Ponderosa Bonsai

4yrs

2008-09-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is one of my older trees,this white pine is a very old tree on its own rootstock.It's finally getting to where i want it

1st pic 2005

2nd pic sept 2008

3yrs pt3

2008-09-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

last weekend at the wirral bonsai society show

3 yrs pt2

2008-09-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

front
left
back
right
before 3rd styling 2months ago

3 yrs

2008-09-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

this one is a snail! I got this san jose sept 2005,and have took 3 yrs to get it to where it is now.

it needs another year to achieve its final image,it is 45 cm shorter now than when first bought

1st pic after 1st styling

2nd pic after 2nd styling

6 months!

2008-09-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

yes it's true and here's the proof that sometimes you can get into 5th gear!

I bought this in feb this year,this was the tree last weekend!

Bsa show

2008-06-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

This was the best yet,check out willowbogs site for the results,you'll notice my tree won best chuhin conifer,and contary to public opinion it wasnt me who robbed lens pie! see willowbogs bonsai chat for the sags of the pie!

Winter colours

2007-11-19T03:35:00.000-08:00

A little yamadori hawthorn put on its best ever display of autumn colouf for me

hawthorn hacking pt2

2007-11-19T03:24:00.000-08:00

so it was out with the saw,nothing better than styling a tree with a saw!

I think the future will be a semi cascade,with the 2nd pic as the front.

This tree will bud like mad next year,and may be ready for a fial pot in 2yrs time

Hawthorn hacking

2007-11-19T03:17:00.000-08:00

This is a lovely little tree i collected last year,i was looking at it yesterday and deciced it was time to remove the unwanted parts.This was a rooted branch of a much larger tree.You can see the hole where it came from.

This tree has everything going for it,size bark movement age health,a good reminder of why we collect.

gong to gingko pt5

2007-11-19T03:04:00.000-08:00

The night came the kids were kissed goodbye the car was loaded pleasentries exchanged with the loved one etc!

And that was it then,easy st now pick up Ian reload the car at Tonys pop over to gingko show some trees drink some beer talk a load of crap drink some more beer spend a load of money make new friends from all over the world have some lovely food come home feeling drained....

Gingko really is special,but i think its right Danny is holding the show every 5 yrs instead now.It was holding bonsai back,people were rushing just to get a tree in at each one,i may be guilty of getting caught up in that as well,i think things may just move at a slower pace now,the correct speed for bonsai.There are shortcuts to succsess,but there the longer road to getting it right.My route has changed now.

going to gingko pt4

2007-11-19T02:54:00.000-08:00

So finally after working on the foliage for a few days,i came up with a final image.Then i made what i now think was a big mistake....The leaves were a little light in colour,so i put it in my garage for 2 weeks to make the foliage darker.This works beautifully on all of my other tree's but this ended up a little unhappy a few days before the show.Never mind you live and learn....

going to gingko pt3 and a half

2007-11-19T02:52:00.001-08:00

going to gingko pt3

2007-11-19T02:41:00.000-08:00

The end result was lovely,then came the downside,branches all over the show from being all wrapped up and gingko only one month away....This was 2 weeks later after letting the tree rest,and some of the disorder reordered!

going to gingko pt2

2007-11-19T02:34:00.000-08:00

So me and Tony had decided the only way to improve the deadwood was to sandblast it.This had possibly been done in japan,but on too high a setting and a lot of detail had been lost.This was a first time for me,so i let tony guide me and take over as and when he needed to.Sand blasting is a artform all of its own.

I had taken some wood off,tony insisted on more coming off,so we went for it.

going to gingko pt1

2007-11-19T02:15:00.000-08:00

This really started at the gingko 2005 when i met steve tolley,and arranged a visit to his nursery,gingko 5 was a great exhibition,i was kicking myself that none of my yamadori would be ready for ten years when i stumbled across my lovely little itoigawa which featured on here earlier,it had came from kawabe.Now the pressing thought was how can i make this better,if your going to gingko you want to impress,not an easy thing amongst so many great trees.So here it was before work began again.

Les in japan pt2

2007-08-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

yes Les we all know where you've been!

