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Welcome to my blog. My diary of my life in the Bonsai world.





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Friday 30 March 2018

Another Bonsai day.

Once again I have had another Bonsai day, this time with Susan G, who wanted help to repot a couple of trees.
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The first one, this nice Larch, looks good in it's new pot.


As does this Maple in a very nice WSC pot.


I enjoyed teaching Susan the way to repot her trees, just as much as she enjoyed learning.

Thursday 29 March 2018

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

Dave arrived once again with a couple of bags, which had me wondering what he had brought this time.
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No need to wonder, it was some pots, this one a Chinese pot is destined to have a Maple in it.


Probably this one, when we get it more refined.


This pot already has a tree in it, a Crab Apple which has not been repotted for about ten years.


Now in fresh compost we expect this tree to have a very good growing season.

Wednesday 28 March 2018

Wednesday Bonsai night.

I have had a very busy night with Tony W and John R tonight and enjoyed every moment of it.
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Tony brought this Mugo pine, mainly for some advice on how to open it up to allow light to get to the inside and so produce some health and back budding.


Only one branch was removed, but has done the job.


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John's tree, a Swamp Cypress, which has had this hollow in the trunk for a number of years.
He wanted to know if it could be filled to look a little more natural.


I started with an old dead trunk and adapted it to fit.


It takes quite a while to do.


But worth the effort.


A few coats of Lime Sulpher will help to make the whole of the deadwood the same.


He was very pleased with the end result.




Tuesday 27 March 2018

Before and after Itoigawa Juniper.

I have just come across this photo of the Juniper I potted last night when I first bought it.
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Then.

Now.

Looks much better now.

When it get's dark.

Who put the lights out.
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Natter night 26th March 2018.

As I said last night here is the full post of my natter night, I was a little tired and was not up to tapping at the keys for half an hour.
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This Itoigawa Juniper was the second one that I worked on with Bjorn last year.


It was repotted into a very nice Stone Monkey pot.


I love the new combination of tree and pot.


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Ken M brought this Japanese Black Pine for a change of inclination in the pot.


After it was moved.


Then Boxie had a tweak to place a few branches.


Now much more balanced, it will be trimmed later in the year.


Another good night's work done.

Monday 26 March 2018

Taster for tomorrow.

I will be posting a full report on my Natter night tomorrow morning, but for now here is a taster of one thing that was changed.
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Watch out for the full post.

Out again.

After a very hard frost last night, the sun has decided to shine once more, so I have put most of my trees back on the benches.
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Sunday 25 March 2018

Sunday Bonsai.

I am having a rest day today after a busy day up at Brian's yesterday, but I still go out into the garden to check that all my trees are alright.
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Hawthorn group budding up nicely.


Maple buds almost open.


Hemlock just starting to move.


Two Itoigawa Junipers, from cuttings.


Small Azalea, also from a cutting.


I love Spring when every thing starts to grow.



Saturday 24 March 2018

A day in Brian's garden.

Today Boxie and I spent the day working on trees in Brian's garden
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Brian was removing wire from some of his trees in the shed.


Boxie started to wire this large Larch.


Still removing wire.


I removed the wire from this Hornbeam.


Then I went and helped to wire the Larch outside in the sun.


Still plenty of work to do, but we ran out of time.


If we have the time next weekend we will try to finish it then.

Friday 23 March 2018

First flower's.

The first flower's have appeared on one of my Larch trees.
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I believe it is a European Larch.


Because of the red colour of the flower it is a female.


Still more to come.


This dwarf strawberry is also in flower.


Spring is almost here.

Thursday 22 March 2018

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

The task for today was to find out what was in this tub and what had any roots.
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This tub has been sitting in the garden for a number of years and today was the day for separation of the various bits that had been pushed in over time.


After removal from the tub, a good sign, plenty of roots to work with.


The first one separated, this small piece of Hawthorn.


Second one out, a bigger Hawthorn.


Next, a Hazel.


An Itoigawa juniper.


A very small piece of Yew.


Another Itoigawa juniper.


All of these had some nice roots on, so they were potted up with a mixture of Sphagnum moss and compost. they will be kept in a green house for a while to give them a chance to recover.

I like free trees.

Wednesday 21 March 2018

Scary time.

Hope you don't get to much of a fright off this photo.


Tuesday 20 March 2018

Another Bonsai Night.

I have had another Bonsai night when John R and Tony W came over for some help and advice. Tony was first with a bare rooted Hawthorn that had just been collected, he thought he had not got enough root with it, but I have seen Hawthorn with a lot less survive quite well.


It was potted into a fairly deep pot with some good compost and will be kept out of any frost that we may still get.
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Then John arrived with a Crab Apple that he had air layered about a year ago, which he thought had failed and died.


As you can see, in the photo above, the bottom of the trunk was very straight and John wanted to layer the three branches that were left. But after I suggested layering about two inches below the first branch, so it had a thicker base to start with , he liked the idea better.
So that is what we did.


Before removing the section that was originally layered I scraped a little bark, which was still green and so was still alive. we cut the plastic and found quite a lot of roots on the bottom. This was then placed into a small pot with a lot of sphagnum moss added then watered in. On closer examination the buds near where it was removed were starting to swell, fingers crossed it will be ok.


I thought I had retired last year, but it seems to be turning into a full time { unpaid } job.
I wouldn't have it any other way.