Workshop & BBQ at Tony Tickle's 27-6-09

Greetings and salutations, fellow tree wranglers. I consider myself extremely fortunate as a relative newcomer to the world of bonsai (well, I dabbled in my 20's until an irate girlfriend decided to 'prune' my meagre collection with a set of boltcutters as a parting gift) to have been invited to Tony's workshop/BBQ soiree on Sat 27th June 09, where not a drop of alcohol was consumed. No, really!

At this juncture I'd just like to thank Tony and 'the lads' (who shall remain nameless as I'm useless with names) for the warm welcome I recieved, and for the willingness to share their expansive knowledge with me. As I told Tony, I learned a lot more than I think I realised, and I'll need some time to let it all filter through.
The over-riding lesson of the day, though, was that I need to completely re-evaluate my perceptions of just what constitutes 'good material', although I'm unsure at the moment whether I'm capable of differentiating which is which. Perhaps the additional invite I got for a trip up 'The Hill' will serve to reveal those mysteries to me?

Anyway, that's enough of my drivel. Ladies and gentlemen, after much confusion regarding image re-sizing and vanishing posts, I present for your edification a small selection of pictographical images taken at the aforementioned event.

Going........
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Going........
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GONE! And to think, he only came in for a trim.
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Sartorial elegance! What the well-dressed yamadori hunter will be wearing next season.
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Hard at work.......ish.
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Neatly side-stepping the American/Canadian issue, I'll just say that this particularly friendly chap was in possession of the finest Larch grouping I have seen to-date. And I hate him!
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And now a selection of some Tony's trees. The white cup you see in most of these shots was placed there by me as a scale reference, and does not constitute part of Tony's suiseki collection.

Monster Hawthorn. Trust me, it's VERY heavy!
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Fat Oak. Tony has rough-carved the trunk to produce taper, and has taken the hole right through the trunk.
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If you haven't seen these before, where have you been? Tony's bargain basement.......not!
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Escalonia-zilla. When Tony said he wanted us to help him move it, we all formed an orderly queue......at the exit.
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Stunning hawthorn. Completely hollow all the way up.
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Yet another beautiful example of hawthorn. Sob, sob.
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Escalonia again, but of a more manageable size.
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Our host with one of the first trees he ever collected, a lovely pine. Check out the stone it sits in. Niiiice.
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Right, time for you to do some work now. A couple of debates arose on the day, with no satisfactory conclusions being reached. First up.......

Which looks better, (A)
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or (B)?
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And next, this amazing blackthorn owned by Lee (?). Would it look better in the pot it's in (which was re-named The Washing-up Bowl), or the more subtle dish beside it? Discuss.
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Righty ho, I'll leave you now. If you ever get chance to visit Tony's garden, take it. You'll be assured of a warm welcome and you would have to travel a long way to see trees of this quality up close and personal.

Thanks again to everyone concerned, and thanks, dear reader, for taking the time to get to the end of this!

Wonderful post - and wonderful images! ..and, uh, Tony .. if we find a way around the whole import thing, I could probably figure out a way of reducing the burden of such a collection in some way. ;-)

Lee

If Mr Storey is going to Burrs and he brings that hat we will have to see if it swims my learned friend

Looks like you all had a ball gents, how jealous am I

See you in November

All the best

Andy

Oooh. Methinks Tony wouldn't be overly impressed to see his titfer heading seawards!

Hi Harleyrider.
What a fantastic post. Well done Steve it was a pleasure to meet you. I'm glad (unlike myself ) you remembered to bring a camera..Like you I sat and soaked up all the knowledge that was on offer and picked up a lot of good tips especially on Hawthorn and Yew..It was a lovely day.Great trees great company even the burgers were great. ... Thanks again Tony !

I hear the barbecue went well. Glad you all had a great time and I also wish I could have been there.

I'm supposed to be having a garden club visit my place tonight. Have you seen the weather forecast! Typical, a week of blazing sun and record temperatures and the moment I have people coming around, thunderstorms slap bang over North Wales at 6pm.

I never thought I'd hear myself saying this: a bit of a thunderstorm would be a godsend up here in our west of Scotland heatwave. Not a drop for nearly six weeks apart from one overnighter that scarcely wet the top millimetre of the soil. So Kev, Send yours up here fifthwith. As long as I can send it back tomorrow before sunrise.

Well done on the barbie front Tony. On second thoughts, I'd better make that barby otherwise he'll get excited. I too wish I coulda bin a contender for it. But tell Dave P he needs to get in a very long queue in the "collection reduction" stakes. And I've got the sharpest elbows.

:: lives in fear of Fi's elbows ::

You guys can have some of our rain. Seriously. 2nd of July and I haven't needed to water in 5 days. In fact, no matter *how* well-draining my soil is (and it drains like a sieve), this is just *too much* rain. The soil isn't getting a chance to dry down at all.

Kindest~
-d

Yeah looks like it was a good one as usual, gutted I couldn`t make it.

Harleyrider, it wouldn`t be the first piece of Tony,s attire that,s gone down the river.

Ian.

Wow! Looks like the BBQ was a fantastic event, as expected! Can you believe I was invited but had to honour a previous commitment - I felt bad enough about not being able to do both BEFORE seeing this post ! Really glad you all had a great time.

If I'm lucky enough to get an invite to a future event I shall be sure to clear the calendar for a month either side ... just to be sure!

I was fortunate enough to be on the recieving end of Tony's wonderful hospitality earlier in the year and honestly learnt more about the art of bonsai in one afternoon than a whole year's worth of reading books/magazines/websites. Completely changed my viewpoint for the better. I too left with the realisation that good quality starting material is so important .... now I just need to get my hands on some!

Thanks for post, allowing those of us who couldn't be there to share in the event. I can almost smell the burgers from here!

Matt

By the way, I'm also going to the Burrs event in November (still feels a bit like "in at the deep end" but you gotta jump in sometime!) so hopefully I'll get to meet some of you there?

Yeah, I'm hoping to make it to Burr's myself, so we could stand back to back and fend off all attackers!

I just need to crack the security code on the wife's purse...............

Ah yes, safety in numbers, like it! Hope you can get that purse cracked in time!

(still feels a bit like "in at the deep end" but you gotta jump in sometime!) so hopefully I'll get to meet some of you there?

Matt

We all have to jump in at some point but in a "Burrs" case there are plenty of good people to catch you when you make that jump

See you at Burrs

Regards

Andy

Don't worry Matt, I'll be a newbie at Burr's although I have had the pleasure of some of the guys company before

Andy & I have invested in some new prunning tools, what do ya think???



See you all there

Thanks for the encouragement, Monkeys (Stone and Bonsai!). Look forward to seeing you at Burrs.

You've got to tell me where I can get one of those pruning sticks!!

Success! I've managed to pick the lock on Mrs J's purse! Burr's here I come.

Another great bbq,i think we should pitch tents next year and do the rammie mile,what you think Tony?
Master monkeys,i will see you in the star wars bar at burrs! feel the force my friends!

Hi Lee

Not sure what time we will get there on Friday eve as I am planning a diversion via Brum to pick up some of the Portuguese contingent for Mr T. But have one on the bar ready mate. Have got some nice pots in the pipeline for Burrs including some "BIGGIES". I will also bring the deceased Hawthorn back with me so gutted as it was a cracking trunk

All the best mate

Andy