Tonight at the club night, one of our club members Tony Oswin did a demonstration on how to air layer a Trident maple and started by selecting the branches to be air layered. The raw material belongs to Andy and he had tried previously to set air layers but unsuccessfully.
Tonight was a very busy club night with everyone working on lots of their own trees, pruning, wiring, styling and also setting air layers. Tony Oswin did a demonstration on air layering which you can read about in a separate post. It was a well attended evening with a good number of trees entered in tree of the month too. Technical discussions were held on air-layering, future development and styling, root development, growing from seed and getting trunk thickness by growing in an allotment. Also on pot protection in the sun using a white ceramic tile to aid with shading pots, use of turntables to rotate trees in the garden to get even crown development and overall health, feeding, watering, and mites in the context of Elms and galls on Oaks.
What a way to spend a day at the 3rd Expo Bonsai show in K2 in Crawley, the largest bonsai show to date this year in the UK. It was fabulous to see so many bonsai enthusiasts again in one place, catch up with friends as well as make new ones. The bonsai displays were superb, the attention to detail in presentation was excellent as was the stand of bonsai trees on display, some never before seen at a show either. It was great to have a wide range of styles, species and displays from mame, shohin, chuhin and bonsai sizes.
For all those who wanted bonsai supplies, to buy bonsai trees and to see the range of products now available for bonsai then this was the show for you as there was an amazing array of bonsai traders present and their stands were buzzing all day which was great to see.
A massive shout out also to all those involved in making the 3rd Expo show happen as without all your hard work there wouldn’t have been a show, it was an amazing effort and well worth it as the end result was a great success.
Here are the bonsai trees on display in a gallery and for details of the show winners, although everyone who entered should be proud of their achievements, please visit the UK Bonsai Association website for further details. It was a pleasure to visit today and spend time admiring these beautiful natural living trees in person and admire the hard work and skill that has gone into their development.
For anyone who is looking for local bonsai supplies in and around Wiltshire then look no further than Oakfield Bonsai, run by Robert Derick in Westbury, Wiltshire, BA13 3AT. His business caters though for a wider geographical range as he is an online supplier of all things bonsai related. He is also a club member of various bonsai clubs in Wiltshire so you can see him in person at a club night and at local bonsai shows including at the next show which is EXPO Bonsai UK in Crawley on Sunday the 8th May 2022.
It is great to see so many shows on the latests UK Bonsai Association Bulletin, and here is the latest list of shows for the forth coming months. For the latest updates visit the events calendar on UK Bonsai Association.
Tonight’s club night was a general workshop so everyone could work on their bonsai trees as well as circulate and chat with anyone about their trees. Andy stood in for Paul and did a briefing at the start of the meeting and updated everyone on the latest shows which include EXPO Bonsai UK at K2 Leisure Centre, Pease Pottage Hill, Crawley, RH11 9BQ on Sunday 8th May 2022. Also he mentioned the ‘Shilton Open Gardens’ on Sunday the 12th June at their village near Burford.
What a great way to spend a day pruning, shaping and learning about bonsai with Chris Thomas at our Club workshop. Chris was on hand all day to help everyone out with their bonsai trees they had bought along for advice on. He has a passion and energy for bonsai coupled with years or experience and technical knowledge about bonsai and bonsai techniques that you cannot help but learn even from just watching Chris work and talk about the bonsai trees. He freely shares his ideas and his perspective which is always good to hear, so thank you Chris for a great day. Here are a few images from the day.
Hopefully everyone had a good Christmas and New Year and is looking forward to a great bonsai year for 2022. Depending on where you live will of course have determine how you are looking after your bonsai over the winter months. If you are in the South of the UK around the Swindon area, the main focus has been stopping trees becoming water logged as it has been a fairly wet and mild winter, so far.
Only 3 weeks to go….There are about 39 seller pitches booked to date. These include top pot makers, tree suppliers, tools and soils. There will be trade sellers and private sellers. Sellers include Walsall ceramics, Gordon duffet, Dragonfly pots, Wood and clay, Collette’s Bonsai, Chris Thomas, Paul Rogers ceramics, Oceans organic bonsai feed, Troll pots, Spectre ceramics, and Oakfield Bonsai. Also 6 bonsai clubs have agreed to attend including Chichester, Swindon, Warminster, Blackmore vale, Salisbury, Staverton and UK Bonsai Association (UKBA).
Book your pitch to sale if you haven’t already through the contacts on the poster. And remember buyers are free entry.
Further info………. There is entry to site from pm the day before and you can free camp overnight. There is a barbecue for anyone wishing to do this. A burger van and ice cream van will be there on the day. Arriving to set up anytime Sunday morning if not the day before. Gates open at 9am for buying.
This year there have been a few observations from bonsai enthusiasts of an orange fungus appearing on their Juniper bonsai trees. It is likely that this is a species of Gymnosporangium which is host shifting rust that causes systemic infections. It is widespread and common and visible from March to August occurring on different species of Juniperus.
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