This sort of clump styled tree has been developed from raw material collected many years ago in the far North of Scotland. Potted in a good quality Japanese ceramic.

This chuhin size piece of raw material has a good root base and excellent taper in the trunk height of only 30 cm. A great project tree.

Quite big but compact at only 60 cm high with a trunk base of 24 cm across. Needs the pruning scars sorting.

Again a biggish but compact tree, this time 56 cm high and 15 cm across at the base. Full details on the web.

As usual I was fortunate to have both Terry and Ray to help out. Here Terry talks to Keith L. about his little larch.

And Ray works on Ian B’s shohin size juniper.

The Proprietor’s Assistant marks out the line of a potential shari on another of Ian’s shohin junipers, this time a chinensis.

Whilst we, of course, always welcome new participants to our monthly workshop dates, it is particularly gratifying to me to see regular enthusiasts coming along to gain help with their bonsai and to hopefully expand their knowledge and confidence at the same time. It suggests that we might be doing something right here !

Because of the location of Willowbog most of our participants have a considerable drive to get to us , David T, here working on his unusual, raft style juniper [ an ex Jim McCurrach tree I am sure ] has a journey of about an hour and a half from his home in neighbouring Cumbria.

The day was disappointingly cool for late May , hence the wooly hat ! very fetching David

For some reason most of the usable photos that I took were of David and his juniper ? Keith and Terry in the background.

On the extreme right of this trio we find Graham W. taking a break from the work on his hawthorns. What is he looking at on Len’s Ipad ? Surely not porn , no ! knowing Len it will be pictures of his tropical fish , I know what I would rather look at   Trees of course ! what were you thinking ? On Len’s left, his pal Billy thought it all rather amusing anyway ! Thanks for making me a cuppa Bill.

Ray’s very nice hawthorn about to burst into flower, I missed getting a photo of our fifth participant yesterday, Brain C. who comes up from Middlesbrough. Also failed to capture Tony S. on film. Tony did not do the workshop but travelled up from Hartlepool with Graham and Keith, all four of those mentioned having a drive of about an hour and a half to attend, committment to their passion !!

The Chinese elm from the Willowbog Collection graced the tokonoma yesterday.

I have this Chinese origin bonsai planted in one of my favourite Japanese pots. I love that subtle blue glaze !!

The flower on this aquilegia was too tempting to resist as the accent planting , too much blue in the display ? maybe but I liked it !! my display

All in all another good day at the nursery, enjoyed by all I think ! More pictures at Ray’s Ronin Bonsai blog.

We have had this shohin size bonsai for a few seasons now and it just gets better and better. It has nice, pale salmon, flaky bark, typical small leaves but delightful small flowers.

It is a UK grown tree and is sure to be one of the evergreen azaleas species.

But perhaps the most attractive feature is that those delicate flowers exhibit a wonderful, subtle fragrance with a strong hint of honey !!

I rather hummed and hahed about the possibility of adding this example to the Willowbog Collection. It is one of the Southern beech family of trees making it at least a bit unusual but it is also a very good ” beech ” type image and I like it a lot , however , a new ” one in one out ” ruled instigated by the cruel Financial Controller has meant that it goes on sale which was the original purchased intention !

This is another rather unusual species but this time the native Grey alder.

Another native species is this Scots or Wych elm, an excellent bonsai subject.

Next, the only UK native member of the maple family, Field maple, a very robust species with which to bonsai.

Although this Hawthorn would clearly be classed as raw material it has been in a bonsai pot already for many years.

A Chinese elm developed as ‘ proper ‘ outdoor bonsai.

And lastly an Acer palmatum with a particularly lovely leaf , must be a named variety but we don’t know which !

They mostly went into this recently created planting ribbon mound. A Stone pine in the foreground, several European yews, a Colorado spruce and a variety of False cypress type species. We also bought several Brewer’s spruces which we are using to create a bit of an avenue on the neighbouring patch to the one in this photo, a few more examples of these Picea brewiana will be required so another shopping trip is called for !! There are very few activities that I enjoy more than buying trees, bonsai or otherwise !

With her programme of bulb planting in the Woodland Garden, Jean has started to get a really nice show of daffodils !!  Also plain to see from this picture is that the grass is growing, time to get the tractor mower out !

