Another tree discussed with Mr Warren was this Hawthorn Raft/Twin Trunk. The biggest issue with the tree was the two apexes at the same height. Peter suggested a change of angle and an eventual change of pot into a shell pot, roots permitting. This allows for different apex heights.
As it sits in a pot now.
The proposed new angle
Something like this in the end.
Give it a pot yourself 🙂
The other tree that took a tumble in the wind on Tuesday was Brian’s Hawthorn. It was undamaged.
I took the dead leaves off for a better photo of the Haws.
My Hawthorn Raft didn’t produce too many flowers this year. Not a problem really as it’s a long way to go before it’s the way I want to show it. It dropped most of it’s first flush leaves a week or so ago only leaving the later growth. This made the few haws more noticable.
Seems that quite a few of my trees are extending late in the season, well, later than usual.
Trident that has just bombed on this year and a hawthorn that was trimmed back 2 weeks ago.
This was another tree discussed with Robert. Again this Hawthorn raft was looked at from the back as a possible different front. Robert felt that even thought the base was just as nice, the back gave more depth to the composition.
The Front.
The back.
A few flowers this year as well.
A few Trees in the Sun. I usually take photos in the garage but sometimes it nice to get a little natural light on the tree.
Japanese Larch
Shohin Hawthorn
Another Hawthorn
Fuji Cherry Finished Flowering
I seem to have prolific back budding on some collected Hawthorn this year. This first one was the air layer taken back in 2010.
Suckers from the base!
This one is slighter further on.
These had to be rubbed off.
This little Shohin is starting to back bud well too. A ways to go yet though.
Sunday just happened to fall on New Years Day this year and, never to be deterred, we had our usual walk. About 9 miles along the coast from Holywood to Bangor, I must admit I could feel the holiday excess eating taking a toll!
As usual here are a few snaps taken along the way.
Some of my usual attempts to capture birds in flight or otherwise.
A goose
A hooded Crow
A normal black crow picking through the rock pools for sea snails .
and most unusual, these two different types of crow were together. First I’ve ever seen this.
Perfect wind for little sailing on the lough.
Hawthorn still carrying it’s harvest.
A nice mixture of moss, grass, heather, sedum etc growing in among the rocks. Natures kusamono .
Most important on a good walk is good company. My two brothers..
My mate Stephen, out with his new camera. Watch this space for his new bonsai blog coming very soon 🙂
and lets not forget my two best mates, Smudge and maggie 🙂
Today Phil and I went on a little tour of Northern Ireland. This wasn’t a random thing, we did have a purpose. We were looking for new collecting sites and checking on a few old ones. We planned to get the required permissions needed to collect legally, so we could devote the day of collecting to just digging trees. We also wanted to touch base with the land owners who previously had allowed us to collect on their land, just to let them know that we’d be back in the Spring.
It was a very successful day and we achieved everything we wanted, and more. I’m not about to broadcast to the world exactly where we collect, that would be rather stupid!! We are eejits [idiots], but not complete eejits!!! 🙂 However, I did take plenty of photographs along the way that won’t compromise our plans. I plan to share these over the next few days. Some are trees for inspiration, some wildlife etc.
It was a long drive with most places not yielding much in the way of decent yamadori, however, many nice trees were on view.
A common sight in Ireland, a hawthorn in a field. Untouched due to superstition that it’s a ‘fairy tree’.
A few Birch.
Some of the views along the coast and up in among the rivers and Glens, are truly beautiful.
The mountain in this image is shrouded with cloud. It kind of looks like a volcano that has spewed forth a cloud of ash!
Sheep grazing in the glens.
A panoramic of the last two shots.
Rathlin Island
Stay tuned, plenty more to come….
This is the layer that I took off the previously posted Hawthorn last year. I lifted it in to the garage on Thursday to remove unwanted shoots.
This is probably closer to the final potting angle.
I know it doesn’t look like it, but there is some pretty good movement in the trunk line of this tree. The Spring foliage was shortened back in June after it flowered. The new shoots you see are all on a chop made in the middle of the tree. These will all have to be removed as this will have to be carved away.
This was it after removing the unwanted branches. I left the low branch on, I think this might make a nice feature.
This is the stump for carving. By the feel of the pot and how steady the tree is, I think there is sufficient roots for this work to be carried out during the Winter.
Considering I was going to just chop this off and bin it, I’m glad I waited for an Air Layer. I have another big Hawthorn that I now plan to layer next Spring.
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