Capel manor show June 2014

Last Sunday in June has been a regular show date for many years now, but unfortunately the show seems to be getting smaller. Venue the Capel manor gardens has got very broken up and it felt like the show was all over the place. Just 2 clubs on show and one of those is not a club but a small but very talented and dedicated group of individuals. All said good day and a good to catch up with old friends and meet some new collectors.

Same venue in October for Autumn show, stay tuned .

Natsume basin feature.

I have had my granite basin for a number of years, and it’s time to incorporate it into the new garden layout. It will be positioned as custom on the right hand side as you enter the garden through the gate. First thing is to mock up and mark out the edging.

Having got the basic layout worked out I rolled the basin out the way and put some hardcore down.

I need to get the basin set first before I can do the edge as I will never lift it over after. I set an irregular section of sandstone on mortar and left it a couple of days to go hard, then with the help of my brave assistant we got it seated on the slab with the aid of some timber to roll and guide it.

Having got this in place I could get on with digging the trench to set the tiles in. The idea is the inset with the basin is slightly raised from the stepping stone path area. Having cut the tiles ready to set in another quick mock up to check I had enough.

So with every thing ready I decided one morning to grab a couple of hours and get them stuck in. That was fatal as it took me almost 5 hours to complete the edge with all the cuts around the pergola footings and having some break as I set them in.

I am happy with it so far the basin is offset to centre and close to the path to use it and the area to the right I want to place a pot with a fern or seasonal interest.

Flooded the area with concrete and tampered washed shingle on top. Had some muck left over so bedded two stepping stones in as well.

Zelcova cutting.

This is the second part from the Zelcova chop see https://andysbonsai.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/zelcova-chop/
When I cut the top off I thought that would make a good clump shohin. So with nothing to loose I decided to take it as a huge cutting.

All I needed to do was reduce the stump up to the branches, I then nibbled back exposing the cambium at an angle to maximise surface area to promote roots. Dusted with root hormone and wired it firmly into a pot with shohin grade akadama. Remember this was done in autumn, so it was popped away in my poly greenhouse for winter.

We started to see leaves early spring but it could well be leafing out from stored energy at this point.

Having kept a close eye on it and keeping it sheltered today it has extension growth.

This is where you wish you could see in the pot, but it’s made enough root to stick out a toe from two drainage holes.

So with no weeds in the pot they have to belong to the zelcova, only time will let us see if it we have an even root system or just one point. As it’s all growing then we have a good chance it’s rooted in more than one position. I won’t prune this year just let it grow free, the more top growth will mean stronger roots.

Update 2/3/15

So one year on as a cutting I knocked it out the training pot it had made good root. 



This one is going spend all it’s life in a small pot so excess cut and poped it into a Walsall pot. 



will make a nice clump style in a couple of years. 

Japanese Amelanchier

This has been in flower for 2 weeks now.