Sep 17 2014

Munster Weekend in Photos

Here’s our exploits from the weekend in photos. A great atmosphere for bonsai, fun but hard work getting done as well.

Crossing the Boyne in the dark

Misty morn

Catching up

Ray raw Pine

Kieran’s Juniper before

Piotr’s Juniper before

Work begins

Mark starting a wiring frenzy

wee doomed heed

clean clean clean

Kieran’s Juniper after

Piotr’s Juniper after, top to be removed in stages

Ray’s larch in for advice

camera shy

there he is

Another Ray Pine for work

Marks Pine after

Mark looking board

Motley crew

another Mark Pine

Piotr’s mame juniper

Ray’s Pine after

Kieran’s pine after

garden shot

Mark’s Gingko Autumn colour

Amazing dogs

Mark’s display

guard dog

Autumn

Cilling before the end

wired out…

good craic

That it, Piotr has left the building

Sep 2 2014

Autumnal Larch

A bit early but ….

Apr 4 2014

Shohin Larch Opening

I repotted this little fellow a few weeks back and he’s just coming out.

Mar 13 2014

BSA Exhibition 2014 – A walk around Willowbog Bonsai

With all that was going on at the exhibition, is was easy to forget that just out the door was a bonsai nursery! We were blessed with some sunshine for part of each day and many folk took the chance to have a walk around and see the sale trees and Mr Greedy’s Collection. Here’s a few for you to see.

pot house

The big yew from the Ryan Neil demo

Mar 2 2014

Another Larch Initial Styling

This one was interesting to do.

Before

After

Feb 26 2014

Larch Initial Styling

I have a number of raw material Larch collected 2 years ago that I’m in the process of doing an initial styling. Hoping to give them some shape and a few months growth before adding to my sales page.

Before

After

Before

After

A few more to do as time permits.

Feb 18 2014

Shohin Larch Repot

I acquired this little Larch back in September.

Winter Image in November

Last month I removed the rock and restyled the tree ready for a repot.

and on Saturday I repotted the tree into a nice little John Pitt pot that I bought from Willowbog Bonsai earlier in the month. Unusual that it’s glazed but I think it works well with a shohin tree. I might have to make a few adjustments as the tree was a tight fit and I couldn’t pot it exactly at the styled angle, it was going to look unbalanced in the pot with the tree positioned too far to the right and the movement all going to the right. By tilting the tree I was able to show a better nebari and show a better balance to the composition.

Jan 7 2014

Image

Shohin Larch

I posted about this Larch recently. It’s the latest addition to my collection. Originally a landscape with a rock in the pot, I removed the rock and have now wired the tree into it’s new shape. Next step will be a repot. I can see a few problems with the roots and fitting them into an appropriately sized pot. I think I have one for the job but time will tell.

This is the before shot

Rock removed

This is it after wiring and shaping. I have removed a heavy front branch that was blocking some of the real character exhibited in the trunk line. A small jin created but this may be removed soon. I’ve just left it for now to consider.A lot of thinning out done and many smaller but overly heavy branches removed.

A slightly different angle that shows the trunk line a little better.

Dec 29 2013

Valerie’s Larch Group

I’m doing a little Winter care for Valerie at the moment and have her collection here with me. This Larch group is one of my favourites. Bought about 6 years ago from Willowbog Bonsai and had previously been part of a large collection of larch owned by an enthusiast in Scotland.

For personal reasons Valerie wasn’t able to get near her trees too much in recent years but is now all guns blazing and is determined to make the best of her collection. I saw this group a few months ago and told her it would need to be wired over the Winter. She took me at my word and had it fully wired for the December meeting. A great effort made with the wiring. A few issues with it as I pointed out to her on the night, a little too much wire and some not applied correctly but the biggest compliment I can pay her is that it was functional, I could place every branch without changing the wire. Many struggle to get this right.

I did a little shaping and pruning and this is what it’s Winter image looks like now.

This was it back in 2011

Dec 10 2013

Image

Step One

Step one on this little Larch was an easy one. The removal of the rock. I can now get a better look at what’s on offer and make a few decisions about future options.