Natter night 18th September 2017.

Yet another wet and damp day, but it turned out quite nice tonight.

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Beautiful colours.

This Lonicera, which belongs to John, was in need of a good clip out.

After pruning and returning to a basic shape.

The only other tree tonight was Boxie's Juniper, which had the deadwood cleaned and given a coat of lime sulpher.

Quite a busy night and very smelly.

Another tree for the Bjorn workshop.

Today I went to see Boxie and Theo and the tree Theo is taking up to the Bjorn workshop in October.

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Theo putting some wire on the tree.

I have also heard that there is one space available on Sat 14th Oct if anyone is interested.

Please contact me via pm on facebook.

Bjorn in Ireland.

I have been asked to pass this on to all my visitors.

Tickets will be available from Bonsai Belfast at Europa, The tree for the demo will be a big scots pine.

Bonsai tools.

When I first started to do Bonsai I did not have much money, so I could not afford to spend much on tools.

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These are the first tools I bought some thirty years ago.

From the left, long handled shears, wire cutters, knob cutter and root pruning shears.

They were all quite cheap, but if you look after them they will serve you well, as I still use them every time I work on trees.

They need to be kept clean and sharp.

To do this I use cleaning blocks to remove any resin that has built up on the blades.

Then they are sharpened using either of these two tools{ bottom of photo.}

I then cover with a light coat of Camellia oil, to keep them free from rust.

Nowadays I have some stainlees steel tools, but still use my old ones more often.

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

Today's visit from Dave turned into a discussion about my tree for the upcoming Bjorn workshop and about a display table for Boxie's tree for Bonsai Europa.

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There are so many options for this tree, as it is or angled to the right or to the left.

I am still not sure, so I will let Bjorn decide on the best for the tree.

I have however decided on the final pot for the tree, this very nice Japanese pot from Bigei.

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As for picking a display table.

Take your pick Mike.

Natter night 11th September 2017.

Today seems to be Juniper day as I have been working on some of mine and then tonight Boxie brought his to be worked on before it goes into Bonsai Europa in October.

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Boxie working hard on his tree, If you would like to see more of it you will have to go to Europa.

A Shohin Itoigawa with cup for size comparrison.

Chuhin sized Itoigawa.

Another Chuhin size.

This piece of bogwood on slate, which is Andy's, was filled with Keto and had some small accents added. Andy is going to cover the Keto with moss and find a tree to plant into the wood.

A very busy night once more.

My tree for Bjorn.

This is the tree I intend taking up to Scotland for a workshop with Bjorn in October.

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Itoigawa Juniper.

As you can see it needs a good clean up and a restyle.

The clean up starts here, after the weeds were removed and the bark done, the Jin and Shari were cleaned and coated with lime sulpher.

Looks much cleaner now, all ready for the workshop.

Can't wait!

Shaddows.

After the rain.

Yet another shower this afternoon, of which we seem to get a lot of lately.

The only good thing is I do not have to water or mist the trees today.

Squamata Juniper, number two.

I have been looking back at some old photos today and came across this one of another of my Squamata juniper's from quite some time ago.

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This is how it looked when I got the tree from Robert Porch.

The pot was cut down to reveal the base.

This is the tree today, after a clean up of the bark and Shari.

Quite a transformation.

Squamata Juniper update.

Bark cleaned, pot cleaned and Lime sulpher on Jin and Shari.

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Before the work started.

Squamata Juniper, done.

Today I finished wiring my Squamata juniper, it was also thinned out and styled.

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Where I left off yesterday.

A little more done.

Now the apex.

Finished.

A photo with the flash turned on.

A success I think.

Squamata juniper, wiring started.

Today I have started to wire and style my Squamata juniper.

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Having been left for about eighteen months to gain strength and vigor, now is the time to restyle this tree.

At the moment I am about half way.

A lot of wire required.

Dawn Redwood.

My Dawn Redwood today.

Taken from below to show structure.

Yesterday.

Just a couple of photos I took yesterday while it was dry.

Darker nights.

I noticed tonight just how much earlier it was getting dark, so much so I had to put the garden light on.

With the rain and the light on, my trees look really good.

Natter night 4th September 2017.

Even though it rained tonight it did not stop me working on my Squamata juniper I started this morning, as I said earlier I was going to wash the algae off the trunk and branches.

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This is the high pressure gun that I used to wash the tree with.

Before cleaning.

After a wash.

After a coat of lime sulpher on the deadwood.

The next job will be a full rewire and restyle.

But that will be another post.

The project for today.

My project for today is this Squamata juniper.

Already this morning I have removed all the wire that has been on for a while now.

The next job is to wash the whole tree with a mini high pressure washer, { thanks Boxie }

But that is for tonight's get together at my Natter night.

Re-arranging.

I have been moving trees around again.

Another Saturday, another Juniper.

It feels very much like Autumn this morning, quite crisp and cool, but the sun is out now and looks like it will be here all day.

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This Itoigawa Juniper was the center of my attention today, having lost a couple of small branches this year, it was in need of a trim and a bit of reworking.

After an hour or two it looks a lot better now.