First work on a Yamadori Yew ‘Pagoda’ style
Its always exciting when you tackle a piece of raw material for the first time, the element of discovery (and sometimes disappointment) seeing the image that you have in your head appear before your eyes is great.
This tree was collected over 4 years ago, this is a tall thin English Yew (Taxus Baccata), it has a shari that runs from top to base. Its never been re-potted out of this washing up bowl and it is now ready. The first work is not actually styling but formulating the branch structure and foliage locations. No wiring, no styling no branch positioning, the tree will be left to grow. All I will do over the next 12 months is clean the tree and tidy up the cuts.
Moss on Trees
Its considered bad form to display your bonsai with moss on the trunk. Attempts to remove the moss almost always results in precious old bark being dislodged. I live in the cold wet north of the UK and moss on trees is inevitable, these photos are from near where I live – so if we are to present our bonsai as true to the region we live should I have moss on my trees, what do you think?
Repotting the Tall Guy Hawthorn
This is a series of photos from a repotting of an OLD Hawthorn from a few years ago. Pot is by the late Derek Aspinall, the soil mixture is very open and well draining.
The Twister- Larch in its winter coat
I have worked this Larch for more than 7 years, it is a great tree to work with as the branches are quite flexible, it responds well to nipping back the new growth. The Bryan Albright pot is perfect in every way, colour, size and shape. Here is a photo from 2015.
Bonsai & Yamadori from Tony Tickle 