mossing about

 

Following on from the last post about the Hinoki today (new years day) has been a beautiful sunny day so I got up on the roof to collect moss to get the tree ready for the Noelanders show.

Here are the stages I use to keep the humidity up and to keep the moss in perfect condition over the travelling, setting up and the show itself.

 

First out comes the blender (not Mandies one !)

 

then add fresh sphagnum moss and chop until it is nice and fine

 

 

Next add some water to make a moss soup. If you have used dried moss this needs to sit and soak for quite a few hours but if you used fresh moss there is no need to wait.

 

Now it is time to cover the bonsai soil with a layer of the soup - the water drains through leaving a nice even layer of chopped moss. This gives a perfect underlayer to add the surface moss.

 

 

 

Now its time to get creative - I decided to go for a fully mossed surface rather than patches but tried to use different colours, textures and species to create interest

 

 

Final job is to put a net over to stop the birds undoing all the work.