Kokedama display on Mahogany ne taku

Juun Huisman kindly sent me a picture this week of his Kokedama displayed on a ne taku that I made.
Juun won the ne taku in a competition organised by the Belgian Bonsaicafe website.

This picture is of a new display that Juun has entered for the competition this year.

It is a kokedama with cyclamen hederiflorum and Ophiopogon planiscapus Niger.

Thank you for the picture Juun and good luck in the competition.

Slinky burr Elm ji ita's for sale

I managed to get hold of some proper burr elm recently and I've turned out these slinky little ji ita's.
Ideal for displaying your accent plants on, or the bigger boards will also take a shohin tree, or bronze figurines...whatever floats your boat.

Burr Elm ji ita
200mm x 175mm x 6mm
£40 + postage

Burr Elm ji ita
170mm x 150mm x 6mm
£30 + postage

Burr Elm ji ita
125mm x 110mm x 5mm
£20 + postage

Burr Elm ji ita
150mm x 120mm x 6mm
£25 + postage

Burr Elm ji ita
120mm x 105mm x 8mm
£20 + postage

Burr Elm ji ita
170mm x 150mm x 7mm (at widest points)
£20 + postage









E mail me on bespokebonsaistands@hotmail.com if you are interested in buying anything you see on this site

New shohin tables for sale

I've just received some new shohin tables that I commissioned a while ago.
The build quality of these stands is excellent and the woods used, Rosewood and Ebony, are high quality materials demanded by the Japanese market.

A few pictures to whet the appetite of all you shohin junkies out there.......

Ebony shohin table 230mm x 180mm x 50mm

£75 plus postage

Rosewood shohin table 230mm x 180mm x 50mm

£75 plus postage

Ebony shohin table 230mm x 180mm x 35mm

£75 plus postage

Rosewood shohin table 230mm x 180mm x 35mm

£75 plus postage

Ebony shohin table 230mm x 180mm x 30mm

£70 plus postage

Rosewood shohin table 230mm x 180mm x 30mm

£70 plus postage

 Rosewood shohin cascade stand 110mm x110mm x 400mm

£85 plus postage

Azalea Kozan update

I've been tidying up a few trees today.
All I did with this Azalea was to take off a few of the spent flowers.
I'll tidy up the foliage in a few more weeks after the tree has finished flowering.

The tree was re-potted in January this year for the Noelanders trophy so I won't be thinking about re-potting for a few years yet.

Blooming lovely

This is a Quince, dug from the garden of my good friend Geoff.
I'd admired the pictures of the Japanese Quince clumps but couldn't find one for sale anywhere....and I doubt I would have been able to afford one anyway !
I happened to mention to Geoff that I was after one and he told me to come along to his house as he had one in the garden that I could have if I liked it.......4 years later we have today's picture.

I find the tree very slow to ramify, they just seem to want to expand and get leggy, getting it to back bud with branch buds as opposed to flower buds has been hard but I'm slowly getting there.

I love freebies !

Am I a girl for loving these flowers ?

A few items that "tickled my fancy" at the BSA show.

Here a some pictures of bonsai, pots, accents etc that took my eye at the recent BSA show up at Willowbog Bonsai nursery.
Whilst the trees are great to see, some of the associated trinkets are also pretty funky.

My apologies for some of the poor picture quality, and if I quote the owners incorrectly.

Les Storeys Fuji Cherry

Ian Stewardson's Itoigawa juniper

Les Storey's Chojubai, whilst the pot looks a little on the large side at this current stage of the bonsai's evolution if you look closely you'll see the stone just about touching each end of the pot.
With a few years growth and fine ramification, oooh mother this will. be a beauty.
I look forward to seeing this one develop over the years.

Lovely deep red colouring to the flowers, full on U.V. spectrum.....none of this wishy washy through the greenhouse glass stuff !

Check out the patina developing on the pot.......fetch a tissue

My little e bay good luck charm from a Japanese dealer, allegedly a good luck charm.....

Moss ball accent with mongo grass and other plantings.

Ian Young's Trident on Rock

Fiona's funky mossing on her lovely white pine, nice pot as well.

One of Mark & Ritta's accents

Mark & Ritta's Pyracantha

Andy Hardman's Fuji chery

Mark & Ritta's Trident in a great painted pot

Mark & Ritta's crab apple

Courting birds on a scroll

Mad March Hare's......seasonal....and as it belongs to one of the Wirral boys...topical !

My trees displayed at the BSA show

I had taken 6 trees along to the BSA show this year, 3 were used in collaborative displays with John Pitt and Peter Tombs from Ashfield Bonsai Club, 2 were used for my own 3 point display and the final tree was shown in the work in progress section.

Birds eye view of my Chojubai

My own 3 point display, Black pine with Chojubai and moss accent.

Black pine

Chojubai in Bunzan pot

Elaeagnus with ripening fruits

Lovely Koyo pot,

My collaborative display with Peter Tombs.
Peter's Itoigawa Juniper and flowering accent.
My Zelkova and Elaeagnus.

Winner of best small display

My Zelkova in broom style, in a sexy sea cucumber (namako) glaze pot (please note that no sea cucumbers were harmed in the making of this pot)

My collaborative display with John Pitt

John's powerful Chinese Elm, received a nomination.

My Oriental Bittersweet, received a nomination for tree & pot combination.

Oriental Bittersweet

Aaaah Bisto

My Cotoneaster its orgasmatronic new Koyo pot, unfortunately new equals shiny ! Pots always look better after they have aged for a while and gained some patina.

Oooooh mother, check out the glaze !