A selection of my bonsai images taken during the Winter, Dec 2010 to March 2011.

A selection of my bonsai images taken during the Winter, Dec 2010 to March 2011

Ulmus pumila/Siberian Elm after rewiring and pruning in early December after leaf-fall
Height 23"/57cm. Pot by Erin Bonsai.

I originally purchased this tree in the Summer of 2005 as raw field-grown material. Not as fast growing or as responsive to bonsai techniques as many other Ulmus species, this Siberian Elm bonsai has so far been nearly 6 years in development.

The majority of my time has been spent establishing and refining the branch structure on the existing trunklines

Close-up of the trunkbase and the superb oval pot by Vic Harris of Erin Bonsai

A week before Christmas and the UK was hit by snow painting a pretty picture but making any kind of work on my trees virtually impossible!

In early Jaunary I was asked to restyle this Tsuga canadensis (Eastern Hemlock) bonsai, belonging to Faisal Waheedi. This image was taken in his greenhouse after the first day's work, having recarved the jin at the base and wired the lower branches.

The Eastern Hemlock after 12 hours restyling.
Height (above the pot) is 100cm/41" with a 80cm spread

3 new 12+" round pots from Erin Bonsai, received in early February, each intended for Larch bonsai.

Potting up one of the Larch bonsai into its new home!

Flower buds of a large Prunus incisa 'Kojo-no-mai'/Fuji Cherry, belonging to Faisal Waheedi, just beginning to open in early February.

This was a very large Trident Maple I repotted for a client in mid-February who had bought it around 4 years before. As the original pot was cracked, he had planted it up into this very large Mica temporarily.

Cleaning out the nebari to prune the surface roots.

The Trident bonsai potted up into a 23" wide round-cornered rectangle pot. This isn't the 'final pot' though it is definitely an improvement on the mica it was planted in before. A new pot is being commisioned from Erin Bonsai that will be a little deeper and wider with straight sides rather than curved sides of this pot (the curved sides too feminine for such a masculine trunk).

A couple of weeks later I revisited the Trident bonsai and gave it a prune, reducing the width of the foliage mass on the left hand side to reflect the tree's movement towards the right.

I originally collected this English Elm in August 2004, restyling and repotting it into its first bonsai pot in mid-February.

Detail of the base of the Elm bonsai; the root to the right was grafted several years ago while the hollows were carved just a few weeks prior to this image being taken.