Progress on Cedar elm and Ginkgo...and my dog

I took a couple pictures today of my Ginkgo and one of my Cedar elms. I've had them both for awhile now, and have been making slow and steady progress in my opinion. I dug up the Cedar elm in late winter of 2008, cut it down to size a year later, and have been working on the branches since then. It had a setback last April when I applied neem oil and it lost most of its leaves and fine branches. It bounced back and is growing strongly this year. If it doesn't get full sun, the leaves are too big and internodes are too long, so it goes in the sunniest spot in my yard. I've had the Ginkgo since 2009 I think, but the earliest picture I have is from 2011. I post this tree too much, but I don't have a whole ton of trees, and most of them are in mesh sided containers, so here is the Ginkgo again! I got to upload one extra picture, so here is my sweet Bonsai helper named Oakley making her internet debut. Thanks for looking!

edit: I forgot to mention that I have mesh covering the Cedar elm pot to keep the squirrels out. It works!

-Ross

Awww. How long have you had Oakley? She looks like a sweetie.

Your cedar elm looks great. That's quite a progression. It does not even look like the same tree. That's the beauty of trees like cedar elms: incredible growth and development rates!

I love to see dog bonsai companions. Here is mine. Adopted from the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan where I am the President of the Board of Directors.

Excellent progress on the elm. I would not have thought that possible from the first pic. My only criticism is that is you want it to look like an elm, the top should be rounded, not pointy, like a pine.

I won't comment on the ginkgo other than to say its leaves are a bit large. I have no use for ginkgo as a tree or a bonsai.

The pup look like a good, friendly companion.

Dogs as companion plants, very nice concept!

I too am amazed at the amount of great growing between the first 2 pics, good work for 6 years. Ginkgos are cool in the fall, you gotta give em that anyway...

Don Blackmond said:

Your cedar elm looks great. That's quite a progression. It does not even look like the same tree. That's the beauty of trees like cedar elms: incredible growth and development rates!

I love to see dog bonsai companions. Here is mine. Adopted from the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan where I am the President of the Board of Directors.

Click to expand...

He looks like he's serious about his job guarding your trees.

The elm is very nice. The ginko I cant comment on, I dont know much about them.

I have 3 dogs that share my bonsai yard. Its really the dogs yard, I just put my trees there.
The only problem Im having is with a new tree area I just made. Its 8'x8'a rail road ties in a square filled with a cubic yard of gravel. I had to level the soil, make sure the RR ties were all square, put weed cloth down and wheel barrow the gravel in from the front yard where we had it dumped on delivery. I put 2 8'x2' benches in there and have to level them before I can move some trees in. It was a of work and a pretty penny to make. The problem is they all seem to think it is their personal litter box... I mean really...they have and 80' x 40' yard and they HAVE to go in my 8'x8' spot?! What is up with that?!

Thanks for the comments on the elm guys. I think my girlfriend is the only person who has really looked at it before as it's never been out of my yard, so I'm glad y'all think it's progressing ok. Jim, I think you're right about the top needing to be more rounded, and hopefully I can get some more fine branching up there and cut back to a new leader as it fills in a bit. The Ginkgo is what it is. It won't ever really look like a tree, and this variety has big leaves as Jim pointed out. That being said, I think Ginkgo's are weird and cool, and I'm gonna stick this one in a dark brown or cream glazed pot next year and just enjoy it for the colors really. As for Oakley, she's about 3 years old now and is sweet as can be unless you are a squirrel, bird, mouse, or small possum. She has an amazing little sniffer, and when she gets on a scent she'll track it all around the yard. She treed a couple raccoons a month ago, and I had to pull her little butt inside because she wouldn't stop howling at them at 2am.

Don Blackmond said:

Your cedar elm looks great. That's quite a progression. It does not even look like the same tree. That's the beauty of trees like cedar elms: incredible growth and development rates!

I love to see dog bonsai companions. Here is mine. Adopted from the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan where I am the President of the Board of Directors.

Click to expand...

The dog is cool but show us some more of those cypress trees!