AusBonsai

Hi all,

I am booked into a workshop next weekend( With Peter Adams) which is something I do not do very often. I have selected 2 possible candidates to take with me.

The first is a spruce I picked up from the throw outs at Gibbs Nursery,Albury in 2007. I re potted it in the same year and left it till now. Today I scrapped away about 50mm of dirt and roots and had a good look at the tree and the possible direction I would go. My first thought is to remove the top down to the first branch and train the first branch as the new leader. As this material throws back on old wood and reduces needle size I am tempted to aerial layer the top, but if I use it in the workshop this will not happen.

The second candidate is a Juniper I dug up from my garden in 2004. I have cut it back once since 2004 and has not been re- potted since.

Next week I will post photos of the results.


Peter

Both are excellent stock!

Personally I would take the juniper as it (imo) has the most "possibilities". I imagine there are multiple leaders to choose from and possibly multiple fronts, where as the spruce has less options, and so i would personally require less guidance when styling it. I'm not saying that either stock has more potential than the other, just that the juniper has the most options to discuss.

Will we get to enjoy the post-Peter-Adams shots?

Joel

Hi,
Take both and good luck.
Can't wait to see the results.
You will like Peter Adams.

p.s. I am selling one of his books on ebay: The Art of Bonsai, because I liked him so much I bought another hardback copy for him to sign

Good call Joel. I think the juni has more scope with a wider range of options and i'm sure Peter will bring new eyes to the trees. I am really looking foreard to a follow up on what you choose and how it works out. Please post the after photos!
Enjoy the experience Peter

Peter , that's a fantastic Juni mate, but if i were you i'd be taking the Spruce . You'll be much better rewarded by taking the Spruce because such a simple trunkline needs special consideration, with both you and Peter working on this tree, you can't go wrong. I don't think you should cut it down in height.. I'd love to see it when your done,, Cheers Peter, good luck with whatever you decide to take,

I agree.. I would probably take the spruce. When I take trees to workshops, I take trees that have been puzzling me. Trees that need solutions that I cant seem to find myself. You will also get great insight into the steps that a world class artist uses to solve these puzzles and get a tree on the way to becoming a bonsai.

You could also take them both and give Peter the choice.

Yeah I'd take both, but really who are we kidding! You won the native comp, I dont think you're going to struggle to shape these two trees yourself!! Hope to see you there. ( I might even try hitting you up for some ideas!!)

mate that juni is a corker bit of material and thats what I would be taking for sure, no doubt about it! look forward to seeing it styled for the first time!

Hi Peter,

I am doing two workshops with Peter A and I am taking deciduous trees this time.

Of your trees I would take the spruce as my first choice. It will be an elegant bonsai in the future.

Grant

Hi Peter,

Not sure which one I'd take, but just wanted to say that I think cutting that spruce down would be a sin! I may be wrong, but I think it could make a fantastic father/son type tree. Think really hard before giving it the good old lopparoo!

I like to give a visiting tutors more than one option. Surely there are times when they do not see anything "special" but are obliged to give a new design. Sometimes a two minute assessment will confirm the plan you already had and sometimes you will not like a proposal.
A back up tree is always handy.

I suspect you already have a plan for the juniper, I like the spruce material for a workshop.

This is the result of Peter Adams workshop. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of Peters' design drawing and this photo is a bit ordinary. When I get it the drawing back from Peter I will post it and a better photo.

Peter

Hey!!!! He stole my idea!!!

Looking good! Pleased it was not given the choparoo!

nice, i like it very much. im glad you didnt give it the chop either, it looks best styled like this.

Hugh

At one stage during the workshop we thought that he had chopped it, almost in half. Then we realised it was just sitting on the floor.