Natter night 27 Feb 2017.

The repotting theme continued tonight when Andy brought this Squamata Juniper to be placed at a better angle in the pot.

Now at the right angle.

Andy then removed some of the wire that was starting to mark the bark.

You can now see a better image.

Meanwhile Ken and myself did quite a bit of pruning on his Juniper forest.

Looks like two feet of clippings.

The forest looks much more open now.

Andy also spent some time wiring this Yew.

Which was then tweaked a little, it also needs to be pruned but this will be done later when all the buds have grown a bit.

A busy and productive night again.

The potting goes on.

Another one potted today.

This time a small Pine.

A dwarf Scots pine.

Although a young tree, I think it gives the it a bit more character than standing up.

More potting.

I think I have now got all of my larger trees repotted, unless I think of another,the latest two I have just finished this morning.

This Acer Palmatum was potted on just last year, but already it is pushing up from the pot.

The small pot was the one it was in before it was placed into the larger one.

After combing out the roots I placed it back in the pot just to show how much root it had produced in one year.

The roots that were removed to allow more room for regrowth this year.

Back in the pot and ready for another good year.

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My Hawthorn Group has been in this Walsall pot for about Ten years and I think it is about time for a repot.

After taking it out of the pot I removed quite a lot of the roots, some of which had thickened a lot.

After placing back in the pot I think it will benefit from some fresh compost.

Now I only have some of my smaller trees to do.

Potting morning.

I have had a morning of repotting and here are the results.

From the left, Berberis, Hawthorn and Kokonoe White Pine.

First to be done the Hawthorn.

Which has been turned anti-clockwise a little and tilted a bit to the right.

As this photo shows the buds are about to burst, so now was a good time for a repot.

This Berberis was the next to be done.

A new pot and a new angle, I can now concentrate on the foliage.

The greenhouse is starting to fill up quite fast.

Just in case of late frosts.

Another job done.

This morning I thought I would rewire my Dawn Redwood as the buds are fast starting to swell and it is easier before they open.

This year I will be keeping this tree in the greenhouse until all the frosts have gone, as last year the new leaves were caught and the tree suffered quite a lot. 

Larch repot.

Now I have the repotting gear in the studio I have started to get the tree's I need to repot done.

This Larch needed to have a change of angle after a recent restyle.

Done and looking better.

Still a few more to do.

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

After a look round the garden to see what damage Doris had done, which is minimal I am pleased to say she almost missed us,I noticed how much the trees are nearly ready to bud burst.

So as a result of this I have started to do my repotting.

My Kokonoe White Pine is the first one to be done, as I needed to see which pot I could use, as I have a limited number of pots. Ha Ha.

My pot of choice is this pot by Bigei, I stood the tree in it to test for size before starting to comb out the roots.

After potting I am very pleased with the result.

Having changed the angle a little I had to do a bit of tweaking on the pads.

I have just seen the forecast for tonight and it says it could be frosty, so I will be keeping it inside for now.

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Dave brought this Juniper over today to do some work on and tidy up.

As it has been some what neglected for a few years and as I had the repotting gear ready, we decided another pot was in order.

No sooner said than done, so quick in fact that I did not take a before photo.

When the tree has had time to settle we will give it a good clean up on the deadwood then a feeding program to make it regain some vigor in the foliage.

Natter night 20th Feb 2017.

A really good night once more, made all the better by another visit from Robert, who gave us more instruction in this beautiful pass time of working with small trees.

Andy watching intently as Robert applies some wire to his newly purchased Pine.

This is the Pine as it was before.

After Robert worked his magic and placed the branches.

Meanwhile Ken started on a repot of his Black Pine.

It was more a change of planting angle than a full repot.

But what a difference it made to the tree.

This afternoon I decided to do some work on this Juniper to surprise Robert when he came tonight.

It turned into a very nice image, so much so that Andy bought it off him.

I also gave Margery a hand to wire this small Juniper.

Which also created a nice image.

This dwarf Fushia that Ken brought to repot into a better pot was also sorted.

The pot, a nice cascade by Walsall Studio Ceramics.

When put together looked very good.

Finally My Hemlock after all the wire had been removed by Boxie and myself.

Thanks Mike.

A very productive and busy night, with plenty of really good banter.

You have to have fun and enjoy doing Bonsai.

Workshop with Robert Porch Feb 2017.

Today we had another excellent workshop day with Robert, where the banter was good, but the informative talk was even better.

The day started with a discussion about Susan's Spruce group.

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Some of the trees before the work was started.

Andy's Larch, before working.

David's Larch, before working.

David's Pine.

Susan's Silver Birch raft.

Susan's Larch.

Brian's Juniper.

Ken gained a lot of knowledge about his Black Pine.

After a light prune.

Robert gave Brian's Juniper a clip, then he set him the task of wiring the tree.

Boxie gave Susan a bit of advice about her pre-wired Larch.

Susan is quite new to Bonsai, but made a good job of wiring the tree.

Everyone got to work wiring their trees.

Susan could not bear to look when Robert started to tweak the Larch.

No need to worry Susan he knows what he's doing.

After tweaking the final image is brilliant.

Time for lunch, they took some stopping, but they soon got back to work.

As this Silver Birch is starting to get very close to bud burst, it was decided to pot it into a training pot.

A very nice root ball.

Just enough root was removed to allow it to fit the pot.

A very nice image now.

David's Pine was wired up ready for styling.

Boxie just loves to help out.

After working a very nice image.

Andy did a good job of wiring his Larch.

The final image, this could not be done without wiring.

Meanwhile Brian's Juniper was given a basic styling, but already you can see a nice tree emerging from the mass it was before.

This Cotoneaster, which belongs to Margery, was cut back quite hard to promote some finer ramification.

Ken got started on his second tree, this Larch.

Only the top third of  both trunk's were wired and styled to allow more growth in the lower section.

Susan still working.

David assisted by Boxie continued to wire his Larch.

After styling it looked very good.

A late adjustment.

Aided by a guy wire the branch was fixed in place.

As I have said in the past, it is not all about styling trees,but the knowledge and information you get from a workshop with someone as good as Robert is.

At the end of the day everyone went away happy and a little wiser after a great day.

Thanks to all who came and made it a special day.

And a  really big thank you to Robert.