An open window into the comings and goings of students and their trees attending our regular weekend and midweek bonsai classes under the ever watchful eyes of John Hanby.
Classroom Corner – Conifers in Class!
Conifers are regular visitors to the bonsai classroom throughout the year. Whether it be spring repotting, a winter wiring, summer pruning or general styling work you will always find conifers in an open workshop. The last few weeks have been no exception and here are the stories of just a few of the visitors to our regular bonsai classes.
The cascade white pine, and these two mugo pines had grown really well and were in danger of becoming overgrown bushes.
Selecting branches and shoots would refine the structure for the future whilst at the same time improving the tree’s health by letting in more light and air. This will also encourage new buds and shoots inside to develop further.
This large scots pine was in need of similar treatment. The pile of foliage will give you some idea of how much was removed. All these trees will be rewired during the coming months so that they can be styled and the branches spread out.
This Juniper had grown so large that possibly the best feature in the tree was now hidden. Branches were pruned so that the movement in the trunk and the prominent shari became clearly visible. The remaining branches were then wired and positioned.
Keith brought along a Blaauws juniper that we first styled together on his beginners class many, many……(not too many…..I’m not that old!) years ago. You can just about see how it turned out originally in the photo placed in front of the pot. After a comprehensive wiring the tree was now ready for me to style again and you can see the outcome….
………I don’t know who has come the farthest…..me or the tree???