Jun 19 2017

Fuji Bonsai

After visiting Huntington Gardens I made the short trip over to Fuji Bonsai, Roy Nagatoshi’s place. There was a Saturday morning workshop in full flow but I was still made very welcome by Roy and the folk taking part. Below is my usual gallery. Hard to make out individual trees in most of them. The sun was shining strongly and the trees were really packed in there. An abundance of California Junipers many of which had been grafted. A stand out Pomegranate with a hollow trunk too.

How anyone grows trees in this heat and amount of UV light is beyond me. You’ll see many trees with the soil covered to help keep the heat off the roots. Species variety is limited here to what can stick the conditions. The guys were great, chatting away to me about conditions in this area, pretty much the opposite of what I have here at home! A great selection of starter trees as well as you’ll see in the photos. At this point I was starting to dream of Juniper deadwood at night 🙂

Jun 18 2017

Down and Out in Beverly Hills

You often think of LA as a concrete Jungle but I did find a few nice trees on my travels. Most of them in Beverly Hills where each street in the main residential area has a specific tree planted on it.

Some great Ficus nebari in there and I just love the purple flowering tree, an Australian native I believe. Anybody get the movie reference?

Jun 18 2017

Huntington Gardens – The Bonsai Exhibit

I felt some excitement as I approached the exhibit. The set up was excellent and showed the trees well. I took in the first area thinking that was it only to find another courtyard full of trees. Quality was varied as you’d expect when trees are donated but I was thrilled to see my first California Junipers and a few trees created by the pioneers of American bonsai. Condition and heath was generally good with only a few showing signs of stress. I fell in love with the Cali Junipers and a few of the olives. Also nice to see shohin getting a display in there even if a few of them were below par with the rest. Perhaps accents would have added to the whole display but again, this might be hard to maintain in an exhibit like this. Well done to all those who donated to make an exhibit like this possible for the public. I can only dream of something like this being possible in Ireland someday.

I was also lucky enough to visit another exhibit by the GSBF at Lake Merritt, but more on that later in the week.

Jun 17 2017

Huntington Gardens – Japanese Garden

Walking on from the Chinese Garden at Huntington, you could feel the change transitioning to Japan. The Tea House was special and there were some beautiful paths that always left you wandering what was around the next corner. The general landscaping was well manicured and full use of the grass areas was being made by the public. Here’s the gallery. Next up the trees from the bonsai display.

Jun 16 2017

Huntington Gardens – Chinese Garden

With so many photos to share, I’m going to break them down a little as I go. My visit, although brief, to Huntington Gardens, was a fantastic experience. Design wise the gardens are one of the best I’ve seen and everything looked in top condition. I got to visit both the Chinese and Japanese Gardens within Huntington as well as the Bonsai Exhibit, but more on that later. First up is the Chinese Garden. It was early in the morning and as the cloud cleared as I snapped away. Beautiful water features surrounded by bridges, buildings and great landscaping including some quality rock features. The detail in the paths alone impressed me.

There was a small display of bonsai/penjing , pretty much an after thought tucked away at the side of a path. A missed opportunity to create a Penjing display worthy of the garden. The Chinese Garden in in for a massive extension in the next few years. Perhaps a chance to rectify this? Here’s a gallery of what was on offer. The toad is real 🙂

Jun 15 2017

Jet Lagged!

Well, I’m home safe and have been trying to get get over my jet lag, worst I’ve ever had. I think I may have overdone just about everything on this trip. Nearly 3000 miles covered.

A holiday to remember and I plan to share all the photos here once I wade through the 3000+ images and edit what’s worth keeping. A massive thank you to all those who I met on my travels and took the time to show me trees. Here’s a few of them.

The biggest thanks however goes to my wife Allison for making it such an enjoyable trip. It would have been a fraction of the fun without you.

I’ll share my bonsai visits, those above and more, and also my visits to old growth trees in the wild. Some inspiring stuff. Stick with me while I get things in order.

May 16 2017

Walks Gallery

I’ve been doing a fair bit of walking this last month and of course the camera comes along. I have a few snaps I’m pleased with and thought to share them here.

Crawfordsburn Country Park

Scrabo Country Park

Killynether Woods

Scrabo Country Park

Scrabo Country Park

Nearly there

Orchids and Bluebells

Orchids and Bluebells Country Park

Hawthorn in Bloom

May 11 2017

The leftovers

Last week I did a bit of a tour of Ireland working with some of the chaps from the Munster Bonsai Club and even the odd Leinster man thrown in. I had a great week and was delighted to spend quality time with these guys. As I always say, Bonsai is as much about friendship to me as it is about the trees.

I did post each day last week but that was only a few quick snaps from my phone using the wordpress app. I’ve had time to wade through my camera and have added the leftover photos here for viewing. No order really, all a bit random, but I feel they capture the mood of the week. Thanks again folks for all your hospitality and for the kindness and understanding shown by your better halves. They all deserve a medal putting up with us lot for husbands 🙂

It was an awkward time to deliver work on many of the trees but we still managed some good work nudging trees in the right direction. Much planning was done for the future and hopefully some of the reasons why, when and how we do the work are a little clearer. Here’s the photos.

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Marks

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after plucking

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May 10 2017

A Middle of The Road Tree

Came across this Beech tree on my travels near Cahir Ireland. It may be a ‘Middle of the Road’ Tree, but it’s a beauty. Sadly probably not long left alive in this world. Some nice block work is helping though.