Weekly Meeting - Corin Tomlinson

15 August 2019 Bonsai demonstration – Corin Tomlinson

Our speaker on the evening, Corin, brought along a number of examples of his craft, displaying them on each of our tables: White Pine; Crab apple; Hawthorn, needle Juniper and Acer Maple. He had the Cub spellbound as he transformed an ordinary £35 garden centre shrub into a very fine oriental Bonsai tree, dramatically cutting and trimming the root system, trimming with his fingers, deciding which would be the front, giving it an interesting tilt, repotting in an appropriate Bonsai pot and adding some gravel to finish it off.

The speed of his scissor trimming of the shrubs amazed even Jane our joint President hairdresser, or was it the thought of another side-line for her? After all he did say some of the trees were quite expensive, having one in his collection at £8k and explaining that he had witnessed at a Japanese Bonsai convention that he had attended one specimen that went for a million dollars!

Corin trimmed, bent twisted and fixed the branches into place with various gauges of wire with such dexterity to form a very artistic looking tree, which I think everyone in the room desired to own by the end of his demonstration.

Whilst Corin made it look easy, the skill obviously came from his many years of academic Horticultural study in the UK and four years spent in specialist Bonsai experience in the USA.

It was a very humorous talk by Corin, that both informed and entertained at the same time.

I heard many members say they would like to attend one of his Bonsai tuition days at his Greenwood Bonsai Studio, NG5 8PR www.bonsai.co.uk, and also attend the open W/E 7th 8th Sep 2019.

It was a pleasure to propose a vote of thanks to such an accomplished speaker.                   Doug Downing