Yamadori Scots Pine
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We sold this beautiful yamadori scots pine to my good friend Graham a couple of
years ago.
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The tree was re-potted and work completed to compact the foliage. Now it is in the
perfect condition for it's first styling.
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Pruned back and ready for wiring to begin.
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End of the day the work is completed. Take a look at the movie detailing the work
on this beautiful bonsai.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDean65SkHI
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Pine
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I picked up this pine at a local nursery for less than £50. Bonsai don't have to
cost an arm and a leg.
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Cleaned, pruned and stripped and ready for wiring.
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First foliage pad goes into place.
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A couple of days later the tree is much improved. To see more of this tree
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R02603rkTUw
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Hawthorn Bonsai
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I adore hawthorns. This one was collected in Wales many years ago. It's late winter
and time for the trees first styling to begin.
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24 hours later and the basic structure is in place.
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Spring time and the tree has just had it's first pruning of the year. To see more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAgkAD0NYXw
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Shimpaku Juniper
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In a moment of madness I added this old but neglected shimpaku juniper to my collection.
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After a weeks work we whipped it back into shape.
See the movie....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJLGCiYycbw
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Japanese Yew
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A Japanese yew that's been loafing around the nursery for months gets
it's turn in the workshop.
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A few days later. Click here
to see the movie.
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Yamadori Sabina Juniper
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Well established and ready to work
for the first time.
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Cleaned, wired and ready for styling.
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End of the day and a great improvement.
Click here to see the movie
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Swiss Mountain Pine (pinus cembra)
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Before
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After
To see the full story take a look at the movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76AYHSX-PrY
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An old Yamadori Juniper
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An old yamadori juniper. Several people had attempted to deal with this
tree before it came my way.
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A few hours work and the tree is much improved.
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To see the full story take a look at the movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5ZEJ8sH0CQ
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Privet
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(Picture coming soon)
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I offered this crappy looking privet for sale at £40. I don't think anyone
believed me it was going to make a nice bonsai. So I decided to
do it myself.
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This is how it looked after an hours carving.
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And here's how it looked by the evening. Wish you had bought it now?
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See the movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72-glgsc0HA
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Yamadori sabina juniper
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Yamadori sabina juniper cleaned and ready for styling.
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Shari and live vein before cleaning
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this madness is all natural.
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The finished image. To see more take a look at the movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw1nyWeeaEM
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Wild Olive
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Wild Olive desperately in need of some carving work
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A Terrier Carving Tool mounted
in a Metabo is used for the bulk of the work.
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The finished result. A much more graceful tree. To see more of this project take
a look at our
Video (YouTube)
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Japanese Larch
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Japanese larch, pruned from 36" tree just over a year ago and ready for working
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Two hours later a shohin bonsai is born.
See the transformation of this tree
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrk0T4_57uI
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Spruce
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A skanky looking spruce in dire need of some help.
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Two hours later the same tree facing a brighter future.
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Mugo Pine
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Mugo pine arrives
from Italy
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18 months later!
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Hemlock (tsuga)
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Hemlock (tsuga) 3 years since collecting. Nobody wanted it so I decided to do some
work.
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A few days later wearing it's new look.
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A Very Large Old Buxus
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A very large old buxus arrives for it's first work.
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End of the day and a bonsai tree appears.
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Juniper from Japan
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Juniper from Japan. Definitely in need of some help.
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3 hours later!
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Yamadori Juniper
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Yamadori juniper established for many years in the pot.
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Much foliage removed. We begin to see the tree.
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Two days later the tree begins life as bonsai.
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Large Oleaster
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Large oleaster arrives for a days work.
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End of the day and the tree is much improved.
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Jumiperus squamata Meyeri
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This tree was collected from a local
garden in 1997, several air layers removed from its upper part. Two years later
this apparently useless stump remained with just one tiny live vein feeding its
one branch.
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Initial styling work was by Kevin Willson in 1999. I subsequently carved the trunk,
visually lightening it to the limit of its structural integrity. This picture
shows the tree three years ater the initial work, following restyling and potting
into an Ian Ballie pot.
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Quercus suber
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After 2 hours work a bonsai begins to appear.
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Mugo pumillio
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Mugo pumillio before work begins
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Demonstration for the R.H.S
"After the demonstration we begin to see the trees future."
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Japanese juniper
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This Japanese juniper has had mixed fortunes since it's arrival in the U.K.
Now it's ready for some work...
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By the end of the day the tree is much improved. Great care was taken to remove
as little foliage as possible. This helps maintain the vigour of the tree.
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Olive (olea oleaster)
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Arrived from Sicily & re-potted in February 07.
Showing strong growth over the summer. (October 07)
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4 hours later we begin to see the tree emerge.
