Oct 30 2013

Another Alder

Not just as stunning as the last one I shared in a reblog from El Tim but a nice progression all the same. This one’s for you Stephen.

This is now in the caring hands of the Bonsai Baker but the previous owner has sent me photos of it from a few years back when it started out. He actually grew this from seed!

I’m not sure what dates these where taken but the last two are from the workshop at the weekend.

Alder before

after

Oct 29 2013

The Weekend in Photos

Well, another busy workshop weekend done and dusted.

Peter braved the Irish sea yet again to bring his own special brand of bonsai education to our shores. I personally found both days very enjoyable. A massive thank you to my long suffering bonsai wife Allison who puts up with this malarkey 3 times a year. Not easy having bonsai folk two days solid at our home, they are a likable bunch, mostly 😉 but I always look forward to Monday night and putting my feet up.

A big thank you to Peter Snart who has now completed year 3 of the school with us. I’m pretty sure that most members of the club don’t quite realise the effort that’s involved in making the weekend work. Thank you Peter.

Here are some of snaps of out twos days.

Oct 23 2013

Another Gallery from European Bonsai Show in France

I’m just sharing links as I find them. This show looked amazing. Europe really has some amazing bonsai and artists at the moment.

Feel Spirit Bonsai

El Tim

Art Bonsai Dan

Oct 20 2013

Autumn or Not!

There are certainly signs of Autumn everywhere in the garden but some trees seem to be ignoring it!

The larch is still showing no sign of turning and it’s nearly November!

Oct 16 2013

Enfield Bonsai Group Autumn Show

Here are some photos from Enfield Bonsai Group Autumn Bonsai Show held at Capel Manor last weekend courtesy of Dan from the group, thanks mate..

Best Display – John Armitage

Best Tree – Ian Stewardson

Public vote – Mark & Rita Cooper

And a gallery of the rest including club entries and even a few demo pics.

Oct 14 2013

A Few New Accents

What! More accents I hear you say 🙂 These were exchanged in my now regular swap sessions with Robert Porch who was over talking at our Club meeting this Friday.

Two Soldanella Alpina, one is ‘Minima’ and the other is ‘Alba’ which as the name suggests, will have a white flower.

And also this one which I have seen in a few Japanese origin photos, but I don’t know the name. Ideas?

Oct 13 2013

Belgium Ardennes Gallery

My Dutch friend Harry, who always helps me out with photos from Bonsai Exhibits, obviously knows that I like a nice walk in the woods finding fungi to snap. I do this most Sundays with my dogs in tow.

Well, just to out do me 😉 he has sent me some photos from a recent visit to the Belgium Ardennes where he found many interesting fungi as well as some real life root over rock trees.

When I hear Ardennes I always think Battle of the Bulge, I’m a bit of a history buff as well! Always good to remember those who fought for their country, lest we forget.

Thanks for sharing Harry, I’m always happy to showcase here on the blog. That goes for anyone one else visiting exhibitions by the way 😉

Oct 12 2013

Twisted

I spotted this tree growing at the edge of St James Park in London just directly behind Downing Street.

It even had an armed guard 🙂

Oct 10 2013

London Baby!

A little Friends reference there for the lovers of the show.

Here is a few more from my very quick dander around the sights on Tuesday afternoon. Haven’t been in London for years and I rather enjoyed seeing the sights. Even better, I was there courtesy of work 🙂 I did have to attend a conference on Child Protection in the Digital World on the Wednesday, but that was rather good too. Sad I know!

Oct 8 2013

Air Layer Woe

Apart from one tree a few years back, my air layers have never failed. I always use the same method, strip a ring of bark, apply moss and wrap with cling film. I can usually remove within 4-5 months. It would be easy to only post about success on the blog, but we all know bonsai has it’s fair share of failures and woe 😉

This year I did two layers, one on a Japanese Maple and one on a Trident Maple. Both species I’ve layered before.

The maple was slightly different this time as I used a cut flower pot to hold the moss in place. The Trident was done as normal.

This was the result of the Japanese Maple.

Roots only issued from one place that were of use.

Some other roots appeared but from below the layer on the parent trunk.

The tree had managed to bridge an inch wide ring to rejoin with the parent trunk.

I removed the unwanted roots and any unwanted bridging callus. I then removed even more of the heartwood to be 100% sure that bridging wouldn’t occur.

This time I opted to use root hormone to stimulate the tree. I mixed power with water to make a paste which was applied to the area where roots are wanted.