Dragon Workshop Sunday 2/03/2014

Very busy day today
I put on a welcome alcove display, as an late winter early spring image I was able to use the sowing seed scroll, its the one and only time in the year I can think of showing it

More pics from the day

l always enjoy your post to see the material you work with. i just love those hawthorns

Full house Chris, it's the place to go on a Sunday for the new and old Bonsai people to work on trees
reg Paul

Hi dre and thanks for your reply
HI Paul here are some more pics of the hawthorns for you dre
This is one that Paul might remember, Andy had been wanting to re jig this tree for a while, this was the way it was before and after the repot, the new angle gives a more dramatic image and after the removal of some of the left side what was a thick right hand branch will become the new trunk line

Jacki worked on the wiring and first styling of this nice little larch

Glen wired this windswept oak

Andy's interesting larch in a Dan Butler pot

don't know what it is those hawthorns just call out to me. to bad we cant import and export between our countries. ive been searching for one in america with no luck i would settle for some fresh seeds just to grow my own. how old are those larches you worked on

Looks like a lot of fun was had by all.

On the scroll. It is a very nice one, BUT . . . there must be a better way of storing those scrolls so you don't get those ugly folds running across them. I don't recall seeing that kind of disfigurement on scrolls displayed in Japan.

Maybe some kind of pressing/steaming? Rolling them up around something larger than the two end dowels?

I bet you could carefully steam out those wrinkles.  Sometimes we get so much stuff for bonsai we run out of room to put it.  Scrolls could fall into that category.  After looking at what Jim is talking about I am certain that the horizontal creases he is referring to are the marks left by rolling on a dowel.  You could try hanging them.

Steam was my first thought. Hanging them might not work 100%. It depends on how the scroll is put together. Frequently the picture is a separate piece from the backing; the backing might smooth out by hanging, but the picture may not.

I only have one -- Chinese and fairly old, and it is always hanging in a cool, darkish place.

Hi dre,
The larch in this thread are probably about 8 to 12 years

Thanks for the reply Jim,
The folds, yes I know what you mean, this scroll as I said is only hung once a year other than that it is rolled and stored away, hanging for longer periods would do the trick i am sure but I have no way of doing that.

Hi Vance and thanks for the reply,
I might try some steaming.

Regards Chris

i see the larches are already starting to open up.. is't it too late to repot them at this time?
i've always been told the larches should be repotted before the buds extend and the doing too late is dangerous and can cause problems..

Hi Cronic and thanks for your reply,
Larch in this condition, what I like to call buds shining are fine. I know what you mean about what is said about larch but to be honest I have found them very very forgiving. One example is at a summer show I did a group planting demo with some larch full in leaf in June, I bare rooted them and put the group together, plenty of spraying as needed anyway long story short everyone of the trees thrived without dropping any foliage. I work with these trees in the summer months with new members with no problems.
There may well be a point to think about, these are wild collected hybrid trees, pure European or Japanese may be different in there ways.
I may have a pic of the summer group planting I will try to dig it out

Regards Chris