Jim Lewis wrote:

So please accept my early wishes for a very Happy Holiday and a
wonderful (and wishfully) peaceful New Year. May your trees
grow well and your collections stay manageable wherever you may
be.


The same to you Jim, and everyone on the list.

Here in the North of England it is wet. Not too cold though it dips
below 0 some nights.
Some deciduous material still has leaves, including Chinese Elm (Ulmus
parvi.) which is a little surprising but it has been very mild. Some
trees in the garden and landscape are budding. roses in the garden are
still flowering though they are shabby now.

A couple of years ago I visited Kev Bailey in North Wales and he gave me
a lot of material to develop and it is all doing very well. Some is
planted in the garden, hornbeams, cryptomeria, chamaecyparis and five
lovely San Jose junipers which are thickening fast and are already
looking like a windswept forest as they lay out in the border, blue
against the deep green of the dwarf rhodi leaves behind.

Indoors, the ficus are under 110 watt fluorescent in my playroom. I
think this is the only material that can be part of a long term indoor
bonsai display indoors here in the UK. They do however need a lot of
light to develop, so outside in the summer and underlights in the winter
seems the best option for me. I defoliated them in the midsummer and
feed them Chempak 3 (20:20:20 + trace) all year round.

Happy Healthy Holidays Everyone.
Richard

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