Cornish inspired penjing

hi, here is a small slice of the landscape that surrounds me -it's a slate dry stone boundary wall that ends up with mixed species growing along the top.



This one is an old 20" Alexander Kennedy, Splatt pottery, pot, a home made wall and an assortment of elm, buxus, blackthorn, flowering cherry and cotoneaster - the plants have been picked to give a mixture of flowers, leaves, berries, autumn colour and bare twiggy branches at different times of the year, so it will have many seasonal views to enjoy. I made the wall last week and planted it up about 2 hours ago. I will be looking for tiny flowering alpines in the spring to dot around too.




thanks for looking,

Marcus

All it's missing is the hen!

No No a small Tony tickle figure wit shovel would be great

Peter

hahaha, brilliant Russell and Peter, yes !

A mini Mr Tickle would be trunk chopping the cherry and dismantling the wall to get the cotoneaster out

The reason for the creation is a themed bonsai club meeting next year - 'creations based on the Cornish landscape'. It will be looking nice and wild for the meeting next summer but i may find a couple of funny bits to add -

cheers marcus

Hi Marcus,
What kind of "binder/glue/cement" did you use for the rock wall?

Nice planting. I want to create a highway view planting and am trying to figure what to use for the asphalt roadway. Any ideas about this? I have the perspective (with winding road) in mind but need good material for a realistic road.

Todd

Todd Ellis wrote:Hi Marcus,
What kind of "binder/glue/cement" did you use for the rock wall?

Nice planting. I want to create a highway view planting and am trying to figure what to use for the asphalt roadway. Any ideas about this? I have the perspective (with winding road) in mind but need good material for a realistic road.

Todd

Hi Todd,
the glue was a buiders merchant product that comes in the tubes with the long nozzel that you squeeze out with a hand 'gun' type of thing.
I use either 'gripfill' which is grey, or 'No more nails- Exterior' which is a pale toffee colour. I have a rock formation outside that is 5 years old now glued with gripfill and is still very strong.

for a road i would use either a resin or a real cement type floor tile glue for the base level then as it hardens i would scatter a fine black/grey grit over quiter thickly, lay clingfilm (gladwrap??) over the top and gently roll. you will find the gravel in model railway supply stores, aquarium stores or the bonsai top dressing black fuji grit would be good. The important bit is the rolling so the chips press in, and the plastic sheet gives a smooth top. dont start when the cement is too wet though have a practice making a parking lot b4 the winding road

cheers Marcus

Thanks Marcus,
Great ideas
"... he paved paradise and put up a parking lot ..."

Todd Ellis wrote:Thanks Marcus,
Great ideas
"... he paved paradise and put up a parking lot ..."

great song..................it got me thinking today - i'm going to do a bonsai bamboo pushing up through a section of cracked paving, the movement from the bulging lifting cement will be good if it works - and bamboo will take over the world in the end, topple our towers and shatter our roads.

cheers

Marcus

Thought you would have built a "Cornish" dry wall.
Nice planting.
Could you lift the wall from the pot ?.
I think it be stunning without the pot. Nothing against Alex's pot ( I have a few ) but ???????

Peter E. wrote:Thought you would have built a "Cornish" dry wall.
Nice planting.
Could you lift the wall from the pot ?.
I think it be stunning without the pot. Nothing against Alex's pot ( I have a few ) but ???????

Good evening,

I actually started with a cornish wall but the scale worked out wrong with the angled slates - it ended up looking crooked and messy - - plus i aint Cornish

The wall does come out of the pot but the planting would be very predictable on a slate or on nothing at all, the whole point of the pot was many fold - the planting will have long periods of the year flowering, fruiting etc so the bright coloured pot works very well at that stage, then the Autumn colour will be totally enhanced by it, but most importantly it totally captures the moment the setting sun turns these walls to a fiery glow....they appear hot to the touch with the reflecting warm light..........plus it was made on the wild moors of cornwall so there probably has never been a more fitting pot . I hope this explains the actual composition I've made a little better as it was not meant to just be a model wall - (i'm doing a more predictable wall on a slab at the moment - but with a twist ! (not a toy tractor!!))

sometimes its too easy to go with 'tradition' or jump to the obvious solution, so i'm enjoying putting a bit of thought into some of my trees and plantings this winter - things get stale otherwise.

Enjoy the winter sunset

Regards Marcus

marcus watts wrote:hahaha, brilliant Russell and Peter, yes ! A mini Mr Tickle would be trunk chopping the cherry and dismantling the wall to get the cotoneaster out

Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad!

If you are of a sensitive nature DO NOT watch this video... although it IS funny

tony wrote:

marcus watts wrote:hahaha, brilliant Russell and Peter, yes ! A mini Mr Tickle would be trunk chopping the cherry and dismantling the wall to get the cotoneaster out

Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad!

If you are of a sensitive nature DO NOT watch this video... although it IS funny

Very good Mr Tickle, I love the vid.
No is it me thats gone get a hurt real bad in January hehehe?

Peter

landerloos wrote:

tony wrote:

marcus watts wrote:hahaha, brilliant Russell and Peter, yes ! A mini Mr Tickle would be trunk chopping the cherry and dismantling the wall to get the cotoneaster out

Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad!
If you are of a sensitive nature DO NOT watch this video... although it IS funny

Very good Mr Tickle, I love the vid.
No is it me thats gone get a hurt real bad in January hehehe?
Peter

Briliant Tony, very very funny...................

WE though are all safe as you'll still be banged up by the local constabulary while they test the lush juniper and yew plantation in the greenhouse for drug content........for about 23 minutes at least !

nice vid,
Marcus

This is a composition I made back in 2001, a typical Lancashire... and at a stretch (God forbid) YORKSHIRE scene.





It now LIVES in Yorkshire

tony wrote:This is a composition I made back in 2001, a typical Lancashire... and at a stretch (God forbid) YORKSHIRE scene.





It now LIVES in Yorkshire

The smurfs are missing though Tony
Oh my dear now its gonna be really painfull

Peter