I bought this cedar quite a few years ago and to be honest I haven’t been doing a good job with it. This season I decided I would clean out all the old needles and leave just the new shoots to see if that improves the tree overall. I also started a different fertilizing program with the same thought in mind – overall tree improvement. I am moving away from liquid fertilizer and started using organic fertilizer which I place into teabags and attach that to the surface of the bonsai. This should give a slow release of goodies to the plant over a period of about three months, however it will take a year or two before the results are known.

I didn’t take enough photos of the process but here is a photo after the old needles were stripped off.

You can see one fertilizer bag in that photo and after the process it now has about six bags.

This is the after shot following a trim and wiring.

It does have the look of a larch from a distance now I think but I hope it will fill out and all those new buds will develop. More news on this on in a year or two.

I dug this in 2011 and since then I have been trying to save the tree from borer attack and finally I think I am on top for the first time. The tree has rewarded my effort by flowering all over this year and it looks great (I am biased however).

First is a photo of the flowers which are red in the early stages but change to deep pink as they mature.

The bonsai stands about 800 mm high and although the spring flowering is the highlight it does look good all year as it changes through the phases of the seasons. I will let it grow for a six to eight weeks before giving it a good cut back and possibly a restyle of the apex.

The pot is by Australian potter Marie Hewartson I believe and was chosen to complement the bark but consideration is being given to putting it in a glazed pot. A decision will be made in the coming months.

A quick look at some of the borer damage.

A week after the Goulburn exhibition it was the turn of Canberra to turn on the bonsai light. Canberra has a very large and powerful club and the quality of trees on display was very good as well as having a large sales area which is always exciting.

A few trees from the exhibition.

I am letting this Hawthorn grow out to allow it to gain strength and to put on a few more options in tertiary branching but just because it was in flower (only a few) I took a photo. You can see that it is filling out and soon it will be a ball.

When the new growth hardens off I will trim it back and make some decisions on its future direction. I want to make it narrower than it is now and to get some separation between the foliage masses, especially on the right side as you look at it. With a little bit of luck it may be exhibited next spring.

This tree was dug quite a few years ago because it had a trunk with taper and movement, things that are sometimes difficult to find in yamadori.

The local bonsai society held their annual exhibition recently and it was the first one in eastern Australia sine March 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic and of course there were strict rules in place but none the less it was a great weekend.

Some things that would normally happen didn’t go ahead this year however the opportunity to show bonsai to all the bonsai folk and the general public was very rewarding.

A few photos from the exhibition.

Our Corona virus lockdown has now expired so the time available to make display stands is reduced, but this one was constructed recently. Its of the large solid type for larger bonsai, simple lines and sturdy construction.

A friend and I were out digging a few English elms around an abandoned farm house a couple of years ago and put this “in the bag” just to see if anything would come of it. I understood that it was small and there is not much to it but I thought I would give it a go.

After a few years there is still not much to it but when it is in flower it looks quite nice, so it got rewarded with a photo.

The close up of the flower does not show its real colour which is more of an orange colour than the red, but still quite nice.

You can’t have new pots without having new stands to display them on. Of course the tree is always the primary piece but pots and stands are necessary accessories.

It has been a while between posts about my attempts to make bonsai pots and that is because of the Covid 19 crisis however recently potting has resumed and this is the first lot out since the resumption.

I think I am getting a little better at this pot making stuff and some of them are OK. I hope you enjoy.

It has been a while since I posted a photo of some of the display stands I have been making. These are all made of pre-loved timber and I am certainly not a master craftsman but these stands are good for local exhibitions and the like.

I will post a few over the coming days.

These two were made to be displayed together in a Chuhin three point display that never eventuated but I still have the stands.