Natter night 30th April 2018.

A quiet but successful night once more, Ken brought three trees for me to look after for a few days, so the shade house is quite full again 

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This Cork Bark Chinese Elm is having a struggle getting going this year, but should recover quite well in the shade house for a few days.

As is this Hawthorn, a little slow to get going.

Ken's  three trunk juniper had a little bit of a tidy up, just a slight trim in places and a clean up of the Jin and Shari.

Very little done but it has made a big difference to the tree.

I really like this tree and wish it was in my collection, but don't tell Ken.

Bonsai Sunday.

Sunday morning and apart from watching gardening on the TV, I have also been outside to have a look at the trees.

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The Larch trees are looking their best now, lovely fresh foliage.

I am hoping the flowers on this Hawthorn will be out for the SBA national show next Sunday.

Crab Apple already in flower.

Although a little cool the trees are growing well.

Which display table?

I have a dilemma about which display table looks best for my Dawn Redwood.

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This black one.

Or this Oak table.

I think the black one, but a slightly bigger one.

Like this one I just found.

Hemlock done.

I finished the rewire on my Hemlock this morning, now back on the bench.

Hemlock rewire.

I really must be in the mood for Bonsai at the moment as I have been back in the studio tonight for an couple of hours.

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This Hemlock was the focus of my attention, it was dewired a while ago and is now budding up nicely. So now was the time to rewire it.

I have not finished yet, but should find some time to do so tomorrow.

Just some fine wiring to do to the left side.

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

When Dave arrived today Dev's Taxus was still in the studio, so Dave had a good look at it and liked the way it was shaping up.

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The tree as it was left last night.

As Dev had left his wire here, we decided to add some more.

I wired and Dave styled.

Getting close now.

Finished for now and a nice image has emerged.

A really good day, which Dave and I enjoyed very much.

Bonsai Wednesday.

Last night was a busy night once more when Dev brought a nice Taxus over to have a first styling done.

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This tree was collected four years ago and left to recover since then.

The first job was to carve a more natural top to the trunk, where the tree was cut when collected.

Then the wiring started.

I managed to get about half way through wiring. Here you can see where I added some guy wires to the left side.

A good job started and a nice image emerging.

We will carry on next Wednesday and try to finish it then.

Procumbens / Hinoki.

I have been playing around again, this time with a Procumbens juniper and a small Hinoki cypress.

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Natter night 23rd April 2018/

The night started off wet, then the wind got up and it turned quite cold, but we still had a good night.

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I noticed today that this Procumbens juniper was not getting wet after it had been raining for an hour of fairly heavy rain.. Also that it was difficult to get the compost wet, so I decided to give it a repot, just as well I did as the compost inside the pot was still dry.

Now in a new pot with new compost and the water now soaks into it easily.

My wife grows veggies in the greenhouses in the summer, so I also cleaned out one of them today, which involved taking this bench out.

Waste not want not, it is now outside with trees on. Gives me more room to display them.

Quite a busy day once more, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Getting dark.

As it was getting dark I decided to have a little play with the camera.

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Turned out nice.

Berberis.

I have just given this Berberis a small trim this morning as it is growing really well.

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A very chunky tree.

Nice pot.

A nice pot for a Maple.

Bonsai Thursday with Dave.

Today it is so nice and sunny, we just sat in the garden drinking coffee and had a good natter about Bonsai.

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Mind you it was nice to see my trees enjoying the sunshine as well.

I am also pleased for the rest as well.

Bonsai Wednesday.

John and Tony came over once again for another Bonsai night, John brought an Itoigawa juniper which belongs to a neighbour  of his.

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Before starting any work.

The front view.

The rear view.

Having a good look to see where to go with this tree.

I wired most of the tree.

Then created a basic image.

The tree will now be left to recover and will be treated to a good season of feeding.

Repotting with Andy P.

Today Boxie and I went to Andy's to help him to repot a couple of his trees.

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This Squamata juniper was the first one to be done as the pot was broken during some high winds.

Another Juniper potted into a nice Walsal ceramics pot.

Both done and back on the bench.

While we were there I remembered to take a photo of this Maple group put together by Robert Porch a couple of weeks ago.

Andy had been having a smashing time during the winter.

A good mornings work.

Brian's Itoigawa.

I have just finished doing the last bit of wiring on Brian's Itoigawa juniper that I started on last night.

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This is how it was when it was brought last night.

After a lot of wire was added and a bit of pruning.

It is well on it's way to becoming a very nice tree.