ŽEGEN

In years from now, at some exhibition, I'll telling the weird story about tree: it grew peacefully for 40 yrs at graveyard until I dig it out ... All for good material! :-) Graveyards are potentially one of the best finding places. Abandoned graves, overgrown by junipers and pines ... Roland helped me collect a mugo pine, which developed a massive, 30 cm wide nebari in last 40 yrs growing at grave. It has also some movement and according to it's vitality it liked the earth ...  

Nekoliko čudna bo zgodba tega drevesa, ko jo bom čez leta pripovedoval na kakšni razstavi: 40 let je mirno rasel na pokopališču, dokler ga nisem izkopal ... Vse za dober materijal! :-) V bistvu pa so pokopališča potencialno ena najboljših nahajališč. Zapuščeni grobovi, ki že leta samevajo in jih preraščajo brini in bori ... Roland mi je pomagal izkopati ruševje, ki je v 40-ih letih življenja na grobu razvilo izjemno masiven 30 cm nebari, tudi nekaj gibanja, glede na vitalnost pa mu je bila zemlja rahla ...

Before collecting

Pred izkopom

Ready for transport

Pripravljen na transport

In training pot

V trening posodi

NOV DAN

Despite fatigue after such a day you must be satisfied. What a day in TORA! In the morning Mrs. Jolanda came for the basic workshop. Because she live in coastal area we could not work on Larix or Picea as she would have problems with them there. So she picked an azalea - this was no beginners material. With courage and enthusiasm we worked on it, in a year or two Mrs. Jolanda will have a very nice bonsai!   

Po takšnem dnevu se človek kljub utrujenosti počuti izpolnjen. Dan v TORI kot se šika. Dopoldne je na tečaj za začetnike prišla gospa Jolanda. Ker živi na Obali, se nisva mogla učiti na macesnu ali smreki, ker bi z njima tam imela težave. Pa si je gospa privoščila nič začetniško azalejo. Pogumno in z veliko intuziazma sva se je lotila in končala. Gospa bo v sezoni ali dve imela zelo lep bonsaj!

As I was just in azaleas I take a chance and did an "self-grafting" on one of my own. Because in a last two years it didn't produce a branch in spot I wish, I drilled a hole and pulled a longer branch trough it and elegantly solved a problem.

Ko sem bil ravno pri azalejah, sem izkoristil priložnost in na svoji izvedel "samogrebeničenje". Ker v dveh sezonah ni pognala vej na željenih mestih, sem daljše veje potegnil skozi izvrtane luknje in tako elegantno rešil težavo.

Then Miha and Jan helped Raje with re-potting his giant Larix, a little bit later Raje helped Jan with re-potting his a lot smaller Chamaecyparis ...

Potem sta Miha in Jan pomagala Rajetu pri presajanju mrcine od macesna, Raje pa je malce kasneje Janu pomagal presaditi njegovo veliko manjšo pacipreso ...

At the end David came in. He is in bonsai for a long time. But as he chose a way which requires the most patience (as he said: I'm the most patient among all of us), he is growing a trees from a seed, his little elms are now just ready for a group planting. With green mass It will be nice!

Za konec se je oglasil še David, ki se že dolga leta ukvarja z bonsaji. A ker se je odločil za pot, ki zahteva največ potrpljenja (ki ga ima največ med nami, kot je sam poudaril), namreč za vzgojo dreves iz semen, so njegovi sejančki bresta zdaj ravno pravšnji za gozdiček. Ko bo ozelenel bo prav simpatičen!

P.S.: Happy birthday, Raje! I hope that you enjoyed as I was!

P.S.: Vse najboljše Raje, upam da si užival vsaj pol tako kot jaz!

FUL

Today was fulfilled with bonsaism. Great weather made all even more nice - truly first day of spring! In the morning me and Natasha were working on Carpinus betulus. Not nice material, without movement, but with enough branches that she could trained wiring. From bush she created nice crown. Natasha was a nice host!  

Za mano je bonsajistično izpolnjen dan. Da je bilo vse skupaj še lepše, je poskrbelo vreme - res pravi prvi pomladni dan! Dopoldne sva z Natašo delala na gabru. Nesimpatičen materijal, brez gibanja, vendar že dovolj razvejan, da je lahko trenirala žičenje in iz grma ustvarila simpatično krošnjo. Nataša je bila prijeten gostitelj!

