We started the new year’s workshop programme yesterday, Saturday 20th January, and we had a pretty decent turnout with seven participants and that was with a couple of regulars pulling out at the last minute due to ill health.
Now I have always maintained that these regular monthly days are first and foremost staged for us all to learn a bit more about our hobby, myself included, and I can assure you that this is not fake humility. For example, yesterday we were joined by Bryan who was not just taking part in his first workshop but also making his first visit to Willowbog Bonsai. He has one bonsai, a Chinese elm that he keeps inside in his home office. He was concerned that he might appear foolish amongst more experienced folk with lots of better trees, we, of course, assured him that it would not be like that, and it wasn’t.
Bryan’s elm showed some signs of chlorosis and in the course of a discussion about remedies he mentioned that Magnesium was an element that was vital to green plants as it was used by the plants to manufacture chlorophyll. It is one thing to know that certain elements are needed by our trees but quite another to understand the specific way that one of these vital elements is used by the plants, very illuminating, thanks Bryan.
Apart from Bryan we were joined by six regulars, Angela, Norma, Kevin and Terry are in the photo. Behind the camera was Peter G and out of shot Antony. Thanks to the G-man for these photographs.
As it happens larch featured prominently in the discussions, most participants had at least one to work on throughout the day and very useful they were in looking at the various stages of development and made making comparisons.
As always Caz provided me with valuable support and here she makes a point on Angela’s Japanese larch prior to a wiring exercise commencing. Terry looking and listening in the background. It was a good start to the year, if you are interested check out the workshop pages on our web-site www.willowbog-bonsai.co.uk
