Semi-styled Larch

Last weekend I took in a few part exchange bonsai, quite a common occurrence. It is a practice that enables folk to upgrade their collections whilst giving us some new and different stock for the sale benches. This is a Larix kaempferi that I sold only last year but now have it back as the owner wants a much better larch bonsai.

 

Usually the part exchanged trees are offered for sale just as I get them but in this case I reckoned that the larch could be made more saleable with a re-pot, which I think was long overdue anyway, into a more appropriate container. This is a very old larch that has actually been bonsai for many years. Originally collected in Scotland far in the north of that country.

I chose one of these, new to us , Chinese ” ethnic ” pots , with the coarse finish perhaps complimenting the old flaky bark of the tree. I sorted the nebari out a bit and changed the potting angle a touch.  More saleable now ? only time will tell

Preparations for 2012 BSA Show

With  the Northern Ireland Bonsai Society weekend done and dusted we must now concentrate on getting the nursery ready for the forthcoming BSA show. Only 2 weeks away now , in fact I hope that in exactly 2 weeks time we will already have some of the exhibits entered and on the benches and be looking forward [ in a manner of speaking ] to a busy and long evening of welcoming exhibitors and their trees ! Before midnight if you can folks please , my beauty sleep and all that !

With just about every area of the nursery needing some attention, even if in some cases it is just a tidy up , we have found that it pays to, as it were, compartmentalise the work. Then as we complete an area we can, if feasible, seal it off and tick it off the list of jobs to do.

The above photos show the area that we call Studio Two, all finished and ready for exhibits. It is one of the two main areas that accommodate the show here and as such is not needed for the day-to-day running of the nursery. We plan to get the second main display area done next , it goes by the name of ” the new greenhouse ”,  it needs to be finished by early next week !  still lots to do all over the place !!

 

Selecting bonsai for upcoming show

I will visit the garden of Caz Steward [ Scott] tomorrow with a view to choosing trees from her collection that we would like for the British Shohin Association Show on the 10th and 11th of March.

This is a rather poor photo of a raft style Larix kaempferi , Japanese larch, that she has been developing for many years now. It is a bonsai that has graced the exhibition benches at the famous Ginkgo Awards show so is certainly good enough for the BSA show. It is a chuhin size tree and, whilst the BSA intend to retain very strongly the nature of the event as one for shohin bonsai , this year there is to be a greater focus on chuhin trees as a way to get new bonsai on the benches.

Another small photo of another of Caz’s larch, this is just about shohin, in some eyes it may be seen as a kifu size tree. Caz is the lady whose interest in shohin led her to start the BSA several years ago and, although she has many more demands upon her time these days, she still devotes enough time to the hobby to keep her bonsai in good condition.

A shohin Korean hornbeam this time , I am not sure if this tree has been shown before. I am pretty sure that she will have a number of bonsai that we would like to have for the show ,it may be a case of just picking those that she has time to prepare properly for the show !

One of a number of very good Black pines that she owns, most of her best trees have been shown several times and I would like the public to see some of her bonsai that have not been out of her garden before.

I may even ask her for this tree for the show. It is a very good Acer palmatum ” kashima ”  Maybe stretching definitions just a little to class this as chuhin but we have had bigger trees in the show in the past and this bonsai does have a great winter image ! But you will have to come to the show to see all the trees that we select from Mrs. Steward’s collection !!

The past weekend

Arrived home late yesterday afternoon after Willowbog’s trip to the Northern Ireland Bonsai Society School weekend. It seems to have been a successful couple of days from everyone’s point of view. On  my part it is great to see a club so well organised and supported and also to see such enthusiasm for this hobby by both beginners and the more experienced members.

This is a view of the Saturday school day, it was pleasing to me to see that the majority of participants from our first year together had signed up again and those who had not had been replaced by new folk, two of which had made the trek up from south of the border !

