XL Hawthorn Budding Up

A few photos of the big hawthorn from today. It is now popping buds all over.

New Pot for Cascade Cotoneaster

Today my Cascade Cotoneaster went into a new Walsall Ceramics pot.
See the progression of the tree here: http://yamadoriartuk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/cascade-cotoneaster.html

Prunus Spinosa Photo Teaser

A few close-ups of some of this season's yamadori Blackthorn...

Yamadori Hunt, Wales 2015

Today, my friend Robert and I had a change from our usual stomping ground in Cumbria, and checked out a few sites in North Wales. We explored a variety of terrain from coniferous forest to mountainous limestone scree. With Robert and myself both being keen falconers, one of the highlights of the day was hearing our first wild goshawk, although we were unfortunately unable to spot the bird.

The area where we heard the goshawk calling

Pine and Spruce

Blackthorn

Excellent blackthorn bark

A Big Change for a Little Hawthorn

I have been working on the roots on my shohin yamadori hawthorn - trying to get it to eventually fit into a bonsai pot. The roots just don't seem to be playing ball, so I came up with an alternative option. I have re-potted the tree into an Erin pot, in a semi-cascade position. I believe it works quite well. I think the next job will be to remove the lower branch and probably carve out some of the bulk in that area of the trunk.

Before

After

Unfortunately I couldn't get the tree to sit quite centrally in the pot due to a large tap root. I should be able to correct that in a couple of years.

More Yamadori Hunting

More yamadori hunting photos from a recent trip...