Repost from Walter Pall's Blog

This tree was stolen from Walter Pall's Garden.  Please share and repost on your own blog to make selling or moving on of the tree as difficult for the culprits as possible. Any information as to the whereabouts of this tree to Walter Pall.: bonsai@walter-pall.de

Zelkowa stolen

Zelkowa, Zelkowa serrate, very fat, stole on July 25 from my garden. While everything is under video control there is a very small area where this tree stood exactly which is not covered. Please hold the thief and report. We probably know that person.

Trident Maple Thread Graft

Still no sign of summer arriving here in Leicester :(

 I decided to work on some of my raw material this week, and this trident was crying out for some attention. It has been standing around in the growing area for a few years now, just getting the odd trim. Today I decided to do something about the lack of branches in the lower part of the tree.

 

Impressions from our Bonsai Club Exhibition

I am a member of Wigston Bonsai Club here in Leicester, and we had the first of our annual exhibitions this Sunday. Due to space restrictions we could only show a small amount of our trees, but every little helps to raise awareness of the hobby. Visitor numbers were good and we had a lot of interest from the general public. I have put together a small video of the day.

Hailstorm Video

Here is some footage of the hailstorm that did the damage.  I have edited out most of the expletives.

More weather

End of June and I should be sitting in the garden with a nice glass of wine, enjoying the sunshine and admiring my Bonsai.

 FAT CHANCE!

 Having ensured nearly two months of rain, wind and low temperatures, we just had a massive hailstorm to top the lot. I honestly have not seen anything like this in the last 30 years. Leaves and branches were stripped of the bonsai and the greenhouse roof is completely shattered. You can see the size of the hailstones from the impact craters in the seed trays. The force of the hail actually dented the bonnet and roof of my car. Anyhow, best get clearing up!

 More picture here

Wigston Bonsai Club Annual Show

Our Bonsai Club is holding its annual show at Leicester University Botanical Gardens this weekend, and I have been preparing some of my trees for the show.  While the weather was nice I got the camcorder out and sot a short video.  Enjoy!

Chinese Elm Tanuki year 3 update

This is the third year now for this little tanuki, and it is now time to start the styling by selective pruning to finalise branch placement and start the process of ramification.

Nice Weather for Ducks

Totally unrelated to bonsai, but I thought it's worth sharing.
The weather here for the last week or so was awful.  Rain and wind galore.
Even the ducks have abandoned the lakes and ponds in favour of the puddles in the road ;)

Pictures were taken outside our front door, as my wife was trying to reverse the car out of the drive.

Some of my "little ones" on video

Got the video camera out today to get ready for an update on my Chinese Elm Tanuki, but got a bit distracted, so here is a vid of some of my small trees.
Really just trying out some new editing software ;)

Bonsai Stolen in the York area

I had an email from Shaun Turner in York who had his whole bonsai collection stolen earlier this week. In total 15 trees were stolen.
Please contact him If you get offered any bonsai from strange sources. Needless to say he is gutted.
He has agreed for me to give his e-mail address on here and on my blog. 
His email is: stdog69@yahoo.co.uk

Here are a few pictures of some of the stolen trees.










If you have your own blog please post on there as well.

_________________
Many Thanks

Mike

Bonsai Car Boot Sale

Just finished loading the goodies into the van for tomorrow's Bonsai Car Boot Sale at the botanical Gardens in Birmingham.

I am aiming to be there just before 7:00am, so if you are an early riser, come and say hello.

Chinese Elm Mame Progression

This little elm started life as one of thousands imported to the UK from China.  Most of these little trees will end up on the shelves of Garden Centres or Supermarkets, and subsequently dying on some mantelshelf or windowsill.

This one caught my eye, so I bought it.  That was last year in March or April.  It was trimmed radically and the remaining branches wired.  Just one year later it has turned out a nice little tree.

As bought -Spring 2011 pruned and wired

Late Summer 2011 - re-potted into a small Mame Pot

March 2012

Larch Group re-pot

My Larch group planting has put on a lot of growth last year, so much so that it was slowly lifting itself out of the pot.  As Larches don't like to be root bound, it was time for a re-pot.

The Buds are just turning from brown to green, so just about perfect timing.

Out of the pot and on to the turntable.  If you look closely, you can see the mass of circling roots. 

The roots were teased out gently with a root hook

All the circling roots cut off with a sharp pair of shears

The top layer of moss and the old sail has now been removed to make sure that the new top dressing will still  show the surface roots.

Time to get the tweezers out to remove as much of the dreaded Ragwort as possible

I still haven't found a suitable pot for this group, so it's going back in to the mica pot.  Four tie in wires are more than sufficient for the job, as the root system of the trees in this group has tightly knitted together.

Potting mix is 1 part Akadama, 1 Part Moler Clay, 1 part sharp grit.

The group is now placed in the pot and secured with the tie in wire.  Where the wire crosses major roots, it is covered with plastic tubing to prevent damage to the roots.

More of the potting mix has been added and carefully worked in to the roots to make sure no air pockets remain.  The whole planting is then top dressed with a mix of 2 parts Akadama and 1 part grit.

All done, good for a couple of years.  I hope to find a suitable pot by the time it needs repotting again.

Yamadori Hawthorn

Finally managed to bet the camera out to take some pictures of this Hawthorn I collected late last year.
Not too difficult to collect, as the rabbits living underneath it had done most of the job for me.  It has a good amount of root on it, but only time will tell if it lives.  It has spent the winter under cover in the cold greenhouse, covered in frost protection fleece and will receive some tlc for the next couple of years to help it establish in the pot.

Fingers crossed!

Bonsai in Wales 2012 Event

Trees for the exhibiton are now being selected, so if you have a tree that you would like to be considered, contact
peter@bonsaiwales.org.uk.

Amazing what you find in the loft

While fitting insulation and boarding out the loft space of our house, we had a much needed clear-out of the accumulated junk that has been sitting up there for some years now.

Looking through some boxes of books (destined for the charity shop) I found these two unusual books.  I have no idea where they came from, but one being written in German, it is very likely that I brought them with me when I immigrated to the UK.

What makes them unusual is they way they are bound.  The pages are printed on one side of a continuous length of paper and then folded concertina fashion to create the pages (like so: /\/\/\/\/\). These are then sewn together and lay loose inside the hard cover.

They have no ISBN numbers, having been printed in the 1950's, so I have contacted a couple of specialist book sellers to see if they are interested.

I have no use for them, so if you are interested, make me an offer and I will happily part with them.