A Funny Wee White Pine.

All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that.

Baltasar Gracian

When my substantial Japanese White Pine and I parted company and it went to a new custodian I stipulated that the deal should also include a small White Pine. Well small it was and it sat for weeks and weeks wondering what on earth I could possibly do with it!

Well Saturday was a great health day and with sunshine the order of the day I felt it was now or never. Many branches had been pruned very badly over time with quite a few growing back on themselves. I truly didn’t think it had anything going for it.

The tree as it was in its raw state. Excuse the photography; I’ve sold my old 500D DSLR and await my new camera.

After a while I started to make some progress. I’ve now removed about 70-80% of the existing foliage and branch network. More to do but here it is as is today.

Now I just need to get a suitable pot. Fancy a round one at 20-22cm in diameter.

Some New Accents.

A firm tree does not fear the storm.      

Dayak

I was fortunate enough to make the Bristol Bonsai Show at the weekend of the 18th. What a fantastic show with absolute applause from me with respect to the organisation, QUALITY of trees and supporting / companion accents, trade stands .. well, the ‘whole nine yards.’ Superb and thank you all. Sadly I had the compact with me and luddite me managed to have it set on 300k per image and not 3 meg 😦

It really was impossible to single any out but spookily I managed a larger image of a stunning Elm owned by Mark and Ritta Cooper. I’m delighted to show it here on my blog. Pot is a ‘Dansai’ and stunning too.

I managed to purchase a couple of new pots from Dan Barton who had quite a remarkable choice to select from. Gwen pipped me on that gorgeous ‘curly-pot’ almost something H.R. Giger about it. Thankfully ‘Dansai’ is going to make me another but smaller. The pot is below.

My own purchases have been potted up and I include them below. The Blue pot is a Delosperma ‘graf reinet’ and was a gift from my good friend Paul B. Thank you Paul. Along with the White flowering variety Paul also gave me another colour and this one happened to be in a tiny pot Paul had made himself. It was a larger plant but I cut a length off to pot up.

This Red pot, also a ‘Dansai’ is now looking after an Echeveria that I rescued. Pot and plant go well together. This pot is a high glaze somewhat different to what I would normally have, hence the appeal.

Finally I had seen Paul with a rather nice Japanese Rose, which he got from Ritta Cooper. Without a moments hesitation I just knew I too would not be content without one. Potted on into a spare pot so now I will see how it does. Leaves are really tiny.

I was very pleased to receive a gift from Dansai which is a Hosta Blue Mouse Ears. It is exceedingly healthy and I will split it next year. Rather like the Dansai pot too. I’ve not done well with miniature Hosta of late and this specimen will be pampered. Thank you again Dan.

Looking forward to Bristol 2014!

Accent accent

No not a stammer, I bought this wee beauty from someone I knew; he makes these and many other things too. Huge amount of skill. The top unscrews and it would be suited to keeping something or things in relatively small.

Anyway I had forgotten that I bought it to use at Swindon 2013 show as part of my accent. I changed my mind at the last moment feeling the ‘hedgehogs’ were more in keeping.

At 6cm tall and 5cm wide and the widest point it is a favourite to use in the future. Thanks to Mark for reminding me it is Boxwood.

Tis Bright Alright!

I’d seen this gorgeous looking pot on Facebook (the power of an advert). I fell in love instantly but upon contacting David at Walsall Ceramics they had none. With his usual helpful attitude it was a case of “No problem, I will let you know when they become available again.”

What seemed only days later David emailed me to say he had three and to take my pick. I did and I’m delighted to share it here on my blogasphere. 9cm tall and 7cm wide it will take a decent sized wee accent type plant. I’m thinking something with creamy white flowers to compliment the pot.

Two ERIN, One Barton And a Remington

All sung to the twelve days of the Silly Season. Lovely morning here in Somerset, and I could not walk by without a click of the shutter. Colours are lovely to see.

Enjoy the day, or should that read days? I think we are in for some rather nice weather it would seem. The mercury be a poppin upwards 🙂

Old Accent Plants (where do they go?)

Over the years I have made some of the worst possible choices for accent plantings; yes I’ll hold the ol hand up. Have I learnt? Not entirely, as on occasion reason goes out of the way and I will STILL try something completely barking!

