ZAČETEK

Traditionally I start spring works on my trees with small Prunus mahaleb, which is in my collection for last 15 years. Nothing special but it is one of my first trees. And we always remember first one! Next week I'll start for real. Spring is here and serious work on serious trees will begin! 

Že po tradiciji spomladanska opravila na svojih drevesih začenjam na mali rešeliki, ki je v moji zbirki že več kot 15 let. Nič posebnega, je pa ena mojih prvih. In te si vedno zapomnimo! Prihodnji teden se začenja zares. Pomlad je tu in začelo se bo resno delo na resnih drevesih!

Before that: Spain here I come!

Še prej pa na kratko v Španijo! 

PROGETTO DRUGIČ

This weekend we have a workshop by Progetto Futuro in Tora. Group of first year of school gathered together for a second time led by Ivo and his assistant Mauro. 10 students were soaking in the bonsai-knowledge, me and Raje were dealing with organization and we were happy for all good responses. It is unbelievable how obvious is a progress of all who are involved. We needed such a school. Now we are at the right path - Ivo Saporiti figured out the same conclusion. He tried to prepare students for final meeting in June, when director of Progetto Futuro school Enrico Savini is arriving in Tora.

Ta konec tedna se je na drugi seansi v Tori zbral prvi letnik šole Progetto Futuro. Pod vodstvom Iva in njegovega asistenta Maura je 10 študentov srkalo bonsajsko znanje; z Rajetom sva skrbela za organizacijo, vesela sva dobrih odzivov. Neverjetno je, kako se iz srečanja v srečanje vidi napredek vseh, ki sodelujejo. Takšno šolo smo enostavno potrebovali. Zdaj smo na pravi poti, je ob koncu ugotovil tudi Ivo Saporiti, ki je študente skušal čim bolje pripraviti na zaključno junijsko srečanje, ko v Toro prihaja direktor šole Enrico Savini.

Workshop led by Ivo Saporiti

We analyzed every tree in details

After two days of intense work on good material some trees already reached high level of development 

We had a good time!

This time I missed a big part of workshop due to other obligations, but I have seen enough that I can say: we did a new step forward!

Tokrat sem večino srečanja zaradi drugih obveznosti zamudil, a videl sem dovolj, da lahko trdim: za nami je nov uspešen korak naprej!

GOST

Growing ficus and all other tropical species in our latitude is very difficult. It is like someone in tropic region would tray to grow Picea or Larix. I have only one such tree, ficus, it is my friend for last four years. It is fun to working on it while waiting to winter finally move away. And if I remember what a start we have, I must say that it came a long way: 

Gojenje fikusov in sploh vseh tropskih vrst v naših zemljepisnih širinah je zelo težavno. Podobno kot bi v tropih kdo skušal gojiti smreko ali pa macesen. Imam samo eno takšno drevo, fikus, s katerim sva prijatelja zadnja štiri leta. Ob čakanju na to, da zima končno le odide, je ukvarjanje z njim kar zabavno. In če se spomnim, kakšen je bil najin začetek, je kljub vsemu zelo napredoval:

January 2008 

Just for height feeling

 March 2011

In Spring I'll move it outside, on air, then I'll defoliate it and do some fine wiring. And then it will accumulate some needed power for next hard winter ...

Spomladi pa hitro ven, na zrak, čaka ga novo razlistenje in natančno žičenje. In seveda nabiranje moči za novo težko zimo ... 

DELAVNICA

Yesterday I couldn't stay in Sempas till the end of the club's workshop. Members of Slovenian bonsai club were gathered at first spring workshop hosted by David and his Severnoprimorska section. Some new faces, all satisfied, weather was so good that we moved a part of workshop outside and enjoyed the sun. Good trees, most of them even top quality, I was impressed by David's Prunus mahaleb with amazing movement. From such a material a fantastic bonsai can be done.

Žal včeraj nisem mogel ostati v Šempasu do konca klubske delavnice. Člani Slovenskega bonsaj kluba smo se zbrali na prvi spomladanski delavnici, gostitelj je bil David z svojo Severnoprimorsko sekcijo. Nekaj novih obrazov, vsi zadovoljni, vreme pa nam je tako služilo, da smo del delavnice preselili kar na prosto in uživali v soncu. Dobra drevesa, večina kar vrhunskih, navdušila me je Davidova rešeljika z izjemnim gibanjem. Iz takega materijala res lahko nastane fantastičen bonsaj.

In our club such or even better material is not rare. I am looking forward for next workshops!

V našem klubu takšnega in morda celo še boljšega materijala ne manjka. Veselim se naslednjih delavnic!

UTRINEK

I was checking my photographs on computer when I saw this photos of red pine that I was shaping during last year's demonstration in Warsaw. This are photos before (after the upper part of trunk was already twisted) and after:

Med pregledovajem fotografij sem naletel tudi na fotografije rdečega bora, ki sem ga oblikoval na demonstraciji lani v Varšavi. Tu sta sliki prej (ko je že ukrivljen zgornji del) in potem:

Movement is OK. The crown will be slimmed a bit in a year or two, it is still too dominant. Then I'll re-pot it and this is it. I like literati style more and more because of it's expression.

