Jun 4 2013

PHEW!!

Well, that’s the long weekend over. Had a great time but am exhausted!

Bonsai School on Saturday, Workshop on Sunday and a Whirlwind Tour of Northern Ireland on Monday. I have heaps of photos to share and you’ll get drip fed over the next few days as I try and squeeze posts in around my real work and the fast approaching Phil and Suse Wedding.

To start, here are some general shots from Saturday’s Bonsai School.

The start

The Students

The Happy Bunch

TheCalm before the storm

The gathering

The dealing

The revenge

The coffee drinker

The browsing

The decision

The beauty

The offer

The rejection

The deal

The flying dog

The Sunshine

The snap

The study

The spin

The end

Jun 1 2013

Garden Shots

May 31 2013

May Accents

Sea Thrift

Sea Thrift

Mukademia

Wild Strawberry

Hosta Tumbelina

May 30 2013

Flowering Cotoneaster

I’ve had this Cotoneaster for 19 years and this year sees it going through a few changes in it’s pot, deadwood and also a few design changes with some new growth. More on that later in the year. For now I’m just enjoying the flowers. It flowers from the top down for some reason this this was the optimum time for the photo. Another few days and the ones at the top will be gone.

May 29 2013

Korean Hornbeam May Progress

This was it back on May 9th

And this is it yesterday.

It’s been the coldest Spring here in 30 years and everything is darn right sluggish to get going. It’ll be interesting to see how this affects the rest of the seasons this year.

May 28 2013

Sumo Chop Cotoneaster

This Cotoneaster was collected from a garden back in January. It’s going to be a sumo bonsai 🙂 Fat short tree with taper. When it was lifted I left a few longer bits on it with foliage to indicate how the health was progressing after collection. It’s doing very well and has back budded onto the trunk. I have therefore removed the unwanted bits and can now they it grow unchecked this year. A longish term project with plenty of carving required to tidy up the cut ends but it’ll make a reasonable image.

May 27 2013

Field Grown #4 Yew

Another field Grown Yew. This one has quite a bit of character when you see it in the flesh. It’s been on the sales page here for a while and instead of it sitting for another year without any work down, I have went ahead and gave it the initial styling. It now has a good basic skeleton structure to work from and build a nice little tree. A few too many branches retained but these can be removed as the tree fills.

May 27 2013

Field Grown #3

This is a little Shohin Yew grown from a cutting. Out of all the Yew field grown, this one did the least growing, as it turned out, not a back thing. This is it front and back before and after a light trim.

May 26 2013

Field Grown #2 Wild Pear Pyrus Communis

Again, 8 years in open ground and just one major chop. Aiming for a broom type image. Last year it got free growth and this is it now after a pruning back to the original shape.

May 26 2013

Field Grown #1 Cydonia oblonga?

A few of my field grown trees. Early days but they are starting to shape up. If I had it all to do again I would make a better job of the field grown material. Like most things in this hobby, once you have it sussed, it’s already too late 😀

First up an unknown species of tree, I have been calling it a Celtis for years but after a little help over on Wee Trees Bonsai Forum recently Alain K produced leaves from a tree in his garden that were identicial. It was a pear tree that had been grafted onto Cydonia oblonga, the common Quince . I have two of them and have had them both for sale for yonks, but no one wants a tree when they don’t know what it is! I am therefore going to make the best of this one and keep it for myself. (other one still for sale if anyone’s interested :201thumbup: )

I has grown really strongly this year in the poly tunnel and I lifted it out to do some pruning.

As I started trimming I quickly noticed a lot of Caterpillars on the inner leaves where they couldn’t be seen. I have never done a full defoliation on this tree but decided to go ahead and do one now. A safe way of removing the pests and also allowing me to adjust the branch structure and do a little wiring. This is it after defoliation.