Aug 2 2012

Escallonia Frog

This fellow seems to have taken up permanent residence in my big, recently collected, Escallonia. He buries himself in the sphagnum moss that I’ve used for top dressing and when I water, he climbs to the top of the tree for a shower. Great to have him about.

Aug 1 2012

Renewal

This little Rowan has found a spot to grow. It has self seeded into the top of this rotting fence post.

Jul 31 2012

Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery

When I attended the BSA Show back in March I was very impressed by some of the accent planting. My favourite ones included a bronze animal element. This first one was my pick of them, two fighting hares in the long grass, displayed by Ian Warhurst.

This one was also excellent, a kingfisher in the reeds displayed by Bob Baillie.

and this one showing a frog hiding in the undergrowth, I think this one was Simon Haddon’s but I may be wrong. Can anyone confirm?

Having seen these I grabbed bought a few animals from one of the Show Traders with a view to doing something similar.

Today I was bored, this broken wing is cramping my style. We have a show coming up in September and it would be nice to include my two animals among the accents, this is what I’ve come up with.

First up is my rabbit in the long grass.

I love this one. About 20 years ago I’d have had the shotgun out for this fella but I’ve mellowed 🙂

Next was a crane, or I think it’s a crane! I wanted to do a riverside accent similar to Bob’s Kingfisher. Not as convincing as his but I think the blue pot adds the impression of water.

Jul 30 2012

The Bane of My Life

Never seen a year like it for these buggers!!!

Jul 28 2012

Edilweiss Accent

My Edilweiss Accent reaching its peak.

Jul 27 2012

Hardening Off

I decided yesterday to do a little shuffling of trees that had been collected in the Spring. Well, when I say me, I mean my two sons working under my direction.

Most where still in poly tunnels and I wanted to get them out to harden off a bit. The foliage as you can see here shows that most have responded well after collecting. There was a mixture of Scots Pine, Spruce and Larch.

I’m running rather low on space!! Had to add a few temporary benches to facilitate them.

All squeezed in! With trees visiting on holiday care it’s a tight fit!

Jul 26 2012

And They’re Out..

Hosta flowers finally made an appearance. Thought I would share before they are washed away by the rain!

Jul 25 2012

Proof of Life #3

By now you are thinking that I actually have no bonsai of my own and my garden is full of other peoples trees! You might be right!!

This one is for Valerie. Her Arakawa Maple was in desperate need of major pruning and a major repot at the Willowbog workshop back in May. As the tree was already in full leaf, we opted to defoliate, prune and repot all in one go. I decided to keep it for the Summer for some special aftercare. This is it now. I think you should be happy with this Valerie 🙂

Jul 24 2012

Proof of Life #2

This one is for Geraldine and in a way Mr Snart as well. I have been looking after these two trees since the last Willowbog Bonsai workshop. I just want to update Geraldine on the progress.

First is her Itogawa Juniper. It had been slow to respond after the work done last Autumn and Peter suggested that we repot into a larger pot with a greater surface area to push it on. The old mix was compacted and the pot was restrictive. This seems to have done the trick.

Next up is her Shohin Trident Maple root over rock. It was defoliated and repotted to deal with similar problems to the Juniper. I have already had to shorten extension growth twice since then.

Jul 19 2012

Tray Revision

Hard to believe, but despite the rain here this month, there has still been a few days were my accent/mame gravel trays have dried out too fast. On the advice of a friend I decided to swap the grit, which was quite large, with small grain clay [tesco cat litter].

I wasn’t able to do this on my own due to the shoulder so I recruited my son Matthew to help out. He has an interest when I can eventually pull him away from the computer.