Winter is upon us

Well father winter's ugly head is just around the corner. I do not despise winter, au contraire I enjoy it as another season. The downfall of the onset of winter is that we must put our trees to bed and await for spring to once again enjoy our passion.


My deciduous trees and some conifers is non frost-proof pots are bedded in my cold frame. They do weel in here and have in the past. Come spring one must be vigilant of outside temperature and the height of the sun. To do otherwise results in the trees in the back being scorched.

This has happened in the past. Last year was a first where I caught them just as bud break and placed them in my greenhouse for protection. The greenhouse filters 65% of the sun on top of the harmful UV rays. The trees didn't seem to miss a beat, as a matter of fact I was a little worried with regards to acclimatising them for the outdoors. Likely my bench is semi shaded and the trees did well.


All my conifers, trees that are too large for the cold frame and trees under development are placed in the greenhouse. Last year the greenhouse was used as a partial storage area. With the addition of shelves this is no longer possible, besides a greenhouse is for plants/trees not lawn furniture, that is what sheds are for.


This new set up will make watering a breeze in comparison with last year.


The floor of the greenhouse, trees in development.


The back of the greenhouse. Yes there is a dead branch on the Mugo Pine. It was the result of the tree loosing an important root. There was nothing to do with this problematic root so it was removed. I fretted a greater loss of foliage than what is apparent. Hopefully the lost willbe limited to this only branch. A re-design is possible with only this lost, but more could indicate a design problem. I took a gamble, so far so good. I got my fingers crossed.

A rainy day

Today it's raining so I decided it would be a good time to take some pictures. My Blauuw's Juniper was updated.

Summer summation

Well summer has been good to me. I have accomplished many things this season in comparison with last summer.

Only 3 acquisitions this year. A Hinoki a Blue Spruce and a Scots Pine. I find myself acquiring less and less each year, and focus my energy on present stock.

A tabulation of this vegetative season as seen the purchase of Hinoki V, another Gracilis that was quite a find. Even in it's early stages it is going to be a credible bonsai in a few years.

My Kosteri has finally received its first pot. The foliage on this one is proven to be quite a challenge. Now that I have it in a proper bonsai pot, growth should stabilize, and I should be able to tame it. It is been developed as a slanting tree and the branches are finally coming into the proper plane. Although the trunk had some movement, it still very much appeared too straight, that is why you can still see the bending appendage attached in the photos.

The Mhugo that was acquired in '07 has also received it's first pot and styling this summer. This tree is not seen on the site. It is not ready to be seen publicly. I am following some expert advice with regards to August re-pottings of Mhugo versus traditional spring. I don't remember the details only that the success rates are greater in August, especially when serious root work needs to be carried out. This tree is now recovering in a semi-shaded location. So far there seems to be no indication of problems, but time will tell and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

The Blue Spruce was acquired in early spring and an initial styling was carried out. I come to find out Picea is another species that prefer to be potted and worked on in August. Some serious die back has occured in one area, that is going to require an almost complete re-style.

My Acer was dug up and placed in a screen sided container. I am glad this was carried out this summer. The tree is coming along nicely but the roots require attention. The tree when acquired late in '07 was planted out and the roots were no thouroughly examined. The roots were growing on 3 different planes. One plane has been reduced this summer with the remainder in subsequent re-pottings.

The Dwarf Rhodie that suffered winter damage in '07 has recovered and we should se it bloom next spring.

Several Cotoneasters are finally coming in to their own as well as my burning bush. The Lilac is in it's 3rd season and after comprehending its intricacies should prosper in upcoming years.

August is also the month where I start my fall feeding regime.

Supersize me

An addendum to my fertiliser article "Would you like fries with that"

Trees developing...

Several trees have been refined and new trees have been added in ... under development. Updates

Spring update

Spring work can be found under "Trees in Development" and its sub-section "Updates". It has been a rather busy spring so far. The trees survived their winter and are doing good.

Spring is here

Today spring re-potting has begun (see trees in development). The winter has been favourable. Unfortunately a major branch was broken off one of my boxwoods (while in the cold frame) that will require a complete re-style.