This pot was a little more challenging as far as picking a suitable plant. I didn’t have much to choose from. I added two plants, and and happy with this as a starting point. As the plants mature I think it will come together well next year
Tag Archives: photos
Flower Show Extras
I took a few more shots at the Autumn Flower Show on Sunday, as the last set seems to be of interest to many of you, here are some more.
A general shot of the main marquee
Bonsai
Not much point trying to photograph all the trees as the clutter backdrop ruins the tree.
Plenty of cacti at the show, sadly some kid ran her nail down a prize winning one ruining it forever as far as competitive showing goes. Sometimes I wonder why we bother going to all this hassle to display here.
Almost tree like
Sunlight was catching these blooms just right through the window.
Mega veg
Floral arrangements
Even wine, everything was at this show.
This will be my entry for the Belfast Parks Photographic Competition next year 🙂
And in the grounds, the Rose Garden
An old Yew. I was admiring the nebari and took a photo, I think the Mum in the background thought I was taking photos of her kids climbing the tree!! I thought she was going to call the police.
They were just around the corner 🙂
Scot’s Pine
Giant’s Causeway Visitors Centre
I have been to the Giant’s Causeway numerous times in recent years. However since my last visit they have opened the new visitors centre. We decided to have a look as we where in the area. We didn’t bother actually going down to the causeway as the weather wasn’t great.
The new centre is built into the hillside to lower it’s impact on the environment.
This shows you just how sharp an angle the rain was driving in.
The centre is very interactive looking at the history, myths, and wildlife from the area.
Even the carpark looks like the causeway 🙂
The view looking down towards the causeway. This was out limit as time ran out.
Portstewart Strand
On my little trip out last Tuesday I took a few photos of local attractions. I’ll add them here as I get the time.
These were taken at Portstewart Stand on the North Coast. The good lady featured is my wife. This is one of our favourite places to take a walk.
The doughnuts on the beach weren’t mine. Allie wouldn’t let me 🙂
Spotted this chap spraying in the dunes. National Trust work hard to maintain this habitat. I wondered why some of the bushes were blue!
Fishing for sea trout.
Musenden Temple peeping between the hills.
Shags on the pier.
Emerging from the dunes onto the beach
Geese in flight
Stormy waves
Man Friday?
Wind blowing the sand along the beach.
And then it rained and I got soaked 😦
Autumn Flower Show
I was putting a few trees into the Autumn Flower Show for the Club on Friday and I took a few photos while I was there.
The show is set in the grounds of Botanic Gardens in the Centre of Belfast. The grounds contain some interesting features. I haven’t a clue what the cows are about!
This old yes is long over due collecting 🙂
A park character
Watching this old hand prepare his dahlias for show was nice to see. This is a dying art as shows such as this start to disappear. What a pity.
Some of the Dahlias on display.
Cacti also on display.
Probably one of the worst ways to display bonsai in competitive classes, no back drop, low tables etc but it still allows the public a chance to see bonsai and perhaps lift one of the club cards available on the tables.
Perhaps I’ll get a few more photos today when I collect the trees.
Hare!
When I was at Susan’s Home on Tuesday both her and her husband were telling me about a young hare that stays mostly in their garden, sometimes raiding the vegetable patch. Now, if you said it was a rabbit, it would be more believable, but a hare is well known as a shy animal and hard to get close too.
Well after about 45 minutes of standing talking about pots, this fella appeared in the vegetable patch. You can see how close I was able to get before he bolted for it. I have a spot spot for the Irish Hare. This is a young one with a lot of growing still before he reaches his majestic best.
Susan Francesca Hunter Accent Pots
Susan Francesca Hunter is a freelance designer living and working on the North Coast of County Antrim Northern Ireland. Susan works in a variety of mediums and scales from large public art work to smaller scale intimate ceramic and glass pieces. Susan has a B.A. Honours in 3-Dimensional design: Ceramics and a Post Graduate Diploma in Ceramics.
Susan has now turned her talent to the design and creation of accent and bonsai pots, and is willing to create bespoke pots on commission to fit your needs.
Below are some of her accent pots which she has graciously allowed me to add here on my blog for sale. These will be added to frequently to replace sold stock. If you see a pot that is already sold please supply me with the number and a similar but unique pot can be commissioned for you. This can be found at any time under the ‘For Sale’ Tab at the top of the blog.
You can also contact Susan direct :susan@susanfrancescahunter.com
These pots are £6.00 each or 2 for £10 +P&P
- SFH #001 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #001 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #002 £6.00
- SFH #002 £6.00
- SFH #003 £6.00
- SFH #003 £6.00
- SFH #004 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #004 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #005 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #005 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #006 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #006 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #007 £6.00
- SFH #007 £6.00
- SFH #008 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #008 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #009 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #009 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #010 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #011 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #011 £6.00 SOLD
- SFH #012 £6.00
- SFH #012 £6.00
Sneak Pot Preview
On Tuesday I visited Susan, a local Ceramic Artist, who had visited our club show back in June. She showed an interest in both the accent pots and bonsai pots in the display. Not wanting to miss an opportunity we both got talking and Tuesday saw me visiting her studio to collect a batch of accent pots.
We don’t have a single pot maker in Northern Ireland since Jackson Conn stopped making his excellent pots. Now Susan has appeared on the scene, I hope to make this one stick 🙂 As Susan doesn’t have a bonsai background, I was excited to see just what she would come up with after very little direction from me. I was delighted with the results and hopefully the club members will be too when I take her first batch to the meeting this Friday.
Here are two that I’m holding onto to whet your appetite. Watch this space, I will be adding a page of her pots here on the blog for anyone interested and will be giving you more information about Susan.
This was my favourite one. I love the glaze and design with the tilt to one side. I can just picture this with a fern or hosta.
This is the most unusual one of the batch! I’m sure it’s not to everyone’s taste but I just love it. Haven’t a clue as yet to what will go into it. I love the plaited clay design and the variation in colour on the pot.
Haw Haw
My Hawthorn Raft didn’t produce too many flowers this year. Not a problem really as it’s a long way to go before it’s the way I want to show it. It dropped most of it’s first flush leaves a week or so ago only leaving the later growth. This made the few haws more noticable.
Small Tortoiseshell
I’m amazed just how many of these Small Tortoiseshell butterflies are in my garden this year. Never seen so many.
Bonsai Eejit 