Today, Sat 4th June 2016 we had an all day workshop with John Armitage. I managed to take a few photographs before getting back to work on the trees. Thanks to all those who brought biscuits and cake to keep us going we needed plenty of brain food.
BIG thanks goes to John for another enjoyable day
Congratulations to everyone who was involved in the Federation of British Bonsai display at Chelsea Flower Show, it was another great success. Here are a few images of the individual trees that made up the whole display.
This year was another excellent year not just for bonsai but for all the gardens, floral displays and plants. It was great fun to explore the grounds and find such colourful and beautiful designs all around. Here are a few things that caught my eye.
Congratulations also go to John Trott of Mendip Bonsai Studio who also got a Gold medal at Chelsea Flower Show this year. Below are a few pictures of the bonsai trees on his stand.
Another fantastic year for bonsai with a Gold medal for 2016 for the Federation of British Bonsai. With 22 bonsai trees from Swindon Bonsai Club and 5 accents out of the 25 bonsai trees on display.
Reginald Bolton and Terry Adams initially started helping on the FoBBs stand since 1996 and in 1998 they took over designing, building and managing the display and stand and have continued to do so for the past 18 years.
The trees are a range of species including Mountain maple, English Yew, White Pine, Trident Maple, Deshojo Maple, Chinese Juniper, Kiyohime Maple, Chinese Elm, Siberian Elm, English Elm, Korean Hornbeam, Ligustrum and a White Beech.
The build team for this year were Graham Simpson, Andy Jordan, Graham Stubbs, Terry Adams, Reginald Bolton and Tony Mckenzie and it was a great team effort. With a special vote of thanks to Graham Simpson who worked like a trojan to ensure the build was completed on time.
Bonsai with Love will be held Sunday 12th June at Failand Village Hall. Admission is free and proceeds to charity.
The Hertfordshire Garden Centre are holding their bonsai boot sale at their Autumn fair on the 18th September 2016.
They only have 70 stall pitches available across the whole fair and at least half have been booked already.
If you are looking for a more natural approach to pest control why not try ladybirds as they are incredibly successful as a method of controlling aphid populations. You can buy the larvae online from Agralan Ltd. who are based here in sunny Swindon.
Here are a few images from Andy Jordan showing the preparations at Chelsea Flower Show of the FoBBS bonsai stand. Looking forward to seeing the finished display. The show opens this week.
Tony Webber, 22nd January 1941 – 26th March 2016
Sad news comes around far too often sometimes. Earlier this year bonsai lost Tony Webber, an instrumental and lively member of Phoenix Bonsai Group and Wessex Bonsai Society. He had a real passion and commitment for trees and will be badly missed.
His collection will be auctioned in Salisbury, Wiltshire on Sunday 3rd July. For an overview and all the additional details please see bonsaiauction.uk