Bonsai Garden in the rain

Last year I visited Mirek for the second year in a row, Mirek is a good friend of Pavel Slovak’s in the Czech Republic. Mirek has a fine collection of bonsai and yamadori. Here is his garden in the rain, 20 minutes later the sun came out and the trees were well watered… the sun shines on the righteous.

Shohin at Noelanders Trophy 2012

Reblogged from Shohin-bonsai Europe Studio - Morten Albek:

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Mark Cooper has kindly shared his excellent photos of Shohin (20 cm / 8 inch high), Kifu (around 25-35cm / 10-14 inches) and then some Chuhin (maximum 45cm / 18 inch), shown at Noelanders Trophy 2012, in Belgium.

All photos is the courtesy of Mark Cooper (Copyright).

Tsuru-modoki. Oriental bittersweet, Mario Komsta

Shohin Olive

Shohin Lonicera nitida…

Read more… 56 more words

The best Noelanders Trophy XIII experience video EVER from Le Bonsaï Club du Léman

This has to be the best Noelanders Trophy XIII experience video EVER, if you have never been to this event…THIS video sure sums up the experience, its from Le Bonsaï Club du Léman Not an exhibition bonsai in site, just travel, friends, coffee, beer, fun and laughter…I love it… and I must make sure I do the same very event I go to!

Repotting the Fat Guy hawthorn

Changing the Position of a Hawthorn Bonsai when re-potting

I was never happy with the viewing position of the tree in the pot, I commissioned Gordon Duffett to create a new pot that would enable me to rotate the tree and make the image more dynamic. Take time to watch the movie of the re-potting, there are a few surprises!

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I have had this tree for over 15 years, its know as ‘The Fat Guy’ (because I have a hawthorn called ‘The Tall Guy”) 

hawthorn-potting-1

Why the correct bonsai pot is important

We have so many great bonsai potters in Europe my particular favourite being Gordon Duffett. The tradition of craft pottery in the UK is particularly strong so it is no surprise that here in the UK we have such a wealth of talent that we can tap into… here is the rub! We spend years on creating our trees, getting them to show standard yet failing at the final fence because the pot we choose simply does not match the tree.

Here are two examples. The first is David Barlows Noelanders winning Beech raft, the original show pot was a cheap Chinese pot, the colour was wrong, the pot was ‘ungainly’ and the size simply too big. The final Gordon Duffett pot is perfect, given as a gift to David by Terry Foster (because Terry knew that it was perfect and was happy that it worked so well) the second is my ‘Fat Guy’ hawthorn.

This tree fitted so tightly in the first pot that the orientation was not good, the tree needed to be rotated 20 degrees to improve the movement of the trunk. The new Pot (also by Duffett) is deeper by 5cm/2″ and the sides of the pot have a slight taper… this add ‘lightness’ to the image.

I will be posting a movie of repotting the hawthorn here on this website

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Vintage Photos of collecting yamadori

In the continuing spirit of Vintage bonsai photos here are a collection pre 2000 photos showing just how insane I was in the early days of collecting yamadori.