bonsai europa 2014

Finally got back to this blog to upload some photos from Bonsai Europa. Good to meet up with all the guys from the Irish bonsai community, some for the first time and some not. The highlight for me was simply looking at so many fantastic trees, and trying to soak up all I could learn from them. To see trees in an exhibition such as this was hugely inspirational and I hope it will help me improve my own modest little treelings at home. 

drive-by yamadori

After a fruitless drive in search of a potential new collecting site I spotted this little beech on the side of the road and eased it up with a spade. It's a twin trunk or three trunk depending on whether the third lighter branch/trunk is retained.

larch yamadori

Some larch yamadori collected just before New Year, all potted up but no pruning carried out yet.

bridges in west cork

root over rock

real root over rock hazel

Lough Derg

I was fortunate to spend a day on Lough Derg last weekend with a few friends as we trundled back and forth across the lake calling to a few of the lakeside villages on the way.