David Cheshire at Chelsea Flower Show

This year’s display in the Great Pavilion by David Cheshire Nurseries Limited was of Japanese garden plants, Niwaki, bonsai and choice plants. David’s display was awarded a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Gold Medal and some of the species included Japanese White Pine (Pinus parviflora), Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris), a wide range of Maples including Acer palmatum dissectum, Japanese Red Pine (Pinus densiflora) and Lilac (Syringa). There was a wide variety of ferns, hostas, moss and bark also used and a bonsai Beech tree (Fagus sylvatica).

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Derbyshire Bonsai at Chelsea Flower Show

Great to see the RHS Chelsea Flower Show back for 2022 and celebrations for Derbyshire Bonsai on their Gold Medal for their bonsai display at the show. Their display was on an oval stand design with separate viewing angles and the use of screens to provide a very clean backdrop providing a silhouette of the trees as well as framing each tree. Tree species included Japanese White Beech, Privet, Japanese White Pine, Japanese Maples, Japanese Yew, Azalea, Purple Beech, Ezo Spruce, Scots Pine, Chinese Juniper, Eleagnus, European Hornbeam, Carmona, Acacia, Chinese Elm, Hawthorn, Potentilla, Barberry and Field maple.

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Air layering demonstration

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.

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May 2022 club night

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.

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EXPO BONSAI UK 2022

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. 

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Oakfield Bonsai

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.

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April Club night 2022

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.

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