Just look at the numbers of trees brought along yesterday, obviously a free workshop day going on ,,,,,, cheapskates   !!! Nice so see Mr Gilbert with us again, and as usual passing on some of his wise words on a cedar to the G-man.

We certainly had a good turn out for the day, on left is ever-present Terry H advising David on his juniper.

Diane H. with her back to us, one of a couple of ladies who regularly attend, working on her larch. In the right foreground, also with his back to us, it was great to see a long-awaited return from Ron M. from just over the border.

Also from over the border in this photo we see three enthusiasts from the Ayr bonsai group, watching Len G doing something tree related.

Three in a row , all engrossed in their work ! on the far side Graham W., hidden in the middle [ thank goodness !! ] Brian C. and nearest to us Ian B. with his nice ex Gilbert cedar. In the background to many of our studio images can be seen the lovely wall mural painted for us by talented local artist, Janice Marshall.

The rear view of Ray C. is always the best and now we know that he really does have eyes in the back of his head, he also talks out of rear………..most of the time

Ray was actually providing valuable help to Colin here in the right of the picture.

Outside, the Proprietors Assistant hovers in the background as John L., along with two others from the Carlisle Club, Brian and Tony, tries to decide whether or not to purchase a good Western hemlock piece of raw material. He did, phew !!!

Also outside in the sun is Antony R., who dragged along his poor wife and son whilst here briefly getting advice on maple pruning and taking the chance to buy some Willowbog feed and a watering wand, optimistic to think you will need that Antony, the papers may be forecasting a drought but …………………

The last image for yesterday shows Willowbogger, Mike R. doing what he does best ………. loyally explaining to these two Scotsmen how to beat me down on price for anything they want to buy , the words ”Grandma” and ”sucking eggs” springs to mind !!! Sorry Mike , couldn’t resist it !

It was another great day at Willowbog, really well attended by folk interested in bonsai at whatever level, it is exactly what we are about here ! More pictures on Ray’s Ronin Bonsai Blog

Reblogged from Crataegus Bonsai:

However, this is not one of them !!   It is in fact my very good friend [ well, maybe just friend, well maybe just an acquaintance, well,  certainly I remember meeting him once, or maybe I just saw his picture somewhere !! ]   Mr. Peter Warren , bonsai teacher extraordinaire, on a visit to a bonsai weekend in Athens that was organised by the head of the Willowboggers in that city, Theo, a week or two ago. I hope that you don’t mind me pinching your photo Theo ?  As expected Peters approach to doing bonsai and his teaching methods were very well received . How about Theo’s Phoenician juniper that PW is standing beside ?  I wouldn’t mind it in my collection that’s for sure !!

Willowbog Bonsai exhibited seven mature bonsai for the public’s enjoyment.

Left to right on the previous photos starts with this old, clump maple from Mr. Greedy’s collection.

In the middle this American white spruce group that is always popular with the uninitiated, nice image though for this sort of event.

The third tree on this side was Chris Wards nice, old Japanese yew, that resides at the nursery temporarily, having been at the Noelanders Trophy earlier in the year and not yet found its way back into its home garden !

On the left of the entrance gate was this ever popular Western hemlock bonsai from the Willowbog Collection.

The final grouping of three trees.

One of my personal favourites , this Japanese hemlock, planted in a Klika Ceramica shell pot.

A sale tree in the middle on this side, a sale tree that has in fact just been  sold ! but worth its place for the spectacular leaf colour on this Deshojo maple ! This attracted the most attention over the two days.

Another Willowbog Collection bonsai was this Common hawthorn, not quite making it into flower sadly.

As usual we had a small sales table and also as usual the sales were fairly insignificant although both the Deshojos that you can see went .

Ont Saturday there was some Japanese themed entertainment. This threesome of Taiko drummers were outstandingly good !!

Amazing the sound that just three expert drummers can make !!

Also very enjoyable was a troupe of Japanese folk dancers.

Just a little disappointing was the lack of visitors there to appreciate it !

Over the whole weekend the weather was a bit mixed but for the late Saturday performance the sun shone brightly.

The covered courtyard is a great place for this sort of thing.

Very colourful and very energetic.

It was very evident from the smiles on their faces that the dancers were also enjoying themselves.

The performance includes several different dances with attendant costume changes.

The final drum session. Look at that backdrop !!

A final posing for photographs . I really enjoyed their performances.