Last post. { 2016 }

This is the last post from Ronin Bonsai for 2016 and I would like to wish all my friend's, family and visitor's a very happy and prosperous new year for 2017.

See you all next year.

No Bonsai Thursday.

Even though I did not have a Bonsai day today I thought I should still post something.

The sun setting and the street light's coming on, but it is 4-45 pm and still light, so the day's are getting longer quite fast.

This has to be good for the Bonsai.

After the storms.

We had a couple of storms over the Xmas period which have now gone and given way to a beautiful day, even though quite cold it is nice to see some sunshine in the garden.

As you can see the trees are still out on the benches enjoying the mid Winter sun.

Natter night 26th December 2016.

Turkey scoffed, mince pies devoured, back to normal.

Well next Monday it will be.

Storm damage.

The aftermath of storm Barbara, sounds quite bad but she was not as bad as was forecast.

Chinese Juniper in a Bigei pot just missed the stone dragon, lucky miss.

A small Yew having a lay down.

Another Chinese Juniper on the floor.

Squamata Juniper hanging between the shelves.

Lucky this was all the damage that was done.

Winter images.

A couple of my trees showing their winter images.

Hawthorn group.

Swamp Cypress.

Hopefully it will not be to long until we see new buds starting to show.

Only ten weeks or so!!

Natter night 19th December 2016.

Tonight was the last natter night for 2016 as next Monday is Boxing day and people will have plenty to do without messing about with little trees.

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Once again I was in the studio a little early and got started to wire this Larch.

Wiring almost done 

After tweaking and starting to look quite good.

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Meanwhile Ken M and Boxie removed the wire from this Scots Pine, { yet another of Ken's }

It also had a slight prune.

This tree looks very healthy and has grown a lot this year.

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Next are three trees that belong to Andy P.

A nice Shohin Chinese Elm

A Zelkova.

Acer Palmatum, an air layer from a couple of years ago.

For the last get together of this year it was a very enjoyable night.

To all my visitors and my blog follower's Have a very happy Xmas and a prosperous new year.

A little more work.

Today I did a little more work on my Squamata Juniper, this time on the deadwood at the top of the trunk.

This part had been left thicker to support a guy wire to pull the now apex into an upright position. This has now been achieved, so it was time to thin out this area of the trunk.

After a little more carving and a coating of lime sulpher mixed with some sumo ink to get the same colour and blend it together, it looks a lot better.

Back on the bench with the other trees.

It was getting dark by this time so I had to use the flash.

Bonsai Thursday.

Dave did not come over today as he is tucked up in bed with a dose of the flu, so not any work done to trees today, get well soon Dave.

However my trees are still out on the benches as the weather is still not bad enough to put them away under cover.

The temperature at Two pm.

Another visitor.

I have just had another visit from John R, who pops over now and then to see me and what I have been doing with my Bonsai.

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Here he is with Dave's Larch that was styled last week.

Always nice to see old friends.

Natter night 12th December 2016.

It turned into a very wet night but people still turned up for my natter night, sadly only one tree was brought along to be worked on.

This Cotoneaster brought by Susan G as she did not like some cut off stumps near the base and wanted to know how to deal with them.

This is one of the stumps before working.

The night seemed to turn into a carving lesson for Susan as I showed her how to make the stumps a little more natural.

These two stumps were roughly carved to show her how to make them look better.

I also showed her how to clean up existing deadwood and how to treat with deadwood preserver.

I did manage to do some work on this Larch of mine, which needed the main branch to be pulled closer to the trunk.

With the aid of a guy wire I managed to pull it a lot closer than it was.

All in all a good nights work.

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

Today Dave and myself had a good look at his Larch to try and decide how it should be styled. So after a good discussion we got started and I think we made the right choice.

How the tree looked a few weeks ago.

The apex was turned into Jin, but did not look right with the straight thick part.

We decided to do quite a bit of work on the Jin to try to improve the look.

Much more refined now.

How it turned out after styling.

Once the tree is repotted in Spring we will have another good look at the deadwood and maybe remove some more.

Temperature change.

I think the trees are going to be confused again this Winter as the temperature has suddenly gone up, about 11 degrees C today.

For the last week or so it has been below zero every night and most of the day as well.

I hope they do not start growing again and continue to have a good sleep.

Natter night 5th December 2016.

Fast becoming a regular at Natter night is Robert Porch as he turned up once again, tonight he gave us a lesson on what and when to work on Black Pines. A good lesson, very informative, enjoyed by all who came tonight.

As always the information is invaluable and everyone learned something new.

Robert also inspected my Squamata juniper that I have just wired and styled and gave me the thumbs up.

Just goes to show how much I must have learned.

Praise indeed from someone as good as Robert.

Cold.

A very cold morning today, even though it is 11-15 it is still frosty, though the sun has just come out.

The Juniper in bogwood looks very cold indeed.

I have also put the heater on in the studio in preparation for natter night tonight.

Perfect match.

I am hoping to match this Bigei pot to my Kokonoe White Pine in Spring time as I think they will look fantastic together.

When I went on the Bjorn workshop in Glasgow recently, I took the Pine and four pots to see which one Bjorn thought would look right and was pleased he thought as I did and picked this Bigei pot.

Roll on Spring.

On the benches today.

Winter is the season when the trees go to sleep, but they can still be beautiful to look at.

Chinese Juniper.

From the left, Hawthorn,  Squamata and Dawn Redwood.

Acer Palmatum.

Kokonoe White Pine.

Boulevard Cypress.

Just because the are sleeping they still have to be looked after, keep an eye on the weather. I do not mind them getting a bit of frost, but do not like them to be soaked in water, so when we get a lot of rain I usually put the under cover for protection.