Garden centre bargain!

UK garden centres don't tend to be a great place to acquire bonsai raw material, stocked as they are with young, skinny trees devoid of any character but......... there are exceptions!

As usual the most interesting stuff pops up when you're least expecting it.

On this occasion I wasn't looking for anything in particular just killing a bit of time when I spied what I thought were a row of Christmas  trees. Not so, on closer inspection I found them to be a row of rather large Yew trees. What's more, some of them actually had trunks!

I'm not really an evergreen fan preferring broad leaf deciduous trees but variety is the spice of life and when I saw the price (£35) I knew I was going to have to have one.

Here it is when I got it home,



This thing was enormous and it weighed a ton (not least because the roots were in-cased in a massive ball of clay). I had no real idea what was lurking inside the foliage mass just that I could feel a big fat trunk and lots of branches. So, I heaved it onto the turn table (I need more room in my shed - maybe I should tidy up   ) and began thinning it out to see what I'd got.



After some considerable cutting it began to reveal it's self.



And here it is shoe horned into the widest training pot I had to hand (the roots only just fit).



Now obviously this tree isn't in any sense styled yet (if anyone has any suggestions they'd be welcome) but assuming it survives the transplantation process and grows well I should have a big old chunk of tree to work on in a couple of years time .

Anyway hope you like it (I do) and if all works out it will be a nice diversion from my broadleaf stuff.

Cheers

Richard

Excellent!

There a plenty of bits n bobs about at this time of year, ive picked up a fair bit of cheap raw stock in the last couple months from garden centres and bare root nurseries. this looks to have a good sized trunk, i think it will need a fair bit of cutting back to get a basic Yew image, depending on how you intend to train it, but im not sure many of those upward growing branches will be usable if wanting to train into a natural yew form...here's one i picked up from a bare root nursery, was only £8, i discarded a lot of the upwards branches and over half of the tree



20161031_124043 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20161031_145042 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_2920 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

another, same procedure, just to give you an idea, wont be to everyones taste of course, this one was £11
2016-10-29_09-01-19 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_2990 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

i didnt need to touch the roots on these as they were already in pots and have established and healthy root balls
2016-10-29_09-01-03 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr" />

they dont like to be wet over the winter, i'd suggest to give it a dose of fish n sea weed then store it out of the rain. mine are under my balcony...i think the transplantation process should be fine if you only slipped it without disturbing the roots too much.


I love Yew and they make fantastic bonsai, look forward to seeing what you choose to do

Thanks guys.

Regards the future style of this tree, I haven't given it much thought yet and I'm in no hurry.

I bought it on a whim and basically just cut it back to see what I had then stuck it in a training pot. There are some parts which I really like others that I'm not sure about. Either way I guess it probably needs to be left alone for at least a year (maybe more?) which gives me plenty of time to think of a plan.

Cheers

Richard

sometimes a whim provides the luxury of just having fun with a piece of material !
and it looks like this is a perfect example...

bobby....tell me that's your scooter with a yew on the backrack!!!!

Aaawwwesome!!!

LanceMac10 wrote:bobby....tell me that's your scooter with a yew on the backrack!!!!

Aaawwwesome!!!

Oh the trusty old Vespa, never leave home without it!

What a find! Enjoy the journey with it!
I couldn't help but commenting on the prices, Ridiculous!!!  You do not want to know how much I would have to pay for such a tree here in Greece

[quote="BobbyLane"]There a plenty of bits n bobs about at this time of year, ive picked up a fair bit of cheap raw stock in the last couple months from garden centres and bare root nurseries. this looks to have a good sized trunk, i think it will need a fair bit of cutting back to get a basic Yew image, depending on how you intend to train it, but im not sure many of those upward growing branches will be usable if wanting to train into a natural yew form...here's one i picked up from a bare root nursery, was only £8, i discarded a lot of the upwards branches and over half of the tree
Hi Bobby,
Did u get the Yew from Woodmansterne?

Andy had a few when I was there last week.but never having owned one and not knowing a lot about their cultivation I thought that I'd leave it till later to get one.

I've been lurking on the forum since August, but have not posted before. But! now that European Bonsai forum seems to be dying I "ve moved over.
Grant

Best I have has is getting 5 big redwoods off the bonfire at a local garden centre, some we cut down some we sold in auction.
The trunks were 75mm plus and 2 metres tall.
We have had other from there too,
Geoff.