Sunday 13 April 2014

April 12th in the garden - and an exciting juniper on rock for sale

What's occurring in the bonsai-at-16 back yard ? - treesagreen I guess

lets have a picture post without too much reading

weeping willow in Duffet pot with stunning taper - this is a tree with a great future ahead - very soft wood so 2 coats of lime sulphur that will be followed by a subdued brown stain and then a waterproofing coat. the tree wants to stay wet while growing so the dead wood needs lots of attention. Personal collection tree

Scots Pine - styled at a Peter Adams workshop many years ago - nice natural tree, wire free this year. Potentially for sale

Juniper on rock - for sale, more pics at the end


 Our juniper on rock from Kimura - lovely tree and going to improve year on year


side view of the needle juniper, newly styled deadwood juniper (for sale) and the Hinoki - all happy and healthy

Needle juniper- new buds from top to bottom - keep longer growth on lower branches for a healthy balanced tree - one of the hungriest bonsai you can have - feed and water without holding back, let grow to 6-10cm, cut back to 2-3mm , 2nd buds pinch off big ones, keep small ones


Japanese Black Pine - bark forming nicely on the trunk now, colour recovered well now. Tree came here potted in a soil mix of gardening compost / grit that was staying really wet - the pine was not happy in this at all and was weak and leggy with a pale yellowy green foliage. It was only after removing the soil we could see there were hardly any roots on the tree and its taken 3 years to improve the trees colour and strength - We have not decandled the tree at all in this time so the tree hasn't been weakened further.

 
Dark composty soil and pale needles-danger signs


Slanting driftwood juniper - the compaction and balance is coming - this winter we will do a proper refinement wiring on this one to define the pads - tight growth will be excellent this year as there is hardly a single flower on the tree - its taken 2 1/2 years to get the tree settled so it doesnt flower on virtually every shoot - balanced feeding helps.


A true japanese yamadori juniper (trunk) grafted with Itoigawa foliage - most, nearly all, imported junipers are field grown and trained but once in a while a proper wild one shows up - Tree sulked after a big first styling session and started growing in the 2nd growth period of last year. It has not been repottted although it needs better positioning so the roots are undisturbed and the mature growth will be stronger. Repotting Itoigawa too much results in juvenile foliage everywhere


European Beech raft for sale - £300 - very natural tree




Shin Deshojo just leafing out, NFS,  Mikawa Yatsubusa a few weeks ahead £850


Pyracantha - firethorn - a stunning tree from Taisho-en in a very fine pot. Flower buds just forming, lots of strong new growth. We may use this in a winter display so will need to protect the berries from the birds. It is one of the stock trees for sale though so may go to a new home one day

Chinese Elm - been here 25 years - good bark texture and fairly good ramification. Last year we started getting this tree properly show ready for 2015 or 16 so pruning has been tighter, we've not repotted so growth becomes finer but feeding keeps going at full speed - a healthy tree is an easy one to refine


Japanese Yew - had its first styling 2012/13, repotted last spring and POW - serious budding all over. yet again testament to correct feeding, positioning and watering. I saw a few cuspidata yews somewhere else recently that hardly had a new bud on the entire trees - just a few on strongest areas. You cant develop and refine a tree that isn't growing properly. this will be allowed to grow freely for a month or two then pruned back with scissors to a few new leaves - then we'll get back buds and finer terminal buds - the strong ones will be pinched and now we can start making the domed pads. 2 years to find a pot, first ever show debut in 3 yrs or maybe 4

 Buds on buds

Satsuki raw trunk - long way to go 

This heavy trunk was seriously neglected - it was sat on the ground for a few years, rooted through the pot and all the roots tips were snapped off when the pot was moved (not here!!) I bought the tree as there were tiny leaves and little shoots all the way up the tree showing the crown had not died. All flowers were removed last year, 90% of the flowers have been removed this year and the tree will certainly explode in new growth. In a few years it will be our best azalea.


Zelkova - one of the later trees to bud break here - we have 3 and they are all just starting to move. This is another Kimura tree and chances are it is the only authentic deciduous tree from his garden in Europe. Tree was thinned out of poor shoots and more importantly all the dead twiggy bits and knobbly knuckles were taken off - Dense Zelkova brooms often can have a lot of old dead inner shoots making up a percentage of the ramification but it is far better to get these out so living shoots can grow in the spaces. Will be repotted as soon as the buds show signs of opening. Great tree - I've not seen a broom in real life quite as good



 Hornbeam we dug 2 weeks ago is growing like mad - I pinch new shoots daily back to 2 or 3 leaves while they are still soft so the inner shoots develop. The tree needs a fair bit of work - its like a pointed pine at the moment but once I've developed a wider domed crown it will look like a mature deciduous tree - this one is becoming a keeper more and more each day as I think it will pull off a pretty good winter image. I'm looking forward to getting this tree good enough for Swindon show in coming years, unless someone else ends up with it !



Even though big is great this little oriental hornbeam has real charm - for sale £35.00



The recovery of the Kiyohime clump from Dan Bartons bonsai book continues. The tree was sold to another dealer who had it for about 15 yrs at a guess. After total neglect and non existent pruning over those years  I ended up acquiring a tree with 2ft long bare branches poking out in all directions. Hard pruning, hard feeding, defoliation and more hard pruning has got the tree down this far but some branches are refusing to bud back where I want them to so the tree is being allowed to grow loads of shoots to be used as grafting material. Late Jan 2015 we'll graft scions all over the tree and cut back the old branch tips once the grafts are taken. Exciting project tree and quite a challenge to recover a lost masterpiece


A bench of small stock - top row
Juniper raw £145, Juniper Sold, Juniper Sold, Juniper £65, Juniper Sold, hinoki £45, larch NFS
2nd row
micro willow x 3 nfs yet !, hornbeam £35, Dwarf Azalea £75 Zelkova 1 sold, No.2 £75, chinese elms £12

Now we have a new stock tree

Large Juniper on rock





Tree originally was part of the Anne Swinton collection, I've had it about 8 or 9 years now and have made this planting after being inspired by the kimura tree. A juniper retains and recovers its strength from its foliage so Ive not stripped the tree bare to make the pads look too tidy. The tree has been potted and had a first styling so there is no point in weakening it further by removing too much greenery. All that needs doing this year is removal of long shoots as they extend 

Tree for sale £1650.00 including a refining session on the foliage in 12 months if needed

Will not post this one - too heavy and too fragile but meeting up is always an option.








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