Warminster Bonsai Club

This year there was a high number of quality trees entered on both club stands and Blackmore members, more people need to come and see this show.

Photos of the club displays and individual entries.

Update on Pinus Sylvestris brought in on our club night and was heavily wired and used as a demo on the show day, it has been shaped and starts its journey to recover and developed into a worthy bonsai.

Busy meeting we had a dummy run to select and finalise our club display for Blackmore Vale Bonsai Group bonsai show this coming Sunday held in the Remembrance hall SP7 0PL.

This involves finding the right balance with the trees which can eliminate very good trees that are too powerfull and would dominate the overall display.

These trees as individuals would make excellent solo displays, it also involves having varying heights, the right angle that is not taking your eye out from the display and the best display tables, and varying the spaces between each tree, this is more difficult as we naturally place trees equal distance apart.
Above is the final display Clive H decided on we will select accent plants on the day.

Whilst we were doing this members were working on their trees or Penjing plantings.

One member brought in a Pinus Sylvestris which had not had any work carried out on it, Tony and his son Nathan carried out a full wiring of the tree and it will be taken to the show on Sunday where it will be used as a demonstration on styling.

I will aim to take photos at the show to include the final style of the tree.

We have always been fortunate to be invited to the Cacti and Succulent show held in the Melksham Assembly Hall, whether your interested in cacti or not the annual show is well worth a visit you will see so many different variety’s and shapes.

Just a few photos of our display and of the show ( thanks to Amelia for these ).

Our meetings are set as general workshops so anything can be brought in which allows greater coverage of species styles etc, we do say to all members if you would like a particular subject to be covered we are happy to adjust to accommodate.

TOTM

We were contacted recently by Longleat HR if we would be interested in attending their Wellbeing Fair on Thursday 16th from 10.00-12.30 they invite other parties as well and the aim is promote employee wellbeing.

As Derek is chair of the British Cacti and Succulent Society Wilts branch he was also invited and we agreed to both put on a display, Amelia offered to also bring in materials for anyone to have a go at Penjing.

This was a new event to us so we didn’t know what to expect but between all three of our stands we did compliment each other.

There was a steady flow of staff coming through and we chatted to quite a few but the star was Amelia and Sallys Penjing where on their tables they had plants, pots, assorted gravel, rocks and associated ? figures to creat miniature landscapes.

They were so busy they were overwhelmed at one point and had a queue picking out materials and then waiting to get onto the work tables.

Continue reading “Longleat Workplace Wellbeing Fair”

We have been holding Saturday workshops for some years as we find you get more out of a day session than an evening with an expert.

Chris has been coming to the club for some years and we always look forward to his workshops, we were a bit down on numbers but made up for it by bringing in more trees.

Fair play to Chris he was especially challenged on this one with Derek bringing in some challenging species, Chris simply took the bonsai basics and used these to critique on these.

I am like an old record but I cannot recommend these workshops too highly you see many different trees brought in and with advice from Chris worked on and with a more expert eye alternatives to styling we go away reinvigorated to work on our trees at home.

I have always said if you just come as an observer you will gain so much it’s far better than anything you see on YouTube.

Busy as usual and this months meeting was a chance for a member to try air layering.

This is best done when the leaves are out and just hardened on the tree, it shows that sap is flowing and the tree is starting to photosynthesise.

This technique is used to produce more trees off the donor plant or selecting a better tree from a larger tree that will not make a good tree if left as it is.

TOTM

We put on a club display over Saturday and Sunday at Lakeside promoting both the hobby and the club.

Quite a bit of interest including some people who picked up the club on Facebook and an opportunity to dispel the myths that the general public have with bonsai.

You will see that because Sally and Derek could only cover Saturday ( Sally had one of her trees in the Bonsai Expo show on Sunday. ).

We changed the trees on Sunday and Clive H had more room to bring in bigger trees have included photos of both days, always enjoyable to talk to the public and many thanks to Steve the Centre manager for allowing us to put on a display and moving his plants round to give us an undercover area.

Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th April we will be putting on a club display at Lakeside Garden Centre Crockerton to promote the hobby and the club all welcome to call in for a chat with us.

Have attached a photo of last years display.