Mame Cotoneaster

My Eldest son (now six) collected two cotoneaster seedlings a couple of years ago on his first collecting trip. I thought they would work well as a kind of quasi-twin-trunk. They have had nothing other than a light trim since collection. I originally planted them into a Walsall Ceramics pot which was unfortunately broken in a storm. They now reside in one of my John Ostranica pots.

Mame Cotoneaster in John Ostranica pot

Kusamono: Saxifrage

Saxifrage in John Ostranica Pot

Shohin Yew Second Styling - What Already? Yes, Already!

I posted my recent attempt at styling my shohin Taxus on Facebook, and it was not well received. In fact, comments were along the lines of a "broom with a hanging elephant's trunk!" I was pleased at the honest response, and I always encourage people to say what they think and help me to improve my work through constructive criticism. As I looked at the tree, I immediately felt disappointed in myself for such sloppy work, and knew I could do better.

The tree after its first styling

Other than the hanging right-hand branch, most of the branches were quite stiff, but there was a little movement in the first branch on the left. My first thought was to bring this branch down to give more balance and make the tree less broom-like.

The left hand branch brought down to create less of a "broom" like appearance

There were a few ideas thrown around on Facebook, and Marcus Watts came up with the thought of tilting the tree to the right. He produced a quick, rough virtual which I decided to re-do in more detail with Photoshop.

A Photoshop virtual of the tree in a leaning position

After some deliberation, I decided to go with Marcus's idea and began work with no delay. The original pot did not suit the new angle, so I opted for a crescent. Originally there was a fairly unanimous decision on Facebook to remove the hanging branch. With the new styling, I am currently undecided as to whether it is needed.

Finished for now!

The tree has had quite a lot of work thrown at it and is only two years on from collection. It will now be given some TLC through the Winter.

Shohin Yew First Styling

Before

After

Blowtorching the Big Hawthorn

Just done a little more work on the hawthorn - burning the carved areas with a blowtorch. There was also an issue with my Labrador chewing the end off a small branch!

The chewed stump

The same stump after stripping back a little with pliers and then burning

One of the uros (hollows) before burning

The surrounding areas were protected with a wet towel before burning

One of the uros after burning

The whole tree as it looks today

Inspirational Natural Trees in Cumbria

Yesterday, my friend David and I took a trip to Cumbria to visit some special places and look at trees. We were out well before dawn so as to give us time to visit a few places including somewhere that we had permission to collect some material.

The first venue was a place of outstanding natural beauty, with incredible limestone pavements. The trees on this site are certainly not collectable, as even if it were possible to gain permission, it would probably take nothing short of dynamite to extract them from the crevices which they have grown in for many decades.

Some viewers will probably recognise this unique terrain, but I would rather not disclose its exact location just in case some fool does decide to go and attempt to collect these trees.


A beautiful landscape

 

A pine growing in the limestone

Yew with lots of deadwood

A yew with beautiful natural jins



This Taxus appears as if it had tied itself in knots!

The triangular profile of what looks like a natural bonsai... In actual fact, its roots are at the end of a long trunk growing deep through a grike in the pavement.

Deadwood

We then moved on to another location which offers breath taking views across the lake district. There were heavily browsed "bonsaid" yews here - this time growing in limestone scree. Unfortunately the gnarly, twisted deadwood does not really occur here.



A heavily browsed Yew

 

This Taxus had a lovely, natural, windswept appearance

By lunchtime we had finished site-seeing and photo taking, and had just enough time to visit one of my regular sites to collect a couple of hawthorns. We did not go home with any world class material, but a day in beautiful countryside with good company is never wasted.

 



Photo by D. Fairbanks