Thought I would give my new Heath Robinson stand a whirl and see how it coped with the weight. I needn’t have worried it made a nice seat to take the weight off my feet 
Tag Archives: bonsai-passion
Korean Hornbeam
Been a bit neglected this year due to arthritic pain. I managed to rise above it today and got in around four hours on a sunny patio. Armed with a glass of wine and tools I started. Many more hours to go yet but I have made a start
Here then after a good afternoon .
John Pitt log 2012
I’ve had the usual play; as you do, with some plants I already had, and armed with some soil and an empty John Pitt ceramic log, I threw a few things together to see what the outcome might be.
I’m actually very pleased.
Satsuki Going Strong!
Almost July and this Satsuki that I have owned for a while is still producing blooms. There are many more to come and thus far around 100-150 have been removed. General thinning and removal of flowers that have gone over.
I try where possible to keep this species out of any rain and indeed I do keep soil just evenly moist, nothing more. This particular one was re-potted in Spring, prior to flowering.
The pot is a Walsall Ceramics.
Korean Hornbeam
I’ve been quiet I know, but have been ‘beavering’ away on the club wesite. Add that into the gardening and time is tight … sigh.
Anyway, just a quick May 2012 image of my large triple trunk Korean Hornbeam. Two pals kindly moved it, while once again I made the tea! B&D workbench, a black sheet and a shelf from an old TV cupboard; add a camera and ….:)
Changes to John Pitt Log.
After a successful year through 2011 with this wonderful John Pitt ‘pot,’ I decided it was time to dismantle and plant out all the contents that had been good enough to stay healthy all year.
This year I fancied something similar, but without buying anything. I have therefore planted three different varieties of bomb proof Sedum that were growing in my gravel path, four or five differing types of moss; one in particular I thank my great friend Smithy for; these are the small trumpet shapes ones. I managed to cultivate quite a bit from a small gift earlier last year .
I’m initially pleased; as the year progresses it will become more overgrown and will need some cutting back from time to time. Keeping the moss going through summer will be the hard bit. I have however found a mist-spray with Rhizotonic on moss seems to make it thrive. Just shy of five millilitres to a litre of water is what I personally use. All I can say is it works very very well for me, but I will keep it dappled rather than in direct sunlight.
Started The Small JWP Finally
This smallish Japanese White Pine, (well, small to the rest of my collection), has been lurking for some years rather neglected. Mainly because I knew that work would show up the negative spaces. So on a mild December day, I made some changes. I don’t normally wire hard during early winter but have a suitable protective area for the tree; hence having wired pines all year round I have not this far found any problems doing it at this time.
It is OK for now. This coming growing year and the next couple will give me much to work with so the intention is to lessen the impact of the negative spaces. I even considered taking the top right off but decided against it. Anyway, just a day apart the before and after offerings.
Spring??
Having a stroll round the garden early this morning, to my amazement, I spotted the first Spring flowers popping up
Easiest Way to Shift Em :)
These days being a bit on the lighter side and strength ebbing I find these contraptions very handy for moving my Bonsai about form place to place
Small JWP
My much smaller and younger JWP, was to all intents and purposes, displaying exactly the same symptoms as the much larger and older one. At the same time as re-potting the large one I immediately decided that a full on re-pot should be carried out on this smaller version. Again, same MO with 100% root prune and hard I might add. No rinsing of roots as I allowed it to become pretty dry indeed. This benefits greatly as long as you get it right. Soil just falls away.
Much of the original beneficial mycorrhizal fungi was reintroduced and in direct contact with all cut areas of old roots. Much the same then as the larger version; black and dead roots. So at the same period (8 months ish on) health has fully returned, as has that beautiful blue green that five needle pines have.
The second image taken just a few days ago. During the next 12 months I will be thinning out and spending much type on shape. It was always a thought to recreate a miniature version of the much larger one. This first image was during Summer 2010; you can clearly see the difference in health and colour between each image.