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An Interesting Little Juniper
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An interesting little juniper arrives for a days work.
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The work completed.
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Detail of the deadwood.
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San Jose Juniper
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A San Jose juniper with great potential.
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End of the day and a new start for this promising tree.
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Caledonian Pine
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I waited patiently for this yamadori pine to grow strongly before beginning styling
work.
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Two seasons later and patience is rewarded. First styling completed.
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Cascade Mugo Pine
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A very healthy happy yamadori mugo pine arrives at the workshop for first styling.
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3 hours later...Next year the foliage mass will be reduced and the tree will be
moved to a bonsai pot.
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A Classic Bonsai
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This Japanese white pine arrived in Spring 06. Very quickly it became apparent that
the long lower branch had a problem. A bit of a mystery because the rest of the
tree was extremely healthy. The new owner of the tree decided we should go to work.....
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Here you can see areas of the branch dying off.
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After we cut the branch away the problem became more clear.
Here you can see just two small areas of live tissue.
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Too late to turn back now.
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As the carving work began the root of the problem emerged. The indentation on the
bottom of the branch was caused by a very, very tight tourniquet that had been applied
to help pull down the branch above, without protection, sometime in the past. The
effect was to cut off the sap flow completely apart from two small live veins.
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A couple of hours later we see a much improved Bonsai emerge in a very classical
style.
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MUGO PINE - Beauty in a beast!
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Despite many folk looking at this brute of a pine, no body wanted to take it home
despite a very low asking price so..... My Italian friend and I set about doing
some initial work on the tree.
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How can you NOT love this!
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Today the plan is to start the deadwood. Styling of branches will come later in
the year. Everything superfluous is removed and carving begins.
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After a couple of hours we begin to see the tree. Excuse the face but it was raining!
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A Taiwanese shimpaku juniper
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A Taiwanese shimpaku juniper
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Cleaned, wired and ready for shaping
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We begin to see the trees future as bonsai
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Close-up of the trunk
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This tree needs much refinement and a good pot.
That nebari is 2" across!
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"An eventful day in the life of a scabby juniper"
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Urban Yamadori
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I had my eye on these two yews for several years. Last August I drove by only to
discover that their retaining wall had been removed. A quick knock at the door secured
the trees as well as the raised bed full of junipers. An hour a piece saw the trees
liberated from the bone dry rock hard ground. The gentleman concerned seemed to
think that my offering of a couple of bottles of wine was generous in the extreme!
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The first tree arrives home. That's my dad wondering how the hell he got roped into
working so hard on a blistering August day. I cut each tree back hard and dropped
them into wooden boxes without disturbing the roots. A year later and both trees
are thriving. Planted as whips in 1955 the trees were cut back very hard a few years
ago. The 14 and 17" trunks display wonderful fluting with flaky bark. So…..
keep your eyes open
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One of the trees in it's first pot. The old drag racing axiom springs to mind....'Too
much is nearly enough!'
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Big Thorn Pot
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Don't try this at home!
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Larch
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This ancient larch was imported from Italy . Initial carving has revealed growth
rings so close as to be imperceptible to the naked eye, this is a VERY old tree.
However it is not without it's problems. Whilst the growth is very close in to the
main trunk it is going to require some very sensitive carving work, this will be
carried out over the winter of 2003/4.
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Carving work in progress
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Carving work in progress
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'Old Gold' Juniper
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This 'Old Gold' juniper was recently acquired from a local nursery where, I suspect,
the proprietor was glad to see the back of it. I immediately repotted it and removed
several useless trunks leaving just one as seen here.
Only a complete fruit loop would think he could make a bonsai out of this one! Fortunately
we found this deranged nutter wandering around the yard and put him to work.
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Carving in progress. The work of a very disturbed person!
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Two days later..
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Stuart's Little Stump
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"My good friend Stuart bought this tiny juniper to the workshop recently. For
penance I had him help to repot a huge yew before we got to grips with the tree.
What kind of animal does that deadwood look like?"
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"Whilst I like working on big trees I find very small trees to be a real challenge,
the attention to detail required is very demanding.
Obviously the job for the day was to sort that awful 'block' carving. We will look
at the foliage later."
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"Two hours later and the job is done! Stuart will deal with lime sulphur etc'
at a later date. I could get to like these small trees."
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'Tree-beard bites the dust'
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This ancient war torn English yew was collected 3 seasons ago. Here in it's first
pot. I am grafting foliage of causpidata 'nana' onto the live vein in six positions.
I'm not very good at seeing faces in trees but this one seemed obvious.....
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BIG Olives
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I recently stumbled across these three olive trees in a nursery. We needed a fork
lift to load them into the van!
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