Spring work

Some spring work on my decidious trees. Fagus, Cornus, Prunus and Cotinus.

Pomladno delo na bukvi, drenu, rešeljiki in ruju.

Scots cascade

This story began almost ten years ago in 2008 when I got this scots pine as a gift from my grandparents. Since the tree was well rooted I made the first basic styling almost right away. That time I went for a tree with two tops using my beginner knowledge.

Zgodba o tem rdečem boru se je začela pred skoraj desetimi leti, leta 2008, ko sem ga dobil kot darilo od mojih starih staršev. Ker je bil že dobro ukoreninjen sem se z mojim začetniškem znanjem kmalu lotil prvega oblikovanja. Odločil sem se za dva vrha.

A year after it already went into what I thought was its final pot.

Leto kasneje sem ga že presadil v posodo, za katero sem pričakoval, da bo končna.

Sadly soon after the top apex died and I was left with a long straight and unattractive branch, so I decided to let the tree grow freely for a while until I could figure out what to do with it. That was in 2010.

Žal je kmalu za tem zgornji vrh odmrl in ostalo mi je drevo z eno ravno vejo, z zelenjem zgolj na koncu. Ker takrat še nisem točno vedel kaj narediti z njim, sem ga pustil prosto rasti. To je bilo leta 2010.

In 2013, with my knowledge improved I slowly began bending the old unflexible trunk. Below the start of the first bend...

Leta 2013, z večjim znanjem, sem začel kriviti staro, neprožno deblo. Spodnja slika prikazuje začetek prvega zavoja...

...followed by the second bend a year later.
...in še drugega, leto kasneje.

The next photo is from 2017 just before styling (old needles already plucked). In the mean time I transplanted the tree into a bigger training container and positioned it at a better angle. 

Spodnja slika je že iz 2017, tik pred oblikovanjem (stare iglice sem do tega trenutka že potrgal). Do tedaj sem bor še presadil v večjo trening posodo in nekoliko prilagodil kot pod katerim je bor posajen.

And after styling.

Now it needs some more remification and a nice bonsai pot! 

Po oblikovanju.

Sedaj se mora bor še lepo zgostiti in dobiti lepo posodo.

Berberis and Sabina

Styling season is starting, so here are two of my recent projects.

Firstly here is the first styling I have done on this small but very old Berberis thunbergii. This one is only about 30cm tall and suspected to be somewhere from 30-40 years old.
I decided to style it in a way simmilar to its natural habitus, that is why strickt standard styling rules were not applyed here. But nevertheless some branch selections and wire were required to make the future structure better. I look much forward to the further development of this tree.

Počasi se začenja sezona dela na bonsajih. Spodaj sta dva moja nedavna projekta.
Prvo oblikovanje na manjšem, vendar starem češminu. Visok je približno 30cm in star okrog 30-40 let.
Odločil sem se, da ga ne bom oblikoval v klasični stil, temveč se bom držal njegovega naravnega habitusa. Vseeno pa sem opravil selekcijo vej in jih ožičil, ter s tem napravil boljšo podlago za končno strukturo krošnje. Zelo se veselim nadaljnega dela na tem malem bonsaju.

Before
Pred oblikovanjem

After
Po oblikovanju

Sometimes trees can surprise you. This sabina juniper came to my garden by coincidence and did not look like much at first sight. I decided to try and make it a bit more appealing. After I dug through the big mass of foliage I discovered quite a few nice features like old deadwood and even some tapper and nice twists in the trunk.
This was not a totall styling, only some major branches were put in position.

Včasih te nekatera drevesa lahko nekoliko presenetijo. Tale Juniperus sabina (smrdljivi brin po naše) je prišla v moj vrt bolj po naklučju in na prvi pogled ni prav veliko obetala. Odločil sem se je lotiti in jo narediti vsaj malo bolj privlačno na pogled. Ko sem se prebijal skozi gosto krošnjo, kar je nakazovalo dobro zdravje drevesa, sem odkril kar nekaj lepih lastnosti kot so star mrtev les, ožanje debla in celo nekaj lepega gibanja.

To ni bilo popolno oblikovanje, le nekaj glavnih vej sem usmeril v boljšo pozicijo.

Before

Pred oblikovanjem

After
Po oblikovanju

NT & EBA & ESA

One week ago the 18th edition of the Noelanders Trophy was held in the Belgian town of Genk, this time along side with the EBA & ESA exhibition.

If you are familiar with this exhibition you know just how huge of an event this is. But for those who are not familiar, let me just tell you there were about 200 bonsai exhibited, 80 traders selling their items and about 4500 visitors during the whole weekend.

Here are some glimpses. Only some overall photos of the exhibition since photography was once again not allowed.

Pred enim tednom je v Belgijskem mestecu Genk potekala že 18. razstava bonsajev Noelanders Trophy, tokrat združena z evropsko EBA & ESA razstavo. 

Če poznate Noelanders Trophy, veste kako velika je. Za vse ostale pa lahko povem, da je bilo razstavljenih okrog 200 bonsajev, prodajalo je 80 prodajalcev in preko celega vikenda je razstavo obiskalo okoli 4500 obiskovalcev.

Spodaj je nekaj utronkov. Le nekaj potografij razstavnega prostora, saj je bilo fotografiranje razstave ponovno prepovedano.

The two ovrall winning trees. Juniperus sabina and Taxus cuspidata, both from Spain. 

Zmagovalna drevesa. Juniperus sabina in Taxus cuspidata, oba iz Španije.

Best decidious.
Najboljši listavec.

Once again I was lucky enough to participate and exhibit a few of my own trees. Small shohin display for the Noelanders Trophy and Carpinus koreana for EBA.

Ponovno sem imel srečo sodelovati na razstavi. Na Noelanders Trophy-u sem razstavljal manjšo shohin kompozicijo, na EBA razstavi pa svoj korejski gaber.

This years demonstrators were Mitsuo Matsuda (JP), Daisaku Nomoto (JP), Salvatore Liporace (IT) and David Benavente (ES).

Demonstratorji tokrat so bili Mitsuo Matsuda (JP), Daisaku Nomoto (JP), Salvatore Liporace (IT) in David Benavente (ES).

Finally I also managed to visit the famous bonsai garden of Jean-Paul Polmans. Trully awesome collection.

Končno mi je tudi uspelo obiskati dobro poznan vrt mojstra Jean-Paul Polmansa. Resnično lepa zbirka.