Jul 12 2012

Mouldy Old Spruce

Stephen and I took a closer look at the Spruce we collected back in February. They have been in a poly tunnel all this time and have been way in the back were it was hard to check. With me being rather indisposed of late, it’s been hard to keep a close eye on what was happening. All looked good from the front, but when we got a closer look, we found that one of the Spruce had a patch of bad mildew due to poor air circulation and high humidity.

Stephen hoses out some old needles that had gathered in the dense foliage, this hadn’t helped with the mildew either.

The other side of the tree is still covered with lush growth.

It had been in the back corner.

Stephen slipped along the side and opened up all the air vents to allow for better circulation. That keg is really starting to get in the way!!

What was good to see was new roots emerging on all the Spruce. They are in pure Sphagnum moss.

We’ve just got the second budding and also signs of good back budding as well.

Jul 10 2012

Back Among my Babies

My good friends Stephen and Vanessa popped down today and as usual Stephen offered to water for me. Good fun checking out the growth in the garden and inspecting some of our recently collected trees. I’ll post a few pics over the next few days. Here is me in among the benches again and even practising my left handed pinching technique 🙂

Stephen hard at work.

Jul 9 2012

Japanese Black Pine

This is the latest addition to my collection. A shohin Japanese Black Pine with a built in Accent 🙂

Jul 7 2012

Elm Update

This is the post about some work carried out on a shohin Cork Bark Elm

This is the Elm now after 3 weeks growth.

Jul 6 2012

Foliage

Sad perhaps, but sometimes foliage makes me happy 🙂 I love looking over the benching and seeing the different colours.

Yes, very sad indeed!

Jul 5 2012

Shohin Maple

My shohin Maple leafing out after defoliation.

Jun 28 2012

Lucky Escape

We’ve had some heavy rain here for the last few days. Luckily for me, my town has escaped the worst of it. It was nice to be able to skip watering for a few days 🙂

Some parts of Belfast were not so lucky. BBC News Belfast Flooding Feel bad for those who have had their homes ruined.

But this made me smile, They had to bring in the Police Dive Team 😀

Jun 27 2012

Hostas Nearly There

A few of my hostas are teasing me with flower heads!

Cracker Crumbs

Jun 26 2012

Kalgoorlie Tree

My sister, who lives in Perth, Western Australia, posted this photo on Facebook recently. She was in Kalgoorlie and took this photo of a tree at Lake Ballard. A strange looking place. I guess she knew I’d like the photo 🙂

You can just see where the tree is to the right at the top of the island.

Some strange Sculptures on the salt flats.

Those Irish get everywhere 🙂

Jun 23 2012

Mario Update

Another Mario tree update. If you haven’t got a clue why I’d be doing this, CLICK HERE

First up is his Satsuki Azalea. It’s a variety called Subaru, so I’m told. I always thought the flower colour was equal throughout this tree, as you can see, I was wrong. Nice shades of pink.

Next up is his Japanese White Pine that has budded strongly this year.

His Korean Hornbeam that got a major haircut to produce back budding on some leggy branches. It’s working.

This is his Japanese Black Pine. It had been in a small pot and I thought that while he was away for a while we could get faster development from this tree by putting it in a bigger pot. I opted for a pond basket to improve the roots.