Gougane Barra

Recently went for a walk with the family in Gougane Barra. It is the place where the famous River Lee begins its journey into Cork City and the location where St Finbarr built a monastery on the little island situated to the left of the lake. This was constructed during the times of Penal Law. One of the items within this law which was prohibited, was to celebrate Roman Catholic mass. Being so remote meant it was very popular with Irish Catholics who could celebrate mass with possibly less of a fear of being apprehended and punished for doing so.

When people ever visit cork i always say you should take a spin down to Gougan Barra. The scenery is suberb especially on a clear and sunny day. And it is a photographers dream for capturing beautiful shots with so many elements in one place.

What is really interesting is the forest walks. Now being with 6 children there is only so far you can venture. As what is always in the back of your mind when walking with kids is, how far you travel, it seems twice as long on the way back. Everyone is tired, looking for hiddybacks, plasters, water. You swear you were traveling through the Sahara. So taken the short distance we could travel I managed to capture some nice shots on the phone of the walk into the woods. I didn’t take any pictures of the lake or church. As I have done so many times in the past and with the chaos of walking with 6 kids all under 6, you can imagine you are pulled from pillar to post. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the walk as it was a lovely day and they love looking at trees and letting their imagination run riot of bears and wolves in the forest. Now myself and the wife may have had something to do with that, but its all part of exploring the woods as kids.

There are many native species of flaura and fauna and over 20 species of trees. Notably Scots pine, Japanese Larch, Sitka Spruce and Lodgepole Pine. On reading more on the woods i discovered that in 2014 the woods was temporarily closed to allow for the felling of over 16,000 trees mostly larches, infected with or susceptible to Phytophthora ramorum a pathogen responsible for Sudden Oak Death (Thank you wikipedia). Some of which you can see in the below picture.

If you ever manage to get to Cork in the south of Ireland I would definetly recommend a trip to Gougane Barra. I hope you enjoy the pictures of some of the trees and landscape.

Some sheep finding shelter, on the banks of the lake.

Inspecting a little waterfall.

Watering with Noah

So with my job being quite demanding time wise and with the birth of the newest addition to our family Maria, I have found it difficult the past while to get into a proper routine with my trees. But yesterday my son and I decided to go and give my trees a bit of TLC. So when I went investigating some of the wire on one or two of the trees Noah decided to jump right in and grab the watering can.

After getting stuck in and getting more wet than the trees themselves we decided a smaller can would probably be more appropriate.

And there we have it, now my little man is looking after my trees when im at work. Now my wife will have to listen to the two of us wanting to water the trees. Well done small man.

A look in HD at the Omiya Bonsai Village

Second video I am posting tonight from Youtube channels which I am subscribed to. It has been so long since i have been online, due to me starting a new job nearly two months ago and since starting it I have just been up the walls. My feet are starting to touch the ground again as I have been just crazy busy. I have been slowly getting back online and actually getting to look at my trees besides the rush watering i have been doing the past few weeks. Hopefully will be getting some photos of my trees up over the next few days and updates.

Anyway here is the video, one which i am intrigued by, I have heard a lot of the Omiya Village, and really enjoyed this video, and the hd is a bonus. Anyway enjoy

Autumn Leaves in Nikko

Another great video displaying the amazing landscape of Japan by Discover Nippon, and yet another video encouraging me to make the next family holiday to japan. Someday it will come.

Tree full of Jins

I have passed this tree many times on the way to a local nursery and have been meaning to take a photo of it for a while. While out yesterday with my son, i decided to pull in and get a shot of it. Looks like it was taken in the middle of winter not the start of July.

Noah Looking for Trees

So yesterday myself and the small man decided to go for a spin to our local nursery. He was delighted trying to grab all the shrubs and plants he could. Hes getting a great start. Next stop an apprenticeship in Japan and he can come back and teach me everything he knows 🙂

Here he is ready to get stuck in.

 

Checking out the Mugo Pines

In the Jungle

oh that looks tasty…..

 

And next to his favorites, the Japanese Maples

 

 

June Meeting MBC

So on the 23rd of June which is also Bonfire night in Cork, we had the June meeting of the Munster Bonsai Club. A small gathering but a gathering none the less. And peter back from his honeymoon, Congratulations.

