Aug 30 2015

The Results

A great Accent session yesterday, probably one of the most enjoyable sessions I’ve ever had in my garage come workshop, and there’s been many! A worthwhile endeavour I think with great feedback from the participants. After a learning session combining powerpoint and a selection of accents and plants, the guys got stuck into to creating their own kusamono, shitakusa and kokedama. Great to see them using what they had learned to select plants and then create their own pieces.

Here are some photos of the day and of the planting they produced. Kusamono are just in basic training pots for now.

Aug 27 2015

Final Preparation for Accent Workshop

Spent a little time today getting ready for the accent workshop I’m hosting at my home this Saturday 1pm to 5pm.

I’ve polished off my powerpoint which I’m delighted with and selected examples from my own collection to illustrate.

I have gathered up suitable plants for the workshop and selected some for my demos.

I even have some Magic Accent pots available.

I have space left if you are local and interested. If you don’t know your shitakusa from your kusamono or your kokedama from you nearai, then this is for you 🙂

Workshop includes plants potting mix etc and is a steal at £25 for the day. I’ll even feed you tea and biscuits!

Aug 15 2015

Kusamono & Accent Workshop

In an effort to further the knowledge and interest in kusamono I’m holding a workshop on Saturday 29th August starting at 1pm.

The session will look at accents in general and specifically kusamono, shitakusa and kokedama (mossballs). We will look at examples of kusamono, how they are displayed and how plantings work when displayed with bonsai. Participants will be able to select their own plants on the day, indeed the workshop cost of £25 includes 4 plants (to a max value of £20) from a large selection available! Can’t do better that that!! Feel free to bring your own plants to supplement your options and any pots you want to try. I will also have a selection of Magic Ceramic Pots available for anyone keen to add to their collection.

Workshop open to all, tea and coffee available all afternoon, sign up via bonsaieejit@gmail.com for a fun informal session and walk away on the day with your own special creation.

Some of the plantings on display

Shitakusa: Hosta ‘Surprised by Joy’

Kusamono created at recent demo at Greenmount.

Kusamono created Spring 2015

Kokedama Ferns

A small selection of the plants available at the workshop, selected for their suitability for this type of planting and in most cases hard to find at run of the mill garden centres.

Jul 2 2015

Accent : Geranium Saguineum Elke

Jul 1 2015

Absolutely Magic

These are my new accent pots from Magic Ceramics. This guy just keeps getting better and better! I’ll be adding some new pots to the sales page soon.

Loving these ceramic tiles, great to use as an alternative to the wooden jitta. All that he made have been snapped up but new ones on the way.

My new favourite pot, which I’ve named ‘Alien Egg’. Lourve it!

This bad boy gives a few options for planting with the split.

Another great one.

This one’s just nuts. No idea what to plant in it yet, but inspiration will come.

This one’s got loads of layers to it, can’t wait to pot it up.

Jun 6 2015

Agapanthus Accent

I’ve been trying to get this Agapanthus down to a size that works as an accent and it looks like this year Iv’e done it. Still to flower but I’ll post again when it does.

The first 3 photos show it in the middle of May with flower stocks emerging. I was hoping for them to stay a little shorter this year.

And this is them now 🙂 If they flower anywhere near this height I think we can call it a success. Pot as usual by Magic Ceramics.

May 14 2015

Kusamono – Rose and Epimedium Akebono

Apr 26 2015

Kusamono in New Pot

I was gifted this pot a few months ago. A truly stunning pot from a wood fired kiln [Anagama]. I have planted it up with various plants but will take a good year to fill out.

Apr 21 2015

Another One!

You’d think I’d have enough plants for accent/kusamono, but apparently not! I was at a local Garden Centre on Saturday with my better half for a coffee and spotted a few plants in the Alpine section that took my fancy. A nice Dwarf Aquilegia, Primula and a Mazus which I’d never heard of.

After a little poking and splitting and a few Magic Ceramic pots, this is the results. I have a few set aside for future use as well.

Apr 11 2015

New Arrivals

Another swap session with a like minded accent lover, this time in Belgium and I now have some new varieties in the collection. It did a while for them to get here, post can be really hit and miss these days, some get here in days and others in weeks. It seems to work like that on the return journey too. Be patient, Xavier, Peter and Robyn, your plants are on route 😉

You can see from the potted up pics that the plants have grown whilst in transit and are a little yellow due to lack of light. Given a few weeks, this will sort itself out.