Barton's pine

2007-08-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

This is a Pinus Strobus which belong's to Les,he kindly let me work on it recently,it was originally styled by the great Dan Barton,a honour indeed to rework this.

As is the great tradition of things we didnt take any before shots,which is a pity as it was very overgrown,and really was'nt very inspiring to look at,but it began to catch my eye as Les was clearing it out,and a wiring challenge was set.

It would be impossible to know what Dan's original intentions were for the tree,but this is what i tried to envisage,after all Dan is the master.It turned into a very naturalistic pine,and as this is only a 2nd styling all the needles were left downwards,not upwards(a tip which marco told me).

So now barton's pine is reborn,it really doesnt matter who done the 1st 2nd 3rd or 100th styling of a tree,what matter's is the tree itself and the input everyone as a whole has into it,we all must learn to be less egotystical about who done what when,it really is'nt important,what is important is to keep the spirit of this tree which Dan installed into it,i think Barton's pine is a fitting tribute to what could one day become a very good tree.

2 greenhouse pics from a few years ago,other from sunday after styling,the basic structure

(blueprint for success)is now there

Les's trip to Japan pt1

2007-08-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

A good mate of mine,Les had the good fortune to somehow wangle a all expenses paid trip to Japan this year,about the only good thing to say about him is that at least he gave me the pictures! So over the next few weeks i'll try and put a good selection of pictures,starting with kimura's garden,then kobayashi's,followed up with a satsuki show,and then a few of the vendor's garden's,anything to declare in that hand luggage Les?

blast off!!!

2007-08-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

I'm going to sand blast my kawabe juniper on fri morning,this tree will go to the prestigous gingko show this year,i'll put some pics up here after that,i've already enhanced the carving,tommorow i'll prep it all up so none of the live gets damaged.

Sabina juniper

2007-08-08T06:39:00.000-07:00

This is one from a earlier post,i've decided to show it on this stand this year instead,i think it looks better.This is it before i worked the foliage,and afterwards a few weeks ago,i've since enhanced the carving,but you'll have to come to the show to see that,or wait till i put some pics up next week.

Wirral bonsai society annual show

2007-08-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's our local show this weekend,i've just finished getting a few of my tree's ready for it,a few shohin and a sabina juniper,i'll put some pics on here and the ibc etc

The twisty one pt4

2007-06-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

So the mid branch came off,the scar will be carved later.I dont see much point in detail carving a hawthorn,the wood rots too easily where i live due to the amount of rain we get.Far better to put a few woodlice in there pack it with sphagnum moss and let them do their job!

i carved the stump left from the upper trunk,and reduced the height of what remained of the "apex"

This is not a apex at all as the tree will be further reduced in height so the apex can be composed of upward growing branches,nothing is worse than deciduous tree's rushed along with branches manipulated to make it look as though it has a apex,if your going to do some thing do it properly!

The twisty one pt3

2007-06-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

So this is the result after hacking that part of the trunk off,it had to go too straight,no taper and the bark begins to lose character etc.

Working with the front of the tree,with lower branch pointing towards the right i set about limiting my problems,so next year i should be able to wire it properly.

The next big problem was the 2nd branch,it comes straight towards you,then turns back on itself,i could never use it in my preferred front,so after thought's of tilting the tree and using it as a apex which didn't work it also had to come off.

The twisty one pt2

2007-06-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago i decided to hack this one down to the dimensions it needs to be approximately. This would have been better done in febuary,but time as always was a issue,and i wanted to check first that it would bud as strongly as in the previous year.This tree is only in it's 2nd growing season,and normally i wouldnt work on them this soon,but it's very strong,so sword(or saw)in hand i had a great day hacking away!

Virtual tuition for computer illiterates

2007-05-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

Visit http://wirral-bonsai.blogspot.com/ for the easiest tuition on cutting+pasting,aka adding branches foliage and pot's.Even i was able to follow Iain's easy instruction's,cheer's mate,we all owe you a pint!

The twisty one

2007-05-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

After my first visit to gingko,with Tony Tickle,we stuck up a deal for me to take him collecting,and this was the first tree i collected with Tony.When you've collected a tree from the wild,nurtured it and looked after it for a few years,it almost feel's like a part of you is in there.I've offered this as trade a few time's,but it's still here for a variety of reason's.Maybe no one can really see what the future in the tree is?

