Hi All,
11 members attended the meeting this month and apologies were sent by Alan Craddock as well as Terry and Lyn for not attending, unfortunately Terry was not well so we wish him a swift recovery soon.
The members would also like to give a warm welcome to new member Cresida and we hope to see her at forthcoming meetings to help her with advice and ideas.
Roy set the evening off, although he hadn’t much to report he mentioned that Alan Craddock had postponed his open garden visit as the weather is likely to be bad and has rearranged for the following Saturday 26th Sept.
Roy also mentioned that the feeding regime should be tailed off this month especially if high nitrogen feeds are being used as it will cause sappy growth that won’t harden off in time for winter this applies mainly to deciduous trees. However a light application of half strength feed can still be applied to conifers and junipers till the end of September. Some growers even convert to very low or no nitrogen feeds throughout autumn on conifers to harden roots and prepare the trees for winter. From October till the following Spring most trees are in a dormant state and should not be needing any feed.
Roy and Alan Chappell reported on their visit to one of Caz’s workshops and they said its very much worth while as she is a fountain of knowledge particularly on conifers and junipers.
A good variety of trees were brought in this month and the evening was spent discussing style ideas with a little trimming being carried out.
Alan Chappell brought a Black pine that he had previously taken to Caz for help and ideas and he spent the evening carrying out more refinement by wiring and developing better layers in the branching as he wished to create a semi cascade image but right now the pine looked a little flat in profile. By the end of the evening the layers had begun to emerge and the vision was more evident. In a few years this will be a great tree although Black pines can be awkward to get to grips with.
Roy came with a very nice tall / literati image of a Juniper procumbens which has a very fine and compact foliage with distinct layering set on a loverly old looking trunk displaying flakey bark giving the impression of great age.
Dave had an old Black thorn and also acquired a gift from berice of a Japanese holly to work on.
Berice came with a pair of mature Chinese elms that just needed a trim on the largest one and I gave her some ideas on a new style and reposition on the small one she had which I believe was a cork bark variant.
Nigel brought along a white pine that needed some advice on back budding so Roy helped him out showing him where to trim the leaders back to so it would induce back budding next spring. Nigel also had a nice cascade style variegated Cottoneaster which he was busily trimming back some over long branches.
Richard was hard at work trimming a small leaved flowering Fuscia that he was developing and also an Azalea that had begun to flower again. I hadn’t much knowledge on late flowering Azaleas so when I got home I had a little investigation on the subject. So I learnt that apart from the regular late spring and early summer flowering varieties there are some more modern variants that re-bud and flower in the Autumn. These mostly have a more squat and compact growing habit and can flower into early winter so giving a second flush of late season colour, who knew, every day’s a school day.
Rob showed us his ficus that needed a repot last time and it had recovered well and growing strong, some trimming will be needed to give it shape maybe a candidate for our Autumn workshop in October.
New member Cresida brought along a tall copper beech which Roy helped her with in restyling to trunk to give it better taper, by cutting off a high and out of proportion branch. I think Cresida was a bit supprised by the drastic surgery but sometimes it is necessary to improve the tree for the future. I also helped Cresida with an introduction to wiring techniques and how to begin placing branches and twigs with wire.
Matt came with a small European olive that needed a trim and ideas for an overall style and a Juniper Communis, spiky variety that unfortunately I’m a bit allergic to, so my help came in the form of a lot of pointing and not too much touching but he managed to tame the beast into a better shape and hopefully went away with a good idea of its final image.
My contribution with trees came in the form of seasonal colour in an Orange glow Pyracantha Fire thorn with lots of bright berries, I’m not expecting them to last long when the Black birds clap their eyes on them. and a small Deshojo Maple that had a late flush of bright red leaves contrasting with the older dark green spring and summer leaves.
So next meet will be 12 October and followed by the Autumn workshop Saturday 17 October an ideal time for profile trimming and late season wiring. Of course we will be on hand for all sorts of advice and help if you need it. I may even bring a few surplus trees I have for sale.
well that’s it from me
Have fun
Kev