BR 18

2009 calender

See above Diary Section for hot of the press news of next years meetings. (though if you went to this weeks meeting you probably know already)

December Meeting- eat, drink and be chatty

Tonights the night for the December bonsai bash- bring food, a tree and your party head!!

"A Cup 'O Tea and a Slice 'O Cake "

Dan's stolen trees

Hi friends,
Attached below are pics of the two trees I had stolen from my back
garden three night's ago. I would be very grateful if you could keep
your eyes open for them on the 'bonsai circuit'. Any info about them
would be welcome. Watch out for your own trees — you can't be too
vigilant!
Many thanks,
Dan

Stolen trees

For those not already aware.....this is from an email I recieved today...

'Yet again, I have really bad news for all those lovers of bonsai.

We still have thieves at large here in the U.K. Last night, they struck at the very heart of British bonsai, the garden belonging to Dan Barton.

We must help to stop this; please look out for:

a) a Chinese juniper (“Geisha”) – height 37 inches (94 cms) planted in
an oval ‘Dansai’ pot, and

b) a Monarch juniper – height 24 inches (51 cms) planted in a Dan
Barton primitive drum pot.

Clearly these people were very selective in their choice of trees. Although only two were stolen, the “Geisha” in particular is a very notable tree. Images of these trees will be circulated shortly, and we would ask that all bonsai enthusiasts keep a lookout for them.

As Dan’s computer is not on line at present, I have been asked to circulate this information on his behalf. Should anyone come across either of these two trees or have any information concerning them, please contact Dan directly on 01275 393 010.

Kath Hughes'.

Bonsai site of the month- December

This month takes us to the site of our friend from over the border Kevin Bailey- below is a link to his offering-Acer Bonsai

http://www.acerbonsai.co.uk/index.html

Bonsai Review 17

as usual double click to enlarge & read

Mr. Tickle's new site

See link below for a trip to Tony's new site that is [eventually ;)] up and running!!

http://www.yamadori.co.uk/

Burrs pics

Link to more Burrs photos for you (Tony)

http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/kevbailey/Burrs%20Nov%2008/

plus your old tree!!

http://www.willowbog-bonsai.co.uk/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=225

November Meeting-Workshop

'Somebody worked on this a few years ago'

This months meeting is a workshop (not a speaker )-so bring a tree or two to work on.

Burrs 08 -pictorially

Lee hard @ work

Below is a link to Hans's blog, detailing the exploits of the bunch of gools who braved Burrs 08.

http://knowledgeofbonsai.org/hans_van_meer/

Bonsai site of the month -November

This months site of the month is a commercial one, developed by Lee Verhorevoort to help sell his bonsai services alongside his fabulous collection of imported trees.

A visit to his site will highlight some of the trees he has for sale, some that haven't even reached these shores yet!

http://www.lvbonsai.co.uk/default.asp

The 'Latin playboy's' trumpet blowing

If you haven't received it, this is as per an email I received yesterday- an article published in Newsweek featuring Marco.

A 'Halloween' Burrs weekend

This weekend sees the arrival of one of the now famous (or is it infamous?) Burrs weekends.

Highlights apparently include a Friday night bonsai pub quiz- and an artist demo at 10.pm Saturday night -sounds intriguing!!

Those who are going should be warned though, watch out for the 'pumpkin' soup!!!!

Bonsai Review 16

A Bonsai Halloween

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'Clutching at our very souls, the trees now pull us to a time when light loses its importance, a time when trees are transcending into a deep dormancy after a year of racing toward the sun. Life giving foliage is discarded like a mask, revealing all, but showing less; leaving only skeletons and shadows that are but a pale reflection of the past. The days grow shorter and things that normally could not be seen in the light of day are now all too visible.
This is the time when the darker side of bonsai claws its way into our minds, bringing with it a haunting chill that creeps over our now neglected benches and, if we are not careful, into our reality.'


yes.......right!

http://artofbonsai.org/galleries/halloween08.php

Ancient Tree Hunt

Hollow Oak, Liverpool

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The Ponfadog oak, Wrexham.

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Follow the link below to go to a site detailing the Woodland Trust's Ancient tree Hunt.

Quote "There might be as many as 500,000 ancient trees to be found in the UK. And we need your help to find them and put them on the map. This will be the first step towards caring for them and securing their future."

http://www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk/project/

10,000 oaks of 100 years old are not a substitute for one 500 year old oak

Oliver Rackham, The History of the British Countryside

Clive Anderson gets the measure of things!

"We're asking people to look out for and record trees which are particularly old, fat and gnarled said Woodland Trust President, Clive Anderson, so obviously I am just the person to get this message across. The sort of size we are after is a tree, perhaps an oak, which is so big that it would take you and at least two or more friends - to hug it all the way around, finger tip to finger tip. Perhaps you pass a great old tree every day, it probably has a great story. We'd love you to tell us about it."

Did you know the official British standard HUG is based on the finger tip to finger tip measurement of an adult, which we take to be about 1.5m. This distance is usually almost the same as your height, and means you can measure a tree even if you forget your tape measure!

