Category Potting

Feb 23 2012

Strange pot for a semi cascade Juniper

I have had this juniper for over ten years, I bought it because I wanted a Japanese Juniper in my collection, this little tree has been the most expensive tree in my garden, because I paid so much for this tree I have been reluctant to part with it, most of my collection consists of yamadori that I have collected.

This tree was originally Moyogi with set branches in a typically imported tree. However the tree suffered from vine weevil about 7 years ago and lost but one branch! It has stood in my garden looking very sorry for all this time…. In fact…many of my bonsai ‘friends’ have made fun of me for paying so much for a runt of a tree.

Some times a particular pot can stimulate an idea, this is one such pot. My friend from Holland Hans Van Meer, gave me this pot by William Vlaanderen  because I believed this tree would ‘work’. The idea for this pot is Hans. I think that this runt of a tree will develop into an interesting bonsai… you saw it here first…what do you think?

Feb 11 2012

How to re-pot a Tall Mature Hawthorn Bonsai

I have had this tree for over 20 years, its planted in a lovely Derek Aspinall pot, it was desperate to be repotted, here is a photo story.

Jan 28 2012

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.