Natter night 30th January 2017.

Ken M was the only one to bring a tree tonight but it was a very nice Scots Pine.

A very healthy tree, Ken started to apply wire but did not get very far as the tree is so full of foliage.

This was then tweaked a little.

Then a slight clip. We thought maybe a slight turn in the pot would look better, which we will look at again when the tree has been fully wired.

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I meanwhile did a styling on this Shohin sized Chinese Juniper.

Thinned out and wired.

It needs to be repotted a better angle, but that will be done maybe next year when the tree has recovered.

Back on the bench looking more like a tree.

Pot hunter.

If you are going to the Noelanders show, keep a look out for me and say hello, I will be the one with no hair looking at the pot stands.

Hope to see you there.

You can print off this photo and place it on the mantle piece to keep the kid.s away from the fire.

Five more sleeps.

Only five more sleeps until we set off on our trip to the Noelanders Trophy.

From home.

Through France.

On to Hasselt, in Belgium.

A trip of over 1000 km each way.

But what a trip.

Noelanders Trophy 2017

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

Another nice sunny day here but quite cold outside, however it is warm in the studio.

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This Squamata Juniper was the tree that had some work done today, it needed a bit of a tidy up and a thin out.

After work and back on the bench , all ready for the coming season.

We will not be meeting up next Thursday as I will setting off for Belgium and the Noelanders show.

Natter night 23rd January 2017.

A really good and busy night, which always happens when I plan to do one of my own trees, there was five trees brought along to have some work done.

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I did however manage to get some work done to my Squamata Juniper.

Back on the bench with some of my other trees.

Boxie brought his Hornbeam to be dewired.

Which he had some help from Susan.

You can also see Ken working on a small Hawthorn, with a young Larch on the bench.

This is a closer view of the Larch.

It was transplanted at an angle in this Cascading pot, without disturbing the roots.

Ken then started to wire.

After styling it looks much more mature.It will now be kept frost free until spring.

This is the Hawthorn Ken was working on.

Andy P brought along this Juniper, of unknown variety, to have a clip out.

After thinning out.

Yet another enjoyable and busy night.

My tree for tonight.

Just in case no trees turn up for natter night I have put this Squamata Juniper in the studio to work on.

It needs a trim and some wire removed.

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

Today when Dave came over we had a look at this Hawthorn tp see if we could correct some of the faults it has.

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The main fault is the center branch on the left, which just does not look right to me.

I tried lifting the end of the branch to make a separation from the lower branch, Not good, so try something else.

A change of viewing angle, better but it makes the thicker part look very flat.

We came up with the idea of splitting the branch to enable it to be pulled up, then lowered the pad to be more in line with the apex.

I think this is a better option once the branch is lifted a little more.

Another clean up.

Today I thought I would do a clean up on my Hawthorn group.

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It is a good time of year to do this work as you can see the branch structure better and remove any growth that can not be seen when in full foliage.

Just by removing crossing branches and any parts that have grown into thick knuckles, it opens up the canopy really well. I also took the opportunity to clean up the surface of the compost. I am also contemplating a repot this spring as this group has been in this pot for about ten years now and could benefit from it.

I also noticed the Black birds are starting to look in the pots for grubs and making a mess of the benches.

It's not as if I don't feed them as I have loads of food out for them.

Natter night 16th January 2017.

A quiet night ,so we spent the night taking wire off some of my trees,not the job I like doing.

The first to be done was this Boulevard Cypress.

The branches have now set, so I can now work on the foliage pads. The weeds were also removed from the top of the compost.

These two Chinese Junipers were also dewired.

As was this Chinese Juniper.

A good job done.

Turn table.

Having been given a base off a swivel chair, I have turned it into another turn table for working on the trees.

Just some bits of decking board and a few screws.

Not only swivels but lifts and lowers as well.

It will be useful in the workshop.

Blizzard conditions.

Well it looks like the forecast for snow last night was slightly wrong.

So the trees will remain on the benches a bit longer.

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

A very cold day with the forecast of snow sometime today, but Dave and I had a good day in the studio, working on his Yew tree.

This tree was repotted last year and just left to recover, as it is now showing really good colour and health we decided to wire and style it today.

After the work was finished and a slight change in planting angle it now looks like a tree, rather than a bush.

The extra length on the Shari has just been drawn on with chalk to show how it will be done in the future.

Two more Larch.

Today John R brought two Larch trees over to get some advice on, which I was able to help with and he went away quite happy.

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This one, John has grown from seed he planted in 1991, was already wired and styled.

This second one, also from seed in 1989, and still to be wired and styled.

John thought it needs some foliage between the first and second branch on the left and has left the small extension that can be seen. I suggested a thread graft to enable a new branch to be grown into that area, which he thought was a good idea, and will do it in the spring time before the buds start to swell.

Two very nice trees.

Natter night 9th January 2017.

Even though I was a bit under the weather with a slight dose of flu and not fully in the mood for Bonsai, I still enjoyed the night with the regulars who turned up.

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Tonight's first tree was this Cedar Andy brought, it needed to have the wire removed, which was done by Andy and Boxie.

This tree has really grown a lot in the last year and has filled in quite well.

After dewiring it was decided to leave it for a while to recover and will be rewired in a couple of months time.

Susan G brought this small Acer for some advice on styling, which was discussed, but with it still being winter we decided not to wire at this time, as the cold could make the wire mark the bark.This will also be done when the cold has abated a little.

Finally this Larch brought by John G for advice about how to style it.

Boxie asked everyone to pick what would be their front and it turned out that we all picked a different one.

We then discussed the pro's and con's of what would be the best for the tree, which will be done when John decides which idea he likes best. 

It turned out a very good night of gaining knowledge from each other, which is what these get together's are all about.

Saturday 7 1 17.

A couple of photos of the trees , still on the display benches outside.

It is about 10 degrees out there today, so the trees are enjoying a very mild January so far.

Thursday with Dave.

I could not title this post as Bonsai Thursday with Dave as there was nothing we could do with the trees today, as they were mostly frozen.

Lunchtime and still frost on this Juniper.

However this Potentilla is starting to show the buds swelling.

As this was the first time Dave has been since before Xmas, he did get to see his Larch which I finished styling about four weeks ago.

He was pleased with the result.