October meeting -Ian Warhurst

For this months meeting, Ian did a talk on styling a juniper and discussed possible options for a Japanese holly. (Hope it was as good as the example above??)

Les
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I feel sure it would have been slightly more eloquent than the critique -Iain

New Web Site -Doug Mudd

Our Dougie has just launched a new web site highlighting his custom bonsai table production.
As many of the club and a growing number of major figures in the bonsai world are discovering, Doug's tables are excellent and his skill in helping to match tree, pot and table is 1st class.

Click the link below to discover Doug's new site.

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Table & custom box

http://www.dougmuddbonsaitables.com/index.html

The link will also be permanent under 'members sites'.

Sheffield BTA show results

Lee's Gold medal winning Juniper

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Les's Yew & Fuchsia

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Congratulations are in order for both Lee and Les.

On exhibiting trees at last weekends BTA meeting at Sheffield, Lee received best in category gold for his Juniper and Les achieved the same for his Shohin Yew plus also being highly commended for his Fuchsia.


Well done to both.

October meeting-Back to basics

By way of a reminder for experienced exponents and as an introduction for many of the new members of the club, Ian this month will be going over some of the basic skills and knowledge involved in developing your trees.

I'm sure this will involve many of the how's, why's, where's and when's of bonsai.

Whenever the basics are revisited I'm always surprised by some details that are either new or have been forgotten, so see you there for either a refresher or the gaining of new knowledge.

Bonsai site of the month- October.

Masculine image

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feminine image

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Choosing the right pot

This months site of the month is actually two dedicated to choosing the right pot for your tree.

Both highlight the issues involved and putting the issue forward now should allow us all plenty of time to select and acquire any new pots required for next years repotting.

http://www.bonsai4me.com/erinbonsai/choosingtherightpot.htm

http://www.johnpittbonsaiceramics.co.uk/PotGuide/Guide_01.asp

Blog Following

A new feature available from Blogger (if your a blogger yourself)-the ability to follow other blogs.

As described in the blurb-

What is Following?
Do you have a favorite blog and want to let the author and readers know that you are a 'fan' (????)

Well now you can do that and more with the Blogger Following feature! You can even keep track of the blogs you follow via your reading list on the Blogger dashboard.
How do I become a Follower of a blog?
There are several ways to become a follower of a blog. One of the easiest ways is to visit a blog that has added the Following widget and click on the "Follow this Blog" link under the "Followers" widget.

To follow go to the widget -bottom of the list of widgets on the right of the blog

Best of British Bonsai 09

Congratulations are in order for Ian, Lee, Bill, Doug, Les, Dave Y & Dave M - all of whom have had trees selected for the inaugural BoBB show next year.

Look forward to seeing them challenging to be the best.

Best of British Bonsai Entries

All those who have had trees selected for possible entry to the Best of British Bonsai Awards need to fill in the entry form (one for each tree) as above and forward it to Tony Tickle.
-(or your tree wont be considered.)

TT,

The Gatehouse,

Summerseat,

Bury,

Lancashire,

BL9 5PE

(To print right click over form & select print picture option)

Flowering bonsai Poll

Ive called it time on the 'favourite flowering bonsai' poll, and the winner (in my book anyway) is the Azalea. Narrowly beaten into 2nd place was the Hawthorn, followed by the Fuchsia.
I suspect there has been Zimbabwe style vote rigging with the 'other' option, what with the actual number of votes & as non of the voters have indicated what tree they were voting for!!

Next up- what is your favourite autumn colour tree?

...and if your going to vote other, please tell us what it is (by writing in the block below other before you vote)
....if you dont, i'll remove the option......be warned!!!!

September meeting -Peter Warren

A large turn out.

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Peter in full flow.

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Peter's talk was based around displaying bonsai be it for exhibitions or for home based viewing.

Using his experience and pictures acquired while based in Japan, Peter highlighted the importance of all the elements that can be used- from tree to pot, stand, accent and scrolls.
It was interesting to learn that sometimes displays are created not to show off the tree but to highlight your ownership of a pot, a table or even a scroll!!

Another interesting point raised was to try and make the display relevant to your audience. Why use typical Japanese iconography when your viewer is from the UK and probably wont understand the subtlety of 'a frog representing summer' or 'a monkey, dressed as a monk while playing a drum' represents the festive period!!!!!!!'

All in all it was an interesting and informative talk that raised many valuable issues to be considered.

Gordale show 08

Terry critiques some of the trees.

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A quiet period!!

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Dave Y & Andy discuss accents.

(de du do dont de do!)

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Shot of the main display plus some of the 'trees in training'

Once the IBC is back up and running I'll post a link to Lee's discussion that has pictures of the trees on it. (saves double posting!!)

link to lee's IBC post below

http://internetbonsaiclub.org/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=133&topic=24078.0

Gordale show 08 -Results

Lee excepting his Best in show trophy from judge Terry Foster.

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Ian gets second for his Privet

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.....and third for his composition.

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Dave retains his 'public vote' trophy.

Well done to all.