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.

May 24 2012

Trident Thinning

My newish Trident Root over Rock needed a little attention. It had some extension growth and the canopy was dense stopping light reaching inner branches. I reduced the extension growth and removed some of the larger leaves from the outside of the canopy.

Before.

after..

Better for the tree I think.

Dec 19 2011

Flowering Cotoneaster!

I spotted this Cotoneaster had a few flowers opening, rather strange for December, but then, this has been a very strange year indeed!

Nov 10 2011

Autumn to Winter

I’ve been looking forward to seeing this Root over Rock Trident sans Leaves for the first time. This was it last week with the dregs of the Autumn colour hanging on.

A quick tap and things fell apart 🙂

Today I removed the last few leaves to see the structure and then allow me to pop it into the tunnel for the Winter.

I’m very happy with the ramification and all pruning wounds are perfectly healed over.

Oct 23 2011

Apex adjustment On Cotoneaster

This is the root over rock Cotoneaster that I air layered the apex off during the year.

Previous posts here:

Root Over Rock Cotoneaster

Air layerings

Air Layer Update

Air Layer Removals

I was putting it away for the Winter and gave the apex a final adjustment before I did. The new apex was a side branch that I’ve brought up using wire and a guy line. I have been doing this in stages during the year as it seemed prone to crack if it was done in one step.

I am looking forward to developing a new apex on this tree next year. By doing this I feel that I’m making my own mark/improvement on the tree after the hard work of the previous owner.

Oct 10 2011

My New Addition

This weekend I added this Root Over Rock Trident Maple to my Collection. I love working with Tridents and have always loved the root over rock ones that I’ve seen. I spotted this tree at Willowbog Bonsai a few weeks ago and Peter brought it over to NI for me on Friday. It has an interesting rock with a little pool area holding water and it looks like pretty decent ramification. Looking forward to seeing it bare in a few weeks time.

Sep 1 2011

Stephen’s Juniper Update

I’ve posted on this one a few times this year:

Root Over Rock Common Juniper

Root Over Rock Juniper Update

Yesterday, Stephen brought this tree back to my place for a de-wiring! All ready starting to bite in since April.

We looked over tree and the amount of growth and came to the decision that it was time to prune back. Stephen had let the foliage extend to allow the branches to lignify enough to hold the weight of the new foliage. The foliage on this variety, ‘Repanda’, is quite floppy. As you can see from the progression photos below, it has grown well.

In April before work

In April after wiring…

In June with some new growth.

…and yesterday. You can see how the shoots have extended and are now strong enough to hold the weight. They are even beginning to point upwards. Stephen had pinched the apex a few weeks back as it was very over grown and the wire was cutting in.

and this is it after pinching and de-wiring. Some branches will need to be re-adjusted. The pinching wasn’t done too hard as we wanted to allow extra foliage on the tree for health and photosynthesis .

Jun 13 2011

Root Over Rock Juniper Update

Whilst in Stephen’s garden today, I noticed the Juniper that we worked on at the end of April. (I actually couldn’t remember when we worked on it, but the beauty of this blog is that you can go back and check. ) Here’s a link to the original post ROR Juniper 30th April.

This was it in April.

and this was it today, oops, it’s 00.25, make that yesterday 🙂

Loads of new growth and no die back from wiring at all. Stephen needs to pinch, especially at the apex, to balance out the growth and vigour within the tree.

Apr 30 2011

Root Over Rock Common Juniper

Amazingly I didn’t post anything on the blog yesterday!! The main reason being the Royal Wedding…. only kidding, I was having a bit of a Royal Bonsai Day at my house with friends coming during the day to play with trees and have a bit of Craic.

First up was this Root over Rock Juniper possibly ‘Repanda’ owned by Stephen. When Stephen bought the tree about 5 years ago it was very overgrown and he has worked hard to get the foliage chased back enough to allow for this styling to take place.

Stephen and I got to work getting the whole thing wired. Well, Stephen drank about 3 pots of my coffee in the process 🙂

Maggie kept an eye on us from a hidden location.

Fully wired but as yet to be styled.

After some basic placement it became evident that the left hand side branch wasn’t required in the design.

We even considered a more brutal pruning option. This is an option for the future but there were concerns over losing a corresponding root by removing the branch all in one go.

Here is the final outcome.

Apr 24 2011

Root over Rock X2

My 2 root over Rock Cotoneasters are starting to flower. This first one is going to have the apex layered off next week. I would have already done it by now but I haven’t been able to get any sphagnum moss as yet!