Heres the substitute room ready for the night.

Now with a few of the lads after arriving.

 

It didn’t take long before we moved the operation outside.

Piotr looking fine and relaxed, again 🙂

 

 

Peter tipping away.

And now some of the trees we worked on during the meeting.

Piotr’s Trident Maple

 

Peter’s Black Pine

Mark getting the lighting just right 🙂

 

Mark’s Beech grouping. Still deciding which is the front. Option 1

And Option 2. I like this one.

 

My little juniper got a Jin.

Mark’s Silver Birch, which he grew from seed.

And Piotr’s Little Pine. looking lovely

So it was decided that we would meet during the summer to keep our club alive 🙂 We will be meeting next on the 14th of July.

 

Himalayan Ceder progress

So this is my Himalayan Ceder, which i bought last summer 2012 from a local garden center. It was there for quite a while i say. It was a lot taller than what it is now and decided last year to cut it back, Since then i just shortened the branches. Next job is to decide what branches to select and allow it to grow freely untill next season as it could do with a repot then.

Here is the ceder when i acquired it last year before i shortened it.

This is it now, after being shortened and is growing quite well.

Still has a lot of filling out to do.Especially as one side is quite bare compared to the other

I was thinking as there is practically no movement in the trunk as going with formal style. There is quite a lot of work and time will be spent on this tree but i can see the end product in my head, nearly 😉

So in march 2014 i decided to bring the ceder along to our club meeting to give it some wiring.

 

As it turns out i only got half the tree wired that night, me taken my time as usual 🙂

So i have been looking at it since march and haven’t gone near it except to water it. So in June 2014 i decided to finish the wiring. This is the way it has been on the bench for nearly 3 months.

So get wiring

I could tell the top was sucking all the energy from the lower branches. So gave it a small haircut also. And finished off the wiring

 

So thats how the tree stands in June 2014, just want to get plenty of ramification on the branches now. Will keep an eye on it 🙂

 

 

Juniperus Procumbens Nana Part 1

This little juniper was in my local nursery, not far from my house. I have seen it for a while now and was considering picking it up. A few weeks ago I met the owner of the nursery and he gave me a discount of the already reduced price of 8 euro i think ( I strike a hard bargain 🙂 ). So i decided to pick it up as I read that they make nice bonsai. Anyway the past few weeks I have been looking at it during watering not knowing what to do with it.   The reason i liked it and had been watching it in the nursery for so long, was for the little twisting of the trunks. But each time i gazed at this tree from different angles, i was lost as what to do. So today I decided i was going to grab the bull by the horns and just get wiring. I am usually quite conservative when it comes to making decisions with my trees. But I feel just getting stuck in, while taking the health of the tree into consideration is the only way to go. Its the only way I will learn. So I decided to have a look and see where to go. Here is a look from one angle A look with out the pot And another   First bit of wire to go on the tree.     And a closer look And a second helping of wire to help with the bending.     Continuing with the natural bend of the trunk.   Another angle   While bending the tree I heard the dreaded ‘crack’. It turned out not to be too bad. On further investigation my dear Watson it looks as if my lack of wire on the first run may have been the reason for my crack. Maybe if I had continued with the wire it may have protected the branch where the crack happened. 

So out with my trusty wound sealer. Hopefully will do the trick.

 

A few different Views.

So this is the tree now, with the pot cut down to size and a lighter for height comparison. I think I will look at wiring the other trunk into semi cascade and some of the smaller branches over the next few days. I didn’t remove much foliage, but will be looking at that the next day as well.

Before

 

After

Japanese Maple

Heres a little tree i picked up a few months ago in a local garden center. It wasn’t grafted and I liked the movement in the trunk so i said i would pick it up, Heres a photo of it at the march meeting of the club. 

 

 

After a bit of discussion I wanted to do a bit of chopping with Marks nice new branch cutter. So we cut of the branches we didn’t want and sealed what we cut. Here is a photo of the tree a few weeks later repotted in the same pot but with different medium.

 

 

And here it is last week