My walk on Sunday took me up to Scrabo Tower that overlooks my home town of Ards on one side and looks towards my birth City of Belfast on the other side. A great time to visit with the Bluebells in full bloom. I was joined on my walk as always by my friend Stephen aka the Bonsai Baker, and my son Daniel. Oh, and of course, Smudge, Maggie, and Stephen’s dog Rufus.
A Raven decided to sit and watch us for a while before it flew away.
No not sold, just a change of pot for it to live in. I have enjoyed immensely the journey in taking this tree from from my garden to Bonsai Europa last year. However I was never happy with the pot for any Winter image display. The pot is too large and lacks colour to lift a Winter image display. I have been looking around for a new pot for the tree for a while and this Spring I found what I was looking for from David Benavente.
This was the tree in Bonsai Europa last October.
The tree had been allowed to keep a larger amount of finer branching for the show to show more ramification and also try and get a better balance with the pot size. This resulted in a slightly unkempt image but one I liked. Very hard to prep an Escallonia for exhibition at this time of year.
Back to the present and I wanted to reduce the foliage mass to suit a smaller pot and help reset branches on this species. This needs to be done every few years to prevent inner branch die back anyway. It would also make for a more powerful image with a heavier trunk to branch balance. This is the tree after reduction. You can see how big the original Walsall pot looks now.
And this is the new pot, a pot from Tokaname made by Watanabe Kazuhiro (Ikkou). I feel in love with this one on sight. The glaze with green with an underlying blue, turning blue at the base in drips was just stunning.
Getting the tree ready, time for a proper repot. This tree has always been robust and after a chop back I was confident that a full repot could be carried out.
A watering in.
And potted up in it’s new home.
Top dressed with a moss mix. It will take a few months to fill in again but it will make all the difference to the final image.
Photos don’t do this pot justice. The colours and age of the pot are just perfect. The tree was repotted about 4 weeks ago and the tree is budding up nicely with plenty of adventurous back budding to boot. It next outing, all being well with be our clubs Bonsai 30 event this September.
Better late than never!
I had the pleasure of attending a workshop with Jim Doyle organised by the Munster Bonsai Club back on the 23rd April.
Jim was visiting Ireland and the guys got a rare opportunity to to work with one of America’s premier bonsai artists. Jim began with a presentation about yamadori and collecting in the States. Some interesting stories shared and proves that if you want the best yamadori you have to go to great lengths to get it.
Jim then did a run through of the trees that were to be the focus of the workshop followed by some work Photos below capture the day.
We finished off with a great meal in a local pub finishing in the wee hours 🙂
After the success of last year’s Kusamono workshop I am pleased to announce the first of 2 workshops in 2016. In an effort to further the knowledge and interest in kusamono I’m holding a workshop on Saturday 4th June starting at 1pm in Newtownards.
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 £30 includes 5 plants (to a max value of £25) 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. One training tray will be supplied as part of the workshop with others available to purchase.
Last year we found participants also swapped and shared plants that were being split during planting, so you might go home with more than you bargained for.
The 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 creations.
Here are some photos from last years workshop.
The mucky hands part of the session.
An example of the kusamono created on the day.
Mossballs kokedama created on the day.
All the final pieces.
Magic Ceramics available to buy
Had a great day with friends in Dublin on Sunday at the ‘Experience Japan’ Event.
Together with members from 3 bonsai clubs in Ireland we displayed a few bonsai and had a catch up. The trees were from a wide range of people all with different levels of experience. It was great to catch up with a few old faces as well.
For more photos CLICK HERE and visit the Bonsai Ireland site.
I’ve just uploaded a new selection of Magic Ceramics accent pots to my FlickR Album. Some fantastic pots from Maciej Targosinski including some Kusamono dishes, tiles and even bonsai pots these days. It always pays to support local talent. Prices are given on each photo description. Give me a shout via Contact Me if you are interested.
I know I’ve probably mentioned the auction being held by my local club before, but for those who missed it be sure to check out the new trees just added, among them are a few very tasty Beech trees that have been developed over 25 years.
All the auction trees are now residing at my place and can be viewed here before the auction, just contact me first as climbing the fence results in dog bites and a lead injection 😀
Here’s the beech, and the auction page can be checked out HERE.
I had hoped to get to this Berberis Clump sooner to do a little initial wiring but the tree had other ideas. As it’s been in this big plastic training pot for a few years I decided it was still ok to repot now and make it a little more manageable around the garden. I also wanted to get a closer look at the base to help me make my mind up on a front. For some older posts about it see, HERE, HERE and HERE
This was one option for the front. I’d chatted with Peter Warren about the tree when he was last here. He liked this option but said it would always look like a garden tree. He pointed out another option.
This is his option which I also love. Either would make a great tree. Time for a closer look.
Plenty of fine root in there
I didn’t have a lot of pot options but this one actually fitted the bill ok. Loppers show scale of this big fella.
A few alterations
and a few more…
And this is the final result. An even better base that I thought, still loads to do to make a bonsai out of this but I think it’s a keeper.
Another Hawthorn wired out before bud break. Not the best time to do this with the sap rising and branches being a little more brittle, but I didn’t want to miss another year. I was stabbed repeatedly even after thorn removal. You never get all the little buggers! This was it before.
And afterwards.
and me for scale
Shop for quality bonsai
bonsai and garden
The Kaizen Bonsai Blog
Teaching, Learning, Enjoying Bonsai
The ramblings of an old artist and someone who would like to grow better bonsais trees
my bonsai
My wood creations
Hand Crafted Furniture
Creativity Through Bonsai
dirt leaves flowers
bonsaï | vidéo | Japon - ActuBonsaï
Japan's aesthetic, craftsmanship and spirit
Bonsai with a hint of madness...
"Tibolar-RS. your soil needs it, your plants will love it"
Bonsai Eejit 