Luckily (in one respect) we do have large gardens here, and there are many beds or paths or gravel to try something out. So when an accent planting has not worked or it was simply getting stupidly big I tend to find an area to plant them in. I suppose in a completely daft thought I see it as letting the plant do what it really wants to do … have a good stretch after being in a small pot and grow.

Just a few snaps then of some that started off in a tiny wee pot.

Dwarf Allium & Others.

I’d been looking for one of these for sometime now, and whilst I know I could order one over the internet it was never really a consideration. Taking a trip up into the Quantock Hills we dropped in to Triscombe Nursery for just a look around. There as I turned the corner and made my way to the Alpine selection (where else), was a handful of Dwarf Allium. For under £2 one was picked up ready for planting in a pot.

I had one in mind which is a Tony Remington one. Previously it contained my first Echeveria which had been flowering for weeks. I frequently retire a plant to the garden; I’m sure if the plant could think it may well appreciate the move. Fortunately here the soil leans on acid based and just about anything you plant grows extremely well.

I also had some wild violets and a few Rhodohypoxis so just mixed them up some. Has a ‘just-planted’ look but will soon fill the pot. All I can now smell is onions … hence working with Alliums.

I’d not had a lot of luck with miniature hostas this year, but came across a pretty Blue Mouse Ears advertised by Bali-Hai Nursery. Free postage on this one and I knew I had an ERIN pot ready and waiting. Bonsai Eejit has recently paid a visit to said nursery; lucky fellow. Check out his wonderful web-blog, be warned though … it is a very addictive site.

I had some Allium left over so popped some into another ERIN pot that was currently empty. Not for long round here though!

This next one again was currently empty and I had some spare of this one so for now it really is just about differing heights and colours when viewing these small plants. Also one from Vic at ERIN.

Flowering Sempervivums

I use the plural as this ERIN pot I showed a while ago, which was really not a lot more than throw some spare stuff in a pot and see what happens.

I’m delighted the central sempervivums have decided to flower; at least I get a nice display. There are six or seven different kinds in this one pot. 9cm wide x 4.5cm depth.

An Update.

I showed the rather nice Tony Remington pot which I was fortunate enough to secure a week or so back. I had no idea what to put in it, which reminds me … of course none of us have ever bought a pot because we just liked the pot .. now have we?

Anyway, they had some reasonably nice indoor Roses potted up in Morrisons; reduced to £1.50 each I felt that would look quite OK in my new TR pot. Not an accent per se, actually far from it; it is however positioned among my bonsai and it is nice to have some colour other than green.

Here it is then and now fingers crossed it survives. Healthy so maybe it will be alright.

Bergeranthus as Accent

I didn’t actually get a lot done yesterday as where I live we are fighting a wind turbine application, so doing all we can to get the infernal thing refused! (And we did get it refused 2015) Anyway I did want to take a break and out came the trusty Canon camera complete with 24-105 L series and see if I can improve. When I say improve I keep slipping back to using the 55-250 lens which although good should not in theory be able to compete against the 24-105.

So two images today. One is a Bergeranthus glenensis which I have reduced greatly to fit this ERIN pot. I’m going to have to stop saying ‘it is one of my favourite pots.’ It would seem I keep saying it! But then this one is .. a favourite. At just 8cm wide and 6cm deep it reminds me of the ‘Harry Potter sorting-hat.’ Internal is quite a bit smaller at 6cm wide x 4.5cm deep. I truly think Vic at ERIN excelled himself (if that is possible?) when he made this one! Anyhoo, enough prattle, here is as above:

Medium is the new mix: one part smallest C/L. One part small Akadama. One part Melcourt Propagating Bark and one part Kyodama grit. Topped off with aquarium grit which is Roman Gravel. With such an open mix it WILL be impossible to over water. Yesterday the flower refused to open. A quick water and hey presto as if by magic the flower fully opened. It should keep flowering all season. Flower starts pink each day in the closed position and opens Yellow. Not hardy so if you want to have this succulent as an accent you will need to over-winter in a frost-free environment but not heated.

When I put it back in the middle of two other accents I could not resist a shot. Thank you once again for reading my ‘stuff!’