Category Hawthorn

Apr 1 2012

New STRONG growth on Hawthorn heralds healthy growth

I love this time of year when the newly collected stock starts to thrust out fresh growth. There is always a big sense of excitement and anticipation as to whether the tree has recovered from the stress of collecting and transplanting. Here is a Hawthorn that has started to throw out new shoots from a major cut.  I always let newly collected stock thrive unchecked for two years before any work is started.

I will be posting photos of all the new stock from June onwards. Over 150 trees including Prunus Spinosa, Crataegus, Cotoneaster, Taxus and Scots Pine.

Mar 7 2012

How I collect Yamadori Hawthorns

Here is a gallery of images from the last collecting trip to collect hawthorns. They are situated on a hillside surrounded by scrub and large trees. Finding them is not easy as they are the same colour as the rocks. One of the best aspects of this site is that most trees have one large tap root but many fine roots in the layer of soil above the rough stone. You can see the difference in the colour of the soil where the fine roots are. This creates a great nebari and once the tap root is cut off the tree can be place in a shallow container.

Mar 7 2012

Recreating ‘natural’ branch structures in Hawthorn Bonsai

When recreating the ‘natural’ look in the branch of Hawthorn Bonsai it is important to consider the growth habit of the tree in nature. When we create a bonsai we control the growth and ‘force’ the tree to grow as we wish. Hawthorn in the wild grow in a random fashion (unless they are windswept and the growth is usually in one direction!)

If we were to let our hawthorn bonsai grow in a random fashion then they would look like a shrub with no ‘real’ style or design. So the answer is the create a branch structure that is both controlled yet has a ‘wild’ appearance. Look closely at the branch below and you will notice that the ‘main’ branch is formed in such a way as to support the randomness of the smaller branches however the silhouette remains visually pleasing.

Feb 17 2012

Interview in my garden with Social Media giant @documentally

A couple of years ago I had a reporter visit my garden to interview me about Bonsai, listening to it now there are a few things that make me cringe… but listen to the recording as if you knew NOTHING about bonsai or Yamadori… as this was the audience it was aimed at, its an Audioboo Listen here it’s 9 .21 mins long and make sure you turn your sound up. This has been listened to by lots of folk on the web. It was part of a social networking event I hosted as part of my Digital Consultancy Business and the Reporter was fascinated when he came to my house and decided to do the interview.

If you have a lot of time on your hands check out Christian Payne