It has been a while since my last update regarding my Bonsai journey. Let's take this back, 3 years to my last bonsai post: http://jameswashington.co.uk/bonsai-update/

My last post discussed my collection, the art, balance, and style of Bonsai, and my journey into it all.  Let's recap after three years of growth.‌

Tree Collection

In the last three years, my tree collection has grown significantly:

• I have a mixed forest planting consisting of four Japanese Larch and a single European Larch,
• A Japanese White Pine,
• an Itogawa Juniper (which is not particularly doing well),
• Many Silver Birch saplings,
• A Satsuki Azalea,
• A Katsura Japanese Maple.
• A Chinese Elm.

I love the colours these different trees bring to my garden. Although it looks unkempt, there are too many plants for such a small space.

I won't be getting any more trees for the foreseeable future, however, I do have plans for the ones that are now in my possession.

The Forest Planting

The forest planting has already started training, wiring mainly, but I have an idea that is rather unorthodox: movement, but not in the usual way.

In Bonsai, movement provides the illusion of age but also mystery. Mystery that encompasses the life of the tree. Mystery allows the mind to wander, to dream, to question and visualise how a tree came to be, what it has endured, but specifically in this particular case: what this group of trees has endured.

As I said above, the forest planting is made up of two different types of Larch:

1. Four Japanese Larch: these have a much darker and deeper green foliage.
2. A single European Larch: the foliage is a much more vibrant shade of green, almost a luminous highlighter green.

My idea for this forest planting is born from a much more human affliction, the human capacity for exclusion or, more importantly, aversion to difference. I did say this was unorthodox.

I aim to make the Japanese Larches look like they grew away from the odd one, out of malice, even though they are all Larches. But in the end, force them all to grow in the same direction, eventually and upwards, signifying unity in a common goal that every tree has: to grow towards the light.

The Game Of Patience

Again, going back to my original post, I detailed my plans for the refinement of one of my Maples.

The last three years have shown a massive improvement. The original shape was asymmetrical, with a leading branch heading off towards the left of the main trunk, and away from what I chose as the front of the tree. You can see it in the image I uploaded in the original post.

Removing this branch was the beginning of the refinement. It forces your eyes to focus on the bulk of the tree, the trunk, and the main branches.

The main plan was to bring the remaining branches down to build pads of leaves. Honestly, I was scared to do this because, whilst this Maple wasn't expensive, I had grown attached to it. That fear became reality.

This is where patience pays off, but also decisions made from a place of calm, not excitement. This was the first lesson I learnt, and I learnt it quickly: do not rush into it, make one set of changes at a time.

After three years of patient care, bending, refining, pruning, and allowing the regrowth of lower-level branches, a somewhat smaller pot. This is where this tree is at today.

To follow up, I commissioned a Bonsai pot from Springwood Ceramics for this tree. I have a vision in my mind's eye, and I feel like that vision is morphing into reality. The pot this tree is now in was originally purchased for this planting, but as you can see, it is not the best fit in terms of size.

The new pot is oval in shape, 54cm across at its widest point, 8cm tall internally. It's glazed in a turquoise blue, and it looks amazing. I love the contrast in colours, the dark red tones of the leaves, and the stunning blue glaze will bring lasting beauty and serenity to my garden for years to come.

There are still a lot of changes I want to make to this tree, reducing leaf size, increasing ramification, building out the lower branches, potting back and into an appropriately sized pot, which is most important now as we're headed towards summer.

Hopefully, you, the reader, can see what I see in this tree now and why I'm so attached to it.

Paying It Off

I wanted to conclude this blog with some shared experience. My parents always told me that "the best things in life come to those who wait" - thanks, Mum and Dad. However, my understanding of this has changed over the last few years.

I think the best things in life come to those who make careful, deliberate decisions - decisions born from patience. Not just waiting. Not rushing. But patient, deliberate decisions.

Bonsai is not just an art form for me, it's a release, it's deep contemplation, reflection, it's acknowledging that life is not easy even for trees, it's grounding oneself back into nature and nurture, because for the tree to survive, you have to provide.

It's symbiotic.

As promised I wanted to provide an update on my Bonsai endeavors. All of my trees at the moment are dormant for winter, which is a good thing. However, as they are all in shallow pots, I purchased a plastic greenhouse that will serve as a base to keep the trees in over the winter months; providing adequate cover from the frost.

My Bonsai

Over the last two years, I have amassed a small collection of trees. So far I have five, the majority being made up of Maples.

