Bonsai Art » Full Size Trees

Giant Oak Photo

Adam — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:07:39 +0000

Who said that I love oaks? I suppose I might have mentioned it now and again…

Here’s a picture I took in August 2007, at the National Botanic Gardens Of Wales which is near Carmarthen. The oak itself is huge and must have been around for hundreds of years.

Ystradfellte Waterfalls – Untouched by Man

Adam — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 13:13:11 +0000

I live quite close to Ystradfellte Waterfalls, known to a lot of people as Glyn-Neath Waterfalls. It is part of the Brecon Beacons National Park and is therefore protected from development. There are some clumps of planted forestry here and there but the interesting part is the natural woodland that surrounds the falls. It is made up mainly of oaks, hazels and birches. All that is very normal until you see the sizes and shapes of them. They grow in such harsh conditions they are forced to curl in every different direction just to hang onto the cliffs they are growing on.

Most of the trees are covered in moss and lichen and some even have ferns growing out of the trunks. Just as Porth-yr-Ogof it is like stepping back in time and a refreshing experience to daily life. Even the ferns I was looking at look like they have been there for many many years. They are common ferns but have been around so long they are turning into tree ferns. It makes me think that they have been there 50-100 years which is enough time to grow 10 inches tall.

Here is one tree I spotted which is an English Oak clinging perilously close to the cliff edge.

Below is detail of what every branch looks like on the trees there

Hidden Valley of Porth-Yr-Ogof

Adam — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:09:58 +0000

We went to Porth-Yr-Ogof yesterday to do a spot of caving. For those who don’t know, it is a very large cave system in Wales which contains the largest unsupported cavern in Europe and 2 miles of tunnels. The valley around the cave is like something out of Jurassic park. It contains a lot of strange looking trees covered in moss.

Here is one hawthorn I spotted which looks like it’s been around for quite some time. Most of the tree was dead wood but it was still struggling onward with a few leafy branches here and there.

It was a great trip and I can’t wait to go again. The trees growing in the valley were just what you’d expect to be covering the whole of Britain when it was rain forest before man came along.

I also found a seedling trying to grow in the cave itself. It was pitch black, growing in a place which regularly floods and had no hope whatsoever. Yet it was growing boldly on and had even developed two leaves. It just shows natures’ ability to fight against the odds.

Pic of the Day – Leafy Oak

Adam — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:36:05 +0000

Here is a photo of a very large oak tree near my house. It is leafing all over at the moment trying to decide where to grow it’s next branches from.

Wild Trees for Inspiration

Adam — Mon, 28 May 2007 18:51:54 +0000

Inspiration can come from many places but I feel the best place for it is from natural trees in the wilds. Trees can become very twisted on their own without human interference. Many people who make bonsai want them to look natural and the best places to see exactly what they should look like are full sized trees. Read on for photos.

Naturally Twisted Trunk

Cascading Hawthorn

Struggling to hang on to the cliff face

Just by looking at the trees around us while you are out walking you can gain great inspiration. All the photos above were taken in a single valley in the Brecon Beacons. It shows us the hostile environment that they live in and how well they can survive by adapting. Trees in hostile environments like the mountains are often much older than that in lowland because of the short growing season.

Gigantic multi-trunk tree

Adam — Thu, 03 May 2007 09:48:02 +0000

This morning I spotted a fantastic tree which goes to show you can have a great looking tree with many trunks. I think it is a cypress, that’s my guess anyway. See below.