Step foreward

Yesterday I was working again on my friend's mugo pine. It was time to wire it for the second time. We did the first styling on this one last spring after it was sitting in its container for about 2-3 years after collecting, so it was nice and helthy. The progress this tree made in two growing seasons is immense and is already looking very fine. I'm just not completelly satisfied with the second branch on the left. It needs to be brought more to the right. The tree will be repotted in spring in a smaller pot.

Before any work in spring 2013.

China penjing & scholar's rocks

Over the past two weeks I was lucky enough to have good friends who gave me two issues of the China penjing & scholar's rocks magazine. The reason why I was so happy to get them is there are photos of my bonsai in them.

In the first issue there is a report of the 2011 EBA exhibition in Ratingen, Germany, where I exhibited my Thuya occidentalis 'Smaragd'.

In the second one the article is about the 2012 EBA in Ljubljana, Slovenia. For starters my award-winning juniper is on a whole page.

And also my second bonsai, an azalea, is included.

Plus some photos of Tony Tickle's demo where I was his assistent.

Sakka-Ten

This weekend Nippon Bonsai Sakka Kyookai Europe organized another Sakka-Ten exhibition, which takes place every two years. This year it was held in Fiesole, which is just outside Florence, Italy.
The exhibition itself was fairlly small, but most of the exhibited bonsai were of good quality. Outside was also a vending area with a nice selection of pots. But you know...The pot you are looking for is not one of the ones available. :)

Since I was already in Florence, I couldn't resist some sightseeing.

Walking on the road to exhibition

Me and my friend Jože have been working hard for the past two years on this squamata juniper to get it into exhibition condition. Since the first (new) styling last spring the tree made a shocking transformation; in a good way. Today we wired and styled it again. Next spring it goes into its final pot and hopefully it will be ready to be exhibited in summer.

The two-headed spruce

I found this spruce in late summer 2011. The very moment I saw it I knew it will be a two trunk, that it will be needed a LOT of work before it will be finished and that it will make a very fine bonsai in the end.
This spruce was growing on a pasture in the mountains where every year animals eat the new foilage, making these spruces very dense. The one problem with this is that all the green is at the end of the branches since no sun light can reach inside the crown.

2011

So before I could style it I had to cut all the dead an unwanted branches and let some sun light reach the insides to make the spruce backbud.

Early 2014 - after removing unwanted branches and making jins out of them.

Spring 2014 - repotted into a smaller pot (still big though). Note all the strong new growth.

Now - after rough first styling. I only bothered to wire and position the main branches. The fine styling will take place maby next autumn or even later.

2011 - Very dense - not as soft as you might think :)