Whilst we cover a range of topics and issues to do with people’s experience of doing bonsai on each school day, I choose a main focus for the session and on Saturday this was group or forest plantings. I used a fibreglass slab that I had purchased with another group of trees on it from a Willowbog regular, and the trees that I used were Picea glauca ‘ albertiniana ‘ purchased from a tree nursery in my region. When time permits I may come back to this project and deal with it in more detail.

The Sunday was a hands on workshop as usual and we had, I think, nine participants with quite a range of work to be accomplished on their trees. A fair bit of re-potting as you would expect at this time of year. My thanks go to Ian and Phil for their help in getting through most if not all the trees that participants had brought along.

Another aspect of the weekend is the stock that I take along to try to tempt folk into making some purchases !  My thanks to everyone who parted with their hard-earned cash to help keep this nursery a viable proposition.

None of this would happen without the hard work and enthusiasm of Ian Young, aka Bonsai Eejit , my thanks go to him and his wife Allison who host the weekend’s activities at their home. The above photos are all Ian’s and many more can be seen on the Bonsai Eejit blog. I would hope to return to some of the more specific activities of the two days [ perhaps not the consumption of red wine in the evenings  ]  though I need to take care not to just repeat what Ian does on his own blog. Also, we have here at Willowbog, an enormous amount of work to get through in the next 18 days in preparation for the BSA show, as well as a novice/intermediate workshop next Saturday and our March Bonsai Chat the Saturday after,  so lots to do !!!!!!!!!

NIBS trip, ready to go !

Van loaded and ready to set off !  Maybe a little space left but enough weight on, lots of pots and growing mediums so heavy stuff.

Focus on group and forest planting at the school tomorrow so some of the stuff is for the demo in the afternoon but most of the space is sales items.

Whilst concentrating on seasonally relevant stock I think that I have a good selection of bonsai on board as well ,  setting off in about an hour , with this load I need to give myself plenty of time to get to the ferry !!  Hang on ! there is a little space there in the middle ,  one more tree perhaps ?  no better not ,” straw and camels back ” spring to mind !!

Northern Ireland trip

This weekend sees Willowbog visiting the Northern Ireland Bonsai Society to participate in the Bonsai School there as well as conduct a workshop on the Sunday. An important part of the visit is sales to club members who are not well supplied over there with bonsai and related products.

The time of year dictates a concentration on taking a wide range of pots and growing mediums but I always try to have with me some stocks of just about everything, trees, tools, wire and so on. Here we see plastic carrying boxes packed with ceramic pots and the first selection of trees that I have made , more to be added tomorrow when Jean and I load the van .

 

New stock

Like most retailers, in any sphere of activity,  sales for us are not great at the moment but despite this it is vital for a business like this to keep the stock levels up right across the range of products. To this end we have been investing in some products that we have not had for many years as well as some items that we have never had !

We have the widest range of growing medium components that we have ever stocked. We have ample supplies of the replacement akadama product as well as, a new for us, shohin grade. We have shohin grade moler [ calcined clay] as well as the standard size particle. We have the pumice that we have stocked for some years now as well as the popular kyodama, for those who want something a bit more basic to add to their mix we have 3-6mm granite grit. Back on the shelves is graded kiryu and graded kanuma for those with acid loving bonsai. Finally, what I think is a valuable additive, particularly for deciduous species, fine, clean orchid propagating bark.

We have purchased quite a number of new pots, some of which we used to stock some years ago. Glazed pots that, whilst they are not up to Japanese pot standards are significantly better than much of the Chinese glazed ceramics that are available just now. We have a good range of shohin size pots ready for the upcoming BSA show here in a few short weeks. A really good range of strong and rigid plastic bonsai pots that will fill a need in the market I am sure. Because of the very high price of Japanese imported tools we have added to the range of items that we have always [ and will continue to ] sold some of the much improved Chinese bonsai tools. We shall see how these are received by enthusiasts.

On the eve of a new potting season Jean is here pricing up soil sieve sets !  So,  lots of great products, new and old , all we need now are some customers  !!