May 11 2011

Yew Work, I’ll just Watch

Worked on a Yew with Stephen today at his place. It recently had some basic carving started by Peter Snart of Willowbog. The foliage pads were full looking but the structure was a real mess. It had also been attacked by a little grub that had been working it’s way through the finer branches. We gave it a clearing out and wired some, not all of the pads to create better structure.

This was it back last year.

This was it today after some adjustments.

I’m going to play about with it on Photoshop and try and show how the tree will look when it fills out. It has a lot of filling to do!!!

May 8 2011

Scrap metal

I ended up with a nice pile of scrap metal yesterday after taking the wire off these two. Both were wired during the Autumn/Winter and they were right at the limit of cutting in. I usually get a bit longer that this but this year seems to be a good one for putting on girth, at least that’s what the bathroom scales are telling me!!

Apr 20 2011

Muckers Day Out

Mariusz came up from Dublin for the day and, after some time in my own garden, we popped over to Stephen’s place for a look around. We then moved on to ‘fun time’ Frankies with a quick look at Phil’s mountainside thereafter and then back to mine for food and wiring. A great wee day out and about in the glorious sunshine.

Here’s a few snaps of the day.

Mariusz, Phil and Stephen

"That one with chips please"

San Jose Juniper

Scots Pine

Yew

Chamaecyparis

Closer inspection

Apr 4 2011

Back to Front

I snapped a few pics of these two yesterday. First is a field grown Silver Birch. I popped it into this pot last month. It was lifted from the ground 2 years ago and has only been clip and grow to this stage. I’m reluctant to wire too much as they drop branches for fun after wiring. I plan to build up some ramification this year and then work on the deadwood cuts in the Autumn.

Here’s the front and back, you decide which is which 🙂

This little Yew was also field grown. Out of 15 growing in open ground, this one decided that fattening up wasn’t for him. It remained quite small and I have decided to keep it as a shohin. I styled it last year and I’m hoping for plenty of growth this year to start filling out the image. Again, front and back below.