Mar 1 2014

Friday Night Lights ….

… in the garage 🙂

Some friends came over last night to do a little tree work, mostly repotting, well, that’s not true, it was mostly banter and craic 😉

Ian B’s Cotoneaster

Michael the Wirer

Bertie’s Shohin Larch parade

Ben’s Pyracantha Lump

The gathering

Ben’s Trident before repot

Cotoneaster after repot

Ian B’s Mugo after repot

John Larch project

Still wiring

Hornbeam heave

Graham Juni

The lump repotted

Ian B’s Pyracantha before repot

Trident After repot

Pyracantha after repot

Hornbeam after repot

Feb 27 2014

Accent of the Month

Not much in the way of good looking accents in February but this little one never fails to please.

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 25 2014

Image

Coal Tit Visitor

This little Coal Tit has become a regular visitor to my Living Room window where he is keen to find insects on the window frame. He announces himself with a tap tap with his beak 🙂 He perches on trees outside before launching himself toward the glass.

Feb 24 2014

Spring Macro

Some Spring Macro shots, sad that I’m getting excited 🙂

Cedar

Dwarf Iris

Hawthorn

Larch

Fuji Cherry

Crassula from Jose 🙂

Rosemary

Moss on Tufa Rock

Colts Foot

Saxafragia

Feb 22 2014

Hawthorn Pot Change

Yesterday’s post saw me changing the pot on my Fuji Cherry, and this Hawthorn was the recipient of the old pot. I know nothing about this pot other that it looks old, with nice patina. I bought a tree in it and I have a feeling that I got a bargain. There’s no stamps anywhere, I’d love to know a little more about it. The last pot for the hawthorn was matt brown, ok as a training pot, but not doing to much for a fast developing Hawthorn. Loads of roots from the last repot and I was able to make a few adjustments to improve the base this time around.

This was the old pot back in November.

Feb 21 2014

Fuji Cherry

I repotted this fuji Cherry last week. I wasn’t happy with the lack of growth last year and wanted a look at what was going on with the roots. I also wanted to us the current pot for another tree. It is showing signs of flowering and I wanted to act now as it leafs out before the flowers finish.

Root growth had been poor in the 3 years that it’s been in this pot. I changed the mix and transferred it into a different pot.

A bit of TLC this year and nurture this one along I think. This was it a few years ago in Flower.

And a link to other seasonal photos of this tree.

Feb 20 2014

Ben’s repotting

and Ben’s trees from Saturday’s session.

A large Juniperus Squamata getting it’s first proper pot, this one from Ibuki via Willowbog Bonsai.

He was muttering something about nasal hair 😉

Looks like the wire is stuck in my eye!!

Tying in

Ibuki Pots

Potted up ready for further development this year. He can now lift it unaided 🙂

Deadwood ready for carving Mr Snart ?

Ben’s second tree was a very unusual literati Pyracantha. Still early days in it’s development but Ben needed to get it into a smaller pot to save a hernia operation!

Potted into another Ibuki Pot

And Ben’s 3rd tree of the day was this Boston Ivy, can’t wait to see this one in leaf Ben.

Feb 19 2014

Stephen’s Repotting

Stephen, Ben and Michael came to my home on Saturday to do a little repotting. I was doing a few trees of my own and it’s good to have company, advice and extra hands available.

Stephen brought two trees with him, an Alder, and a Korean Hornbeam.

Alder before

and after, what a difference a pot makes

and his Hornbeam before

And after, again, pots make a big difference!

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.