Another Welsh wonder

Here is a Hawthorn ive been working on for about 7 years. Lovely bark as well. The Welsh weather and Sheep are a very creative combination

Closer pic of the trunk. Buried a little deep to help build up surface roots.

jesu that's a thing of beauty. I have an o.c.d. like obsession to have a big gnarly hawthorn. I'm going to wait until I've got half a clue first though.

Gorgeous tree Will. Powerful trunk and very masculine. Was it collected?

@ littlebobby: I suggest you have a quiet word in Tony's shell-like. His hawthorns are a wonder to behold. Alternatively, Bear has, I'm led to believe, some serious stumpage up for grabs!

Well, they are announced as Welsh and the owner is in Suffolk, so it looks like they were collected.

I am always jealous, as I've had several bad experiences with collected Hawthorn. Every one I ever collected died! I've come to the conclusion that they were all so depleted by absolutely relentless sheep grazing that they hadn't got enough energy stored to survive collection.

I have long sought a hedge removal rescue operation. Unfortunately every project, so far, has been out of a grazing field.

Harleyrider wrote:@ littlebobby: I suggest you have a quiet word in Tony's shell-like. His hawthorns are a wonder to behold. Alternatively, Bear has, I'm led to believe, some serious stumpage up for grabs!

ooh ooh ooh ( in a hair bear bunch style) where do I track these cats down and ask them?

Tony is a moderator on this very site, and Bear is a member also. Just search through the member list and send them a private message.

Just to rub it in ( ), I'm going on a collecting trip with Tony in November where the main target is hawthorn. Oh, and I've found a nice thick stump a mere 50 yds from my front door ripe for collection.

Just thought you'd like to know!

zaggin fraggin ziggin zaggin ( in a Mutley style)

Tell you what, as a gesture of goodwill, and in the interests of entente cordial and hands across the north-south divide, I'll keep my eyes open for a nice (free) specimen for you while I'm out and about. Now I can't say fairer than that, can I?

That's free as in 'Now you owe me one'.

Harleyrider wrote:Tell you what, as a gesture of goodwill, and in the interests of entente cordial and hands across the north-south divide, I'll keep my eyes open for a nice (free) specimen for you while I'm out and about. Now I can't say fairer than that, can I?

That's free as in 'Now you owe me one'.

top man. very decent of you. Cheers.

My pleasure.

It's the dogs face that did it!

Harleyrider wrote: ... in the interests of entente cordial and hands across the north-south divide...

Although technically that should be the west-east divide given that LB is a Weyeye by birth - and in his soul, I suspect. I just love you northern anglo types - you're so near to being Scottish I could cry.

All this apropos beggar all other than to notch me up my 200th post (evens with Tickle way hey!). I cant think of anyone better to be sharing that with than you guys. And possibly the dwellers of Wales like Uro and Kev. And the mad Scousers. And that nice John Quinn who keeps me posted on my statistical standing. And lovely Dave P who's heard of Jeff Dunham and sent me that (unintentional) chat up line. And ... hey, in fact everyone on here is a good guy.
Except ..... ah that would be telling!

Back to some bonsai now.

Yes this Hawthorn was collected, but not by me. I swapped it for a bunch of Suffolk Elms at Kevin Willsons nursery. I have collected Hawthorns much further south than my place with very little root and had a good success rate. Hedges, forestry commision and waste ground are good places to start.[with permission]

I fell in lovewith this instantly. I like big bonsai trees very much! Just a pity I cant find any good trees around here...(Looked everywhere)

This is a wonderful tree.

Hi Storm. I thought Hawthorn grows everywhere? Whereabouts are you. Anyone got any opinions on the pot?

Storm is in Norway. I guess he'd be more succesful looking for P sylvestris on the fjord sides. There's gotta be some areas that have good trees in Norway!

Well, I guess I just have to look better, and go a bit further. It would be quite silly if there were no good trees here. The problem is that I dont have a car, so the possibilities are smaller.. But im one hell of a runner! (haha)

NICE TREE

I have seen some of the Sylvestris from Norway, lovely material and good ramification for collected trees. Not sure about the pot i put the Hawthorn in. Possibly needs one with straighter sides? Any ideas, comments, would be great.

hello will great tree!!i agree with everyone that it is a fine example of hawthorn!!i also like the pot that it is in!it has a very interesting texture to it with a slightly curved rim!!suits the tree very well in my opinion!where did you get the pot from, as iam very interested in a similar design for my hawthorn?!!

Hi Eaton. Thanks for nice comments. Pot i made myself about a year ago. My first pots were fired with just oxides but this one was amongst the first glazed pots to come out of the kiln. I was pretty pleased with this one!

Hi Will

This is indeed a great piece of material, fantastic nebari, great bark and some nice movement... call me Mr Picky but after 7 years you have not defined or refined the beauty that is in the tree.

As with any 'raw material' after establishing the tree, the basic styling must take place. Branch structure and a regime of building a pleasing image started.

My problem with this tree is that you were not 'ruthless' when first confronted with the raw material, you 'appear' to have kept all 'interesting' parts of the tree to the detriment of the overall image.

A) Too thick branches, remove two and the third will become a minor trunk.
B) there is confusion here, refine the trunk line
C) 'young' bark atop aged bark, this was a 'water' shoot, action should have been taken improve this.
D) No defined minor branch structure or ramification (apparent throughout the tree)



After 7 years the design lacks direction, its a great piece of material.

Kev Bailey wrote:Storm is in Norway. I guess he'd be more succesful looking for P sylvestris on the fjord sides. There's gotta be some areas that have good trees in Norway!

Norwegians have Scots Pine, and they are fantastic. But I do not often see any good ones collected by the Norwegian for some reason. A few Danes has some, and they are gret material for bonsai. Also Swedes can collect good P. sylvestris in their area.
I have a Wales-Hawthorn by the way, collected a 3 years ago in coorporation with some friendly Englishmen :-)
Now slowly on its way to be a Shohin.

Regards
Morten Albek

morten albek wrote:
I have a Wales-Hawthorn by the way, collected a 3 years ago in coorporation with some friendly Englishmen :-)
Now slowly on its way to be a Shohin.

Regards
Morten Albek

huuum I remember that trip... is it really three years ago... glad its doing well, great to 'hear' from you Morten