 6 showing Mr Peter Warren on one of his wanders around the exhibits. I only got a small portion on video as I was crowded out by the hordes in attendance 🙂 Not a bad thing at a show I think.

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‘Venture’

Thought I’d share this little video made by my son at Northern Ireland Film School.

Titled ‘Venture’, it encourages you to get out and about and enjoy nature. Those who follow my blog will recognise a few of the places from my walks.

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Video of Bonsai School Weekend

Done this for the club to give a flavour of what we get up to at one of these things.

 

Cotoneaster in Flower

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Mini Rose getting really close

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Ben’s Juniper Carving

At the recent Willowbog Workshop on Sunday Ben brought along his Squamata Juniper for some block carving work by Peter Snart. Peter got Ben to do a little Rip and tear on a few of the finer bits of deadwood first and then he got stuck in with the Makita to do some basic block carving on the heavier areas. Peter reckons he’d need a week to do the tree. If he carves as fast as he walks, I’d believe it too 😉