Lanarkshire Bonsai Club Meeting 03/04/2016

It was a busy day yesterday at Wattston Bonsai for the April meeting of the Lanarkshire Bonsai Club. The weather was kind, which meant that a good number of members attended to catch up on the news, work on their trees and stock up on supplies for the new season. Here are some pictures from the day.

Maurice, the club’s representative at the Scottish Bonsai Association, getting ready for an announcement.

Totally focussed on their trees

Dougie advising Gavin on the styling of a Juniper with Murray looking on.

Stuart decided to work his hinoki outside in the afternoon sun

A few of the members trees

Stuart’s prunus kojo no mai in full bloom

Ian’s chuhin scots pine

A few new arrivals on the Dougie’s sales benches.

shohin white pine

Large cone shaped yama momiji with great future potential

Lovely large itoigawa juniper with amazing character

Nice multi trunked maple

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Shohin Cherries in Flower

My 2 shohin cherries, Prunus Incisa kojo no mai, have come into flower this week a little earlier than last year. Both trees have been in development from nursery stock for about 3 years.

Last year the second one peaked before the first, this year its the other way round. The second one was re-potted last season and that seems to have slowed down its’ start this year. I have noticed this with many of the trees I re-potted last year.

 

Deciduous Shohin in Late Winter

Now that the winter maintenance on my larches has been completed for another year it’s time to start work on my deciduous trees. Here is a group picture of some of the better ones I will be working on this week, weather permitting of course.

The daytime temperatures in my greenhouse are beginning to rise and the buds are starting to swell but with night time temperatures likely to fall below zero, extra vigilance is required to ensure that no damage is done. This is the riskiest time of year for small trees in small pots.

What’s Happened to the Weather ?

The Spring re-potting of my deciduous trees got off to a good start last week but quickly came to a halt as the weather changed for the worse. My trees seem very confused.

Some, like this acer and my 2 flowering cherries have valiantly pushed onward with great vigour.

Others, like my pomegranate and zelkovas seem to have gone into retreat and are stubbornly refusing to push out new growth until the weather warms up.

The worst affected is this kiyohime maple, which was covered in small buds some of which have died back with the recent cold nights. I had hoped to have re-potted this by now but I’ll now have to wait until its looking a bit stronger.

In contrast, my evergreens are getting greener every day with the increasing daylight.

I just wish it was a little warmer.

New Spring Growth

Spring is still in its early days here in Scotland, but the slight increase in light and temperature are having the desired effect. Here are some pictures of trees that are beginning to shine at the moment.

Larches are at their best as the new growth emerges.

My acer Shishishigira is well ahead of my other maples.

This Japanese black pine is beginning to respond and the foliage is taking on a richer glow.

This little prunus is well ahead of the others on my benches.

First Flowers of the Year

The Flowers on my Prunus kojo no mai have reached a peak today, as if to mark the first anniversary of my blog. Yes, it was one year ago this week that I began my blogging journey. I have had over 55,000 page views in the first year, which I think is amazing for a blog that focuses on a minority interest within a minority interest. I would like to thank everybody that have taken the time to view my efforts, it’s you guys that make it all worthwhile.