Oct 20, 2013 | General
I live on the edge of the Norfolk Broads National Park. Nice if you like boats, fishing and GREAT if you are a twitcher. Not so cool if, like me, you love mountains. Our flat landscape certainly produces some amazing and inspirational spectacles including some of the largest trees you will see in the UK. Our huge skies are also pretty humbling at times. However for pure bonsai adrenaline I need to be high up in the mountains.
I was recently the privileged guest of a good friend who was gracious enough to share one of his special places with me. I find these places extremely inspirational and refreshing and every time I am lucky enough to visit such places what I see gets imprinted on my consciousness. Creating bonsai requires a broad repertoire of such experiences and a huge library of wild images. Here are a few glimpses of a very inspirational wild place.
To see moe inspirational images visit http://www.kaizenbonsai.com/inspiring_stuff.htm
G.
Oct 20, 2013 | General
The Heathrow Bonsai Show is coming up in a couple of weeks. I have been asked to present a demonstration. Anyone who would like me to bring orders to the show please get in touch as we won’t have much stock with us on the day.
Mark asked me to work on privet and I have a very special piece to bring 😉
G.
HEATHROW BONSAI SHOW
3rd November 2013 10.00-16.00hrs
At- The Barn
High Street, Harlington,
Middlesex UB3 5LH (5 minutes from Junction 4 on the M4) 10.30-12.30 Graham Potter demo. 12.30-13.30 Barbeque 13.30-15.30 Graham Potter demo.
Club Displays and traders Admission £2 Adults and OAP/Children £1 More info- Mark and Ming: 07850 771201 Email: [email protected] Visit- http://heathrowbonsaishow.wordpress.com/
George is too cool for school!
Oct 16, 2013 | General
Keats was an English romantic poet who wrote about autumn, “tis the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”. Not too sure if I share his whimsical notion. I don’t much like autumn OR winter here in Blighty. Last week I was in Spain enjoying beautiful warm dry sunshine. An hour after I returned it began raining and it hasn’t stopped since. You know it’s autumn because everything is wet and soggy and it’s getting dark before you finish work. The heating is on and I have early onset trench foot.
Bonsai folk have a special relationship with the seasons. Who doesn’t go out early in the morning or after work to have a look around their benches and admire their fine bonsai or, more to the point lately, to pick them up off the ground following high winds. Our trees are a great barometer of what’s happening out there and a wonderful link to the eternal rhythms of life that, by and large, go un-noticed by modern ‘interactive’ man. These things are important for our wellbeing, much like eating prunes.
We English have a reputation for *issing and moaning about the weather. Having travelled around planet bonsai a bit over the years I can assure you that the weather is the great bug bear wherever you go. One place it’s too hot, another it’s too cold or wet. The secret is to find the little gems of magic that sparkle no matter what the weather is doing. This time of year many things are starting to look a little worse for wear in the bonsai garden but here are a few gems I spotted on a quick once around the nursery. Enjoy whilst you can…..
G.
Oct 15, 2013 | General
4am Sunday morning we were on the road in the torrential rain heading for Enfield, north London. Not my preferred option for a Sunday morning, especially after a hectic week of travelling. A busy day in prospect we collected my friend (also Graham) and reluctantly made our way through the floods in the cold and dark.
The Enfield Bonsai group have been holding an autumn show for a while now and this year we were asked to get involved. So a little sponsorship, a tokonoma display, demo’ and trade space ensured a busy day. Because I was working, Rammon was consigned to our trade pitch for the day and the two Graham’s got up on stage to do a little work. My mentor, Kevin Willson appeared and sat in the front row. No pressure there then 😉
Despite the weather a great turnout ensued. I think this was an excellent little show, very well supported and some very special and well presented bonsai trees. The club here have done exceptionally well to put together an excellent event. Here’s looking forward to next year…..
G.
Oct 12, 2013 | General
Over the last few weeks we have bought in several large private collections of bonsai trees. The thing I love about doing that is we always turn up some very unusual trees. When you buy a whole collection you also get some strange items like weird pots and a few scruffy bits and bobs. This week we have prepared about 30 new items for the web site and they will be listed in the next few days. Here’s a taster of what’s coming up.
Oct 12, 2013 | General
This week I have been away on a buying trip. By the end of next week we will have a large delivery of some really nice yamadori trees including junipers, scots pine, oaks, olive and even some vines. Obviously more information and pictures will be available once everything arrives but for now here are a few snaps.