This got me wondering,why? So with my new found virtual skill's(visit wirral bonsai's web site for some excellent free tuition)i got going on this the other night.This is what i'd had in mind for a while,i dont know what attracted me to it when i first seen it,other than the obvious first branch.So what do you think?

The 2nd pic is with a pot i "robbed" off Andy"stonemonkey" Pearson's site,quite a nice match i think.I also think it would look better with one of Doug Mudd's stands under it!

Thorns!

2007-05-29T03:52:00.000-07:00

Post operative swelling seems to be going slightly now,and i'm allowed to work on my tree's again,woohoo!

So it's time to start working on my hawthorns,i've got too many,but i'm getting attached to all of them,so the next few week's are going to be a busy time for me.

From the very very big to the small,it's time to get going,a little late in the year,but nothing i can do about that now.

Forget football,for 3 months only

2007-05-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

Doesnt exist never heard of it blah blah blah

Forget bonsai,for one night only!

2007-05-23T04:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight's the big one,sashi eda's,tachi aga's and araki's will be forgotten for one night(and most of tomorrow while i nurse my head!),the beers are in the fridge lined up like soldier's!The pizza's are chillin before i fire the oven up later!The big telly is receiving a pre match warm up with liverpool matches of old,the kop choir are in full voice on the surround system!Then at 7:45 tonight a sane man will turn into a lunatic,hurl abuse at his telly,think that he can actually change a referee's mind from 2000 miles away,then when it's all over come back down to planet earth(hopefully tomorrow!)

Come on the reds,no apologies for the people born into stupidity and mediocrity around here,aka everton and tranmere fans! here we go gathering cups in may!

So you think you love bonsai?

2007-05-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

How much? This much? Some people seem to wonder why collected tree's attract such a premium price,but when you injure yourself like this and then have to spend a lot of time off work,it makes you wonder why they are'nt more expensive!

This hernia(5in long!) was the result of collecting a monster hawthorn,which incidentally is doing slightly better than me at the current time!

And yes it was worth it,but your not seeing it yet,i never put a pic of a tree on the"net" until i know it is alive,but if i was asked again if i wanted to collect it,but was told beforehand of the consequence's,i would still have collected it,yes THAT GOOD.

I dont name tree's,but if it pulls through it's name will be earnest attaal,earnest because my sons couldnt get henia out properly,and ataal was the surgeon,wait till you see it,it could ruin your day!

Andy's Juniper

2007-05-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

I got this san jose off Graham Potter in a rather drunken moment,it is'nt actually Andy hardman's tree,but he badgers me for it and make's eye's at it like a young lover would,so it got it's name! I almost feel like i've only loaned it to myself!
I cut about a foot of growth off the top of it almost as soon as i got it,and chose the front based on the fact that 3 sides gave it a slight inverse taper,but over the last few years it seem's to have been stretched slightly at the soil line.
I spoke with Terry Foster at the burrs bash recently,and he suggested what i had in mind,but with more of a tilt,this seemed to work nicely so i set about it,and finished it off the next day.
I'm now left wit 2 decisions for the pot,a lovely walsall nan ban or a beautifull pre cambrian rock off Terry,if only all things were that hard!

The Kawabe Itoigawa

2007-05-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

I read a long history once of the shimpaku junipers on the wbff site http://www.bonsai-wbff.org/shimpaku/shim1.shtml which inspired me to get one of these rare beasts,the man who has inspired me a lot in bonsai also is Takeo Kawabe,he rose from a similar job to the one i do myself to his current place around the table of bonsai greats!
To cut a long story short i ended up aquirring this tree from Steve Tolley,had a pot made by Gordon Duffet,a beautiful stand from Douggie Mudd and took it back to Steve for a workshop on it.entered into the newstead award,narrowly missed out on the award itself but it did qualify for gingko.
Better luck in sept at gingko hopefully,make yourself known if you see me there,cant wait for it!

