May 22 2015

Three Hawthorns in Flower, Including the Raft!

I love this time of year when the May flowers, I have had these three hawthorns many years, the Tall guy flowers without fail, The fat Guy flowered with a single cluster last year for the first time, and this year (after 26 years) The raft flowered.

So why has it taken so long for the raft to flower? There is a lot of old wives tales on getting Hawthorns to flower; these include having the tree pot bound or feeding with High Nitrogen. I have tried these and they did not work, the only change I have made in the last 18 months is using Tibolar, so is it that? The only conclusion I can make is that it is indeed the Tibolar soil conditioner/feed I started using the 4-6-2 early last year and changed to the 13-6-2 around June and the result was as you can see in the photos.

Hawthorns in the garden

May 17 2015

FOBBS Chelsea stand 2015 the big build.

well done guys…looks great

andysshohin's avatarAndys shohin bonsai

Friday is the first day that Reg and his team from around the FOBBS clubs set up the stand at the famous Chelsea flower show, to promote bonsai to thousands of visitors during the week.


Once we had worked out where we were located inside the floral marquee, having not realised our stand number was on the pass we were wearing! We were happy to see the stand was quite level which would help greatly.


This is our view up on the stand looking out over the marquee.


So on with the build and good progress up to lunch time.


After a quick pitstop it was on with getting the edging timbers in that crisp up the finish.



By the end of the day we had the gravel in place and all in the right bits in the right places.

The stand is just the back drop to the main…

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May 13 2015

Amazing ancient trees, exposed roots and wonderful silhouettes

Last weekend our group of friends had a walk around Derwentwater in the Lake District of England, we were blessed with a dry day and even a wee bit of sunshine. The wealth of amazing ancient trees, exposed roots and wonderful silhouettes was something to behold. Lots of great ideas and inspiration for bonsai. Some of the moss-covered woodland was quite reminiscent of ‘The Lord of the Rings’

Apr 23 2015

Pistachio from the hot South in a pot from the cold North

Thor Holvila Bonsai Pot 1500

This yamadori pistachio was collected in Croatia 5 years ago and has still some way to go with the foliage mass. It has wonderful craggy bark and graceful twists and turns to the trunk line. Last week the tree flowered profusely however here in the cold damp North of England I do not expect to be blessed with Pistachio nuts as this species does not produce them (shame because they are my favourite)

I asked Thor Holvila to make a pot for the tree, I was looking for a different approach … This from Thor “I call this design Nidhögg since its depicting the dragon snake in Norse mythology that guards the world tree Yggdrasil. It’s carved by hand from one piece of granite grey Danish clay. Thor Holvila‘s attention to detail is wonderful, unseen are the faces of of Nordic characters with the eyes being the wire holes, each face different, and the feet are characteristic of of the carvings on Viking longboats.

The tree pot combination is great and the colour matches well with the rugged silvery bark, and when the foliage fills out it can only improve.

Take a look at more of Thor’s amazing pots in the links above

Apr 13 2015

The Raft Hawthorn with new photos set up today

I am still making various quality tests with my new studio set up, here is my Hawthorn Raft today just coming into leaf, I am really excited too because for the first time in 26 years there are flower buds on the tree. So expect a flowering raft in the next few weeks! Select the photo to see full size!Raft 2000 April 2015