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

Phil The Fingers Stag Night

If you follow this blog you’ll know that one of my closest friends, in bonsai or otherwise, is Phil, known for doing his best to get a two fingers salute into every photo I try and take.

Well, Phil has found someone that is willing to marry him, and I’ll be honest, he’s punching well above his weight 😉

Last night saw a few of us head out for an amazing meal at Macau on the Ormeau Road in Belfast and then on to a local bar for a few drinks. Some of us missed the real stag night and we decided to do a night out in Belfast instead.

Not many photos taken, but this one taken by ‘Eeyore’ also known as Mark, Phil’s brother and best man, pretty much sums up the night.

From left to right, Stephen the Bonsai Baker, me, tucked away at the back as I didn’t even bother to wear a proper shirt, Phil who you will notice is actually a lot smaller than Stephen, and lastly Sam, who yes Mark, is my brother 😉

Highlights of the night, good company, good food, Hugh’s Japanese toilet story, Phil kissing the bouncer and getting a kiss back, the Froch v Kessler fight, me not wearing a stripey shirt, and the best one, Eeyore not knowing that Sam was my brother. I can vaguely remember something about white shoes too!

Phil lining up the jagerbombs