Shohin Satsuki

2007-05-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

I bought this utterly raw multi coloured flowering one from dai~ishii,a good few years ago,it was 18 in high then,had many branches as thick as the trunk which where unusable and other than the nebari i couldnt see anything in it,but it was cheap~ish!
When i got it home i spent a good while looking at it,and couldnt do anything with what was there,so over the next few months i eliminated everything i didnt want and ended up with.......
nothing but a bare trunk with a few buds on!
The tree responded well and popped out after 3 yrs into the little cracker it's becoming.it need's a pot next year,if one of my potter friends comes up with something i may be tempted to do it next year,it's on it's way to becoming a very likeable tree,and it may stay in my collection unless i get a good offer for it!
Obviously much more ramification is to come,flowering has been postponed again for this year to help with that,but things are looking good!

pic 1 18 months ago

pic 2 may 07

Yamadori hunting pt2

2007-04-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

some more pics,enjoy:-)

yamadori hunting

2007-04-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

My best times in bonsai come out on the hill,looking for new material,watching wildlife and enjoying the fresh air,the challenges of climbing(scared of heights!)

There is nothing on earth like watching the sun rise,or set on a beautifull spring day,here's some photo's togive you that feeling.

The first yamadori pt1

2007-04-15T02:12:00.000-07:00

Three years ago i went on my first yamadori hunt,to a bog in wales where the pines are under water for parts of the winter,and came back with this pine and a nice rootball as well.This is where it all really began for me,i was hooked.I had got no real satisfaction from numerous nursery trawl's this was the real deal,tree's with old bark,not fantastic but good enough.this pine thrived from day one,and had it's first proper styling last year,there were many options,but it ended up very different from the tree i enviseged on the side of a welsh bog 3 yrs ago.

it has been repotted this year and a pic of it now will follow soon.

The lowest branch is being used to fatten up the base a little.

Japanese Black Pine:The skinny one pt1

2007-04-15T01:41:00.000-07:00

This is a relative's tree grown from seed.Before these pictures were taken all non~essential branches were cut off,and then it was re~potted into this temporary pot,and left alone for a year to recover from being severely root bound.This is only it's first styling,and i tried to make a natural looking "Scot's pine" image which i might see around here,it works for me as this is what i see on my trip's to and from work every day.It still needs extensive work,the crown is made of shoots all trained upwards to give it a natural appearance,instead of the typical bonsai apex's of flattened shoots.A picture in it's new pot will follow when it's settled in.

The Swiss Juniper

2007-03-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

This Common Juniper was collected from the Swiss Alps by pius Notter's son,approx 4yrs ago.I "acquired it"about 2yrs ago,because i love this species,but unfortunately they are almost impossible to collect in the uk.I loved the twist in the deadwood and decided straight away this must somehow become the focal point of the tree.
So after patiently waiting for 18 months,i decided to go ahead with the first styling at Tony Tickle's excellent Burrs bash last November.I'd been pruning the tree during the time i had it to produce a more fibrous root system,i will discover later if this worked in sept this year.
I already pretty much new what i wanted to do,the tree threw up 3 different option's,but only one of these highlighted the beautifully twisted jin,so after discussing it with Terry Foster i went ahead with my plan.
It went along quite easily,and 6 months later is budding up beautifully,so hopefully in a few years i can show this lovely little tree,now i've got to get my head around a pot design,any ideas?

The Spanish Juniper

2007-03-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

This chuhin Sabina Juniper was bought as rough stock from dai~ishi bonsai in a half price sale 4yrs ago not long after i became "obsessed" with the bonsai bug.I changed the front,carved it a little and re~worked the foliage,i thought it looked great!
Quickly i realised although other people were quite impressed,it was nothing like the image i wanted and began a very intense fertilizer regime consisting of balance 6'6'6 on the soil surface and fish emulsion on the foliage,this along with regular pinching helped it bloom into something much more beautiful.
All this meant the wire dug in,and as a consequence it has needed re~wiring every 6months since.Now the heavy feeding is coming to a end,the tree is starting to resemble the image i wanted,and is set to be a decent image.More carving and branch removal has followed,and last year(2006) it recieved a honourable mention in the wbff photo competition,not bad for a bit of tat!

1st pic show 2004

2nd pic before club show 2005

3rd pic wbff pic 2006

4th pic shohin bonsai show 2007