From left to right, my current collection consists of a single Acer Palmatum (Dissectum), two Acer Palmatum (Bloodgood), a single Acer Palmatum (Deshojo), and a single wisteria (not in the photo above). The children in the photo are mine also, Isaac (5 years old) and Aiden (2 years old).

You'll also notice my collection is heavily focused on Japanese maples. I have a weird fascination with Japanese maples which dates back to my teenage years. In fact, my parents have two of my earlier trees situated in their back garden.

Both of these maples are in large 70-litre cylindrical pots. I fully intended on taking these with me when I moved out over a decade ago, however they are extremely heavy due to the amount of soil that each pot takes. Naturally, they have been left at my parent's house in the care of my Mother who no longer wants to part with them. Both trees are around 15 years old now.

Art & Balance

Although bonsai is an art form, the art is creating a miniature tree that mimics the aesthetics of a larger form; and because of this balance is essential. The balance of proportion, light, air, moisture, nutrients, etc - all have to be considered when creating a miniature tree.

I watch a lot of youtube videos on bonsai, learning from names such as Peter Chan (Herons Bonsai, UK), Corin Tomlinson (Greenwood Bonsai, UK), Ryan Neil (Bonsai Mirai, USA) and Bjorn Bjorholm (Eisei-en Bonsai, USA). I watch so much content about bonsai that my wife has created a TikTok regarding the pronunciation of the word "bonsai". It's bonn-sai not bone-zai just for reference, yes Ryan, she's talking about you...

My main goal is to learn what makes a good bonsai, whether one's opinion regarding the tree is subjective based on the material at hand - or whether one can play with the boundaries of the art form to impart some sense of self into the tree. A few videos I have watched mention the style of the bonsai master that created the tree.

Another thing I want to know, and primarily learn, is if these trees have some connection with the artist at a fundamental level and or whether they have connections with each other which drew the artist to pick them in the first place.

I want to explore the art, I'm a musician and have been playing the Guitar for around 20 years now. I don't write to please others, I write to please myself primarily. The problem for me and music is that once a piece is recorded - it's fixed to a point in time and has to be re-recorded to improve on it and is locked in time again once complete; whereas a bonsai is constantly growing and in turn, is constantly evolving - albeit over the course of numerous years and or decades.

Bonsai for me is a steep learning curve, I strive too much for perfection, perfection in technique, and in the art form. Bonsai will never be perfect, and I want to teach myself how to appreciate that but also learn patience in the process.

Styling

Typically in bonsai, maples styled in the correct way are elegant trees with grace. The canopy should be tapered in either a conical shape or loosely taking on as close to a triangular shape as possible. The Deshojo I purchased back in 2020 was already styled in such a way. However, my Bloodgood maples are raw nursery stock so have no styling whatsoever.

I've never shaped nursery stock before so I've been trying a few things.

The larger of the two Bloodgood maples had a trunk veering off toward the left-hand side. This made the tree quite large and appear juvenile, so it was the first to go. Removing this branch brought the tree back to a manageable size.

To give the tree a more natural look, most of the branches would have to be thinned out as well as shaped. We can achieve the desired shape using wire.

Natural-looking branches, or branches that give the appearance of age, have a downward angle towards the end of the branch. Usually, in nature, this is due to the weight of the branch itself and gravity pulling it down.

As you can see in the image above, the lower left branch has been pulled down. This will eventually form the first of the pad structure that is iconic in bonsai.

Because these branches are quite old now, they are extremely difficult to bend without snapping. In bonsai, there are many ways to protect a branch from the stresses of a harsh bend such as this, one of them is using a raffia wrap. This raffia wrap is soaked in water and then applied wet to the entire length of the branch: from the shoulder all the way to the end of the bend. The pressure of the raffia wrap, once dry, will keep the heartwood from snapping outright. However, it is best to slowly bend branches into shape so that they adapt and set over time.

You may also note that the lower right branch has raffia applied but has no bend, this was because it snapped during a wired attempt at bending. In order to not lose the branch, raffia was applied to help keep the branch together. This will heal over time but also means the tree will take much longer to be styled. Bonsai is a game of patience (not one of my virtues).

Eventually, the idea will be to pull more branches down to provide more pads but also set the structure of the tree.

Currently, two out of three branches have been moved into their intended positions and so far I'm happy with the result.

These trees are going to take a few years to get into shape but I'm excited that I get the chance to do this.

It's been nine months since my last post, I don't have an excuse really. I've been really busy, in some cases rushed off my feet. It doesn't really feel like nine months have passed in all fairness.