Gibanje je OK. Krošnjo bom v sezoni ali dveh še zreduciral, je še nekoliko predominantna. Potem pa posoda in to je to. Literati slog mi je zaradi izpovednosti veno bolj všeč!

KRALJICA

I was wandering what to do with this morning when Miha called me: "Would you go?" Of course! We changed the gray city with gray nature, but in nature is easier to deal with this grayness. Miha was planning to collect an ancient Cotinus coggygria on stone. Fantastic nebari growing over rock for two hundred years, roots are one with stone. This is a great finding for this species but nearly impossible to collect. Together with roots Miha must dig out stone too. So we changed our plan and went for it's brother nearby. Also good movement and wide nebari for this species. Good finding!   

Ravno sem razmišljal, kam naj z dopoldnevom, ko me je poklical Miha: "Greš?" Seveda grem! Sivino mesta sva zamenjala za sivino narave, a tam jo je veliko lažje prenašati. Miha je imel v načrtu izkop starodavnega ruja na kamnu. Fantastičen nebari, ki že dvesto let raste čez kamen, korenine so s kamnom zraščene v celoto. Za to vrsto izjemna najdba, ki pa bo zelo težavna, če že ne nemogoča za izkop. Skupaj s koreninami bo Miha namreč moral izkopati tudi kamen. Zato sva se raje preusmerila na izkop njegovega brata v bližini. Prav tako sijajno gibanje in za to vrsto širok nebari. Dobra najdba!

And then we went wandering around. To graze our souls. When we went towards car for the second time, I find Her. No photo can show all her charms as they are in nature. More then two hundred years she fought with stone and wind, one can feel a deep respect when standing near such a tree. Fantastic movement, old bark, dead wood ... She has all that yamadori must have. In one of this days I'll devoted a lot of hours to her - as archaeologist I'll dig out her roots and move her into training pot. And then ...

In potem sva se šla sprehajat. Še malo popast dušo. In kot se velikokrat zgodi, sem potem, ko sva se že drugič odpravila proti avtu na poti domov naletel Nanjo. Nobena fotografija ne more prikazati njenih čarov takšnih, kot so v resnici. Več kot dvesto let se je borila s kamnom in burjo, človek ob takšnem drevesu občuti globoko spoštovanje. Fantastično gibanje, skorja, suh les ... Ima vse, kar naj bi krasilo jamadori. V teh dneh se ji bom posvetil za več ur - kot arheolog dragocene zgodovinske artefakte bom izkopaval njene korenine in jo preselil v posodo. Potem pa ...  

BONSAJSKI VIKEND

This was a ... bonsai-weekend! :-)  In Saturday me and Tomaz were wandering around in Karst and enjoyed a great nature, nice afternoon ended chatting at Valter's stone table.

Ta konec tedna je bil ... bonsajski! :-)  V soboto sva s Tomažem vandrala po Krasu in uživala v čudoviti naravi, popoldne pa zaključila z debato za kamnito mitzo pri Valterju.

Sunday was busy again. Blaz asked me for help at juniper shaping, Grega used this day for basic workshop. Grega is curious guy, he has a lot of interesting questions about bonsai, bonsaism impressed him much. Even after he did wired ALL branches on spruce.  

V nedeljo pa spet bolj delavno. Blaž me je prosil za pomoč pri oblikovanju brina, delavnico pa je izkoristil tudi Grega, ki je prišel na tečaj za začetnike. Grega je zvedav fant, ki je imel ogromno zanimivih bonsajskih vprašanj in ga je bonsajizem navdušil. In to tudi po tem, ko je moral ožičiti VSE veje in vejice na smreki.

Blaz worked on Juniperus chinensis with interesting movement and a lot of dead wood. This time we didn't go all the way with shaping, because we decided that is better to rest a tree for a while. Beside that also our time was running out ;-) . We positioned all main  branches and set a nice future for this juniper. Adrian, who came all the way from Cakovec, Croatia, was observing all together and he saw how the work in Tora is held. International students are mostly welcomed in Tora!

Blaž je delal na kitajskem brinu z zanimivim gibanjem in ogromno suhega lesa. Tokrat z oblikovanjem nisva šla do konca, ker sva ocenila, da je drevesu bolje dati nekaj počitka, poleg tega pa nama je tudi časa že zmanjkovalo ;-) . Pozicionirala sva vse glavne veje in brinu določila lepo prihodnost. Z natančnim dizajnom se bova ukvarjala kasneje. Vse skupaj je pozorno opazoval Adrian, ki je prišel na obisk iz Čakovca na Hrvaškem in spoznal način dela v Tori. Mednarodni študentje ste v Tori seveda prav tako nadvse dobrodošli!