Tidal Surge

The last few weeks have been grim here weather wise. Every other day seems to bring in a storm front with high winds. I lost my greenhouse door a few weeks back and have had other minor damage done around the garden, thankfully my trees are ok.

Today I was working near Newcastle in County Down, a coastal town. High winds and a Spring Tide combined to create a tidal surge. I took my camera along on the off change and got a few snaps. I wasn’t getting any closer as a few folk got a cold shower for their efforts while I was watching. A wee video too.

Jan 2 2014

Elm Adjustments

I have been making a few decisions with this field grown Cork Bark Elm. It was styled a few years ago and since then I have been building up ramification and girth to lower branches.

This year saw a lot of growth but a lot of this wasn’t in the right places. The wire had been removed last Winter and during the year they have risen out of the desired profile. The finer growth is too dense in places to the detriment of inner areas.

I spent an hour the other afternoon wiring the primary and secondary branching and thinning out the dense areas to create proper structure. Although this has reduced the size of the overall tree, in a negative way, the structure left is correct and I will be able to quickly replace the ramification. I did manage to snap a little branch near the apex. Didn’t see that pruning wound from last year which had created a weak spot. At least at the apex it can be replaced quickly.

The foliage mass needs to be at least twice as much as it is now, but that’s part of the enjoyment of deciduous bonsai, no quick fixes.

Dec 30 2013

Valerie’s Hornbeam

Another one from Valerie’s collection, this time it’s a Korean Hornbeam that has great ramification but was in need of some structural pruning.

This is it thinned out a bit. Needs a few branches wired to get things into position.

Dec 29 2013

Valerie’s Larch Group

I’m doing a little Winter care for Valerie at the moment and have her collection here with me. This Larch group is one of my favourites. Bought about 6 years ago from Willowbog Bonsai and had previously been part of a large collection of larch owned by an enthusiast in Scotland.

For personal reasons Valerie wasn’t able to get near her trees too much in recent years but is now all guns blazing and is determined to make the best of her collection. I saw this group a few months ago and told her it would need to be wired over the Winter. She took me at my word and had it fully wired for the December meeting. A great effort made with the wiring. A few issues with it as I pointed out to her on the night, a little too much wire and some not applied correctly but the biggest compliment I can pay her is that it was functional, I could place every branch without changing the wire. Many struggle to get this right.

I did a little shaping and pruning and this is what it’s Winter image looks like now.