In the afternoon I was helping Primoz with re-poting his Chamaecyparis. After a few years of work on them he decided to re-pot them into first bonsai pots. This could be even final pots. Especially the second one which fit the tree perfectly! "Finally I could say that I have a bonsai at home," Primož said. But it is true. Now he'll have more will to do bonsai. This Chamaecyparis are perfect material for learning!  

Popoldan sem Primožu pomagal pri presajanju pacipres. Po letih ukvarjanja z njima se je odločil, da ju presadi v prvi bonsajski posodi, ki bi utegnili biti kar končni. Še posebej drugi posoda paše kot ulita! "Končno lahko rečem, da imam doma bonsaj," je pomodroval Primož. Pa je res. Zdaj bo imel še veliko več veselja do bonsajizma. Spet se je pokazalo, kako dober materijal za učenje so paciprese!

P.S.: This is TORA school!

P.S.: To je šola TORA! 

FLORA

I was on fair Flora in Celje this weekend. We prepared a small club exhibition, demonstrations, meeting friends. I took nice minde off !

Ta konec tedna sem preživel na sejmu Flora v Celju. Manjša klubska razstava, demonstracije, druženje s prijatelji. Prijeten odklop!

ONA

Queen Prunus mahaleb is home. Safely in pot. Almost two hours we, me and Joze, were sweating before we freed her from stone armor; also nearby growing Fraxinus held her tightly. Far bigger then her, tall tree, but much younger, so it's roots grew around her and held her tight. But we manage to rescued her. We worked slowly and with respect as it is proper for more than 150 yrs old lady. 

Kraljica rešelika je doma. Varno v posodi. Slabi dve uri sva se z Jožetom potila, da sva jo osvobodila kamnitega oklepa; v svojem objemu pa jo je trdno držal tudi blizu rastoči jesen. Veliko večji od nje, visoko drevo, a hkrati veliko mlajši in njegove korenine so obrasle rešelikine in jih stisnile v trden objem. A sva jo rešila. Delala sva počasi in  s spoštovanjem. Kot se za več kot 150 let staro damo spodobi.

Then we planted her in her first pot. She immediately showed which side will be her front and how glad we could be for her future. Fragile but at the same time also full of power. Outstanding bark with lichen and moss, fantastic movement. Top class bonsai material! 

Potem sva jo posadila v prvo posodo. Takoj je nakazala, katera stran bo njeno lice in kako zelo se lahko veselimo njene prihodnosti. Krhka a hkrati polna moči. Izjemna skorja obraščena z lišaji in mahom, fantastična linija. Vrhunski bonsajski material!

I finished what I started yesterday. Well, preservation of dead wood is still waiting, also some detail, but Prunus mahaleb is ready for new season. Tomorrow I'll go for her older sister!

Končal sem, vsaj približno, včeraj začeto. No, zaščita suhega lesa še pride na vrsto, tudi še kakšna podrobnost a rešelika je pripravljena na novo sezono. Jutri hitim po njeno starejšo sestro na Kras!

My son cought me working on prunus

DAMA

So, we are starting for real. Today I was working on ancient Prunus mahaleb, which always fills me with respect. Work on it is something special - concentrated but full of enjoyment. Natasha joined me, she was learning by watching this time. In silence and talking with tree. Work is not finished yet, this is only after first day:

Začenjamo torej zares. Danes sem delal na stoletni rešeliki, ki me vedno navda s spoštovanjem. Delo na njej je vedno nekaj posebnega - zbrano a polno užitka. Pridružila se mi je Nataša, ki se je tokrat učila z gledanjem. V tišini in v pogovoru z drevesom. Delo še ni končano, za nama je šele prvi dan:

Prunus mahaleb 2009

Prunus mahaleb 2011 after first day of working

Natasha is first member of the pack, Joze the second, they joined intensive program by Tora - they will be noticed about my bonsai plans and they will join whenever they feel so. So they will be in all year-round school, they will learn about all phases of working on and caring for the trees. 

Nataša je prva v jati, Jože drugi, pridružila sta se intenzivnejšemu programu Tore - sproti bosta obveščena o mojih bonsajskih načrtih in se, ko se bosta za to odločila, pridružila. Tako bosta pravzaprav deležna celoletnega šolanja, spoznala bosta vse faze obdelave in skrbi za drevesa.