Mini Update

If you're interested, I want to share a mini update of events that have taken place over the last nine months:

• I became an engineering manager.
• My eldest is now in school and thoroughly enjoying himself.
• My youngest is now talking, albeit in truncated sentences and jumbled words.
• My wife became her own boss, in a way.
• We bought a new car, a Kia, just so we can get the boys to school and nursery.

A concise update I know, but these are what I consider important events over the last nine months - they really seem to have flown by. This seems to be happening more often, however, I will make a concerted effort to keep this up to date.

The Future Of This Blog

I have a few things I want to add to this blog. I've recently introduced myself to Bonsai and I thoroughly enjoy it, it's a nice pass time away from technology. So I'm going to be adding some photos of my trees here and blogging about the techniques I've learned and the general progression of my trees. Right now they are sitting tight in a pop-up greenhouse I purchased to prevent frost damage, so watch this space.

I have a couple of software engineering projects I'd like to complete in the next few months: a Bonsai-related app where people just getting started can find useful information, and also a data aggregation project that collects data from multiple targets and compiles it into a single return, which I've already started.

Dad,

I write to you on Christmas day, 2021. It's 2140hrs and I've had a couple of glasses of wine, which is making it a little easier to put pen to paper.

I've wanted to do this for a while, but I've been putting it off because I've been struggling to consolidate my thoughts and feelings into meaningful concise sentences; let alone paragraphs. But today I thought "why the hell not!?"...

It's been five months since you passed away, and not a day goes by where I don't think about you - I miss you dearly. I miss our random calls at odd hours in the evening to talk about nonsense whilst I wash up, or en route to grab the boys from their nursery. Mum misses you, so do Jason and Jordan; we had to have Christmas dinner at my place because it's all still rather raw. However today has been a good day, good food was had - and I cooked just enough potatoes for the eight of us - just to keep you in the loop - I do have a lot of food leftover though. It's really strange not having you around, even stranger when you're not here to help in the kitchen - I had to rely on Jason, and boy was that frustrating; I gave him one job "cut the turkey up" and I found him eating it. I wished you were here today, everyone does, it's just not the same without you.

Christmas dinner was fun though: Jason decided it was a fantastic idea to pile his plate about 4 inches deep with food, I wish I got a picture - it was quite the sight to behold; even funnier to watch him take nearly an hour to eat it all. Jordan went for seconds, Isaac and Aiden both polished off the food too. Mum seemed to enjoy herself, cleared her plate, same with Sienna. You know Mum has a dog now right? It's a ginger Labrador and he even got a plate because there was soo much food leftover. You'd love him, he's soo much like Connor it's unreal - just a little more excitable but he keeps Mum and Jordan sane and takes away the sadness.

The boys are getting bigger, Aiden is almost walking - soo, soo close now. Isaac is so perceptive and quick with anything new, you'd be incredibly proud. Both are growing up incredibly fast. Aiden was opening presents this morning, although I think I need to have a word with Santa as he made it too hard for him to open some of them. Isaac got a tonne of lego, which I've already built most of with the help of Ellie, Mum, and Jason.

Some other news you might want to read, I got Isaac out on his Bicycle the other month. Had to adjust the seat height somewhat so he could reach and operate the pedals, but he loved it. Planning on taking him out on it again tomorrow so that we can burn off some of the calories, God knows, and my gut to be fair, I need to. Isaac is almost reading too, he's picking that up really quickly. He recognizes a few words here and there, but he's getting the hang of it really fast.

Do you remember that you promised Mum a new hob and oven a while ago? Well, I decided that would make a good birthday present. Nearly two months later and it's all finally fitted and what a palaver it was - I'll save that for the next letter if you don't mind!

All in all, I think we're coping. I've put pictures of you up in my dining room - what pictures of you I could find; two in fact. One of us outside, in the family photo at my Wedding, and the other of you and Isaac cooking food on your barbeque together. Isaac doesn't really understand where you are, but he misses you too along with Aiden and Ellie.

It's been quite a long day, and if you don't mind I'm going to try and get some sleep. I don't really know how to sign this off, but if you were here to read this I'd say "Merry Christmas" and give you a hug - so I suppose that will just have to do...

All my love,

James

This is a question I get asked to answer a lot. It's not a difficult question to answer but it's more about how to answer it as there are many meanings.

What DevOps Is Not

I hear many differing views and opinions of what it actually is, here's a list of things DevOps is not:

• Deployment Pipelines
• Jenkins, Github
• A job for one person

What DevOps Is

DevOps at it's core is a culture, it's a concept that is defined by the following:

• Effective communication between developers and operations personnel
• Continuous learning and improvement