The 5 to 10+ Year Progression Thread

grouper52

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I've been doing bonsai for about twenty years now, and am probably much better at it than I am at navigating the sort of extensive, expansive, and in depth web site that BNut has become. So I don't know if there is a general thread for old timers like me to post their long-term - 5-10+ year - progression threads. The idea occurred to me today after I posted two such progressions in response to a fellow new to bonsai who seemed like he could benefit from seeing what starter material can become with time, patience, good horticulture, good technique, and a good eye. I put two progressions on his inquiry thread, "What Difference Does It Make?", and thought I'd put a few more to start this thread. But this thread will hopefully allow all the seasoned folks here to contribute their own stylistic outcomes for the new folks to learn from, and be inspired by.

I'll start with my very first tree, a Korean Boxwood I found in the sale section of a regular nursery in Memphis about twenty years ago, being brand new to bonsai after my younger brother sent me a little Schefflera as a gift. The progression spans from about 1999 for the first photo - then quite a jump a jump to 2006 for the second, then a more steady progression to 2015. Enjoy!

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grouper52

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Next, a 10 year progression - 2006 to 2016 - with an Alpine Fir. It starts with a tree I got from a regular nursery, thinking I could air layer it at an interesting knee-like bend about three feet up from the base. The best laid plans didn't amount to much, and the air layer failed ... and I then decided to just work with what had by then become a half-rotted trunk with great potential ... :). When dealt lemons ... make lemonade! Enjoy!

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grouper52

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Last, at least for me for today, a European Hornbeam progression, made from butchered-by-migrant-workers-who-had-no-idea-how-to-prune field grown pre-bonsai from a bonsai farm in Oregon. Photos span 2007 to w2015. Enjoy, and post 'em if you've got 'em!

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Brian Van Fleet

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I love your work Will, and your threadbranch Chamaecyparis pisifera is one of my favorite trees ever to hit this site. Wonder where it went. Had it been shippable and able to do well in AL, it would be in my garden!

Do you miss working with some of the conifers you had available in WA? The tropical you have now are such a change.
 

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grouper52

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I love your work Will, and your threadbranch Chamaecyparis pisifera is one of my favorite trees ever to hit this site. Wonder where it went. Had it been shippable and able to do well in AL, it would be in my garden!

Do you miss working with some of the conifers you had available in WA? The tropical you have now are such a change.

Thanks for your kind words, Brian. Dan Robinson asked to have the Threadbranch for his Elandan Gardens Collection when I left, along with a number of other trees. I'm, returning to the States - probably permanently - in about two weeks, so I'll see it and the others again.

It's interesting about the night-and-day differences between the Conifers and the Tropicals - and thanks for bringing it up.. When I just got over here seven months agoI think I posted somewhere here on BNut about not missing the Conifers at all, given the no-brainer ease of working with the Tropicals in a tropical climate ... but now, looking back over these progression threads with these mostly conifers I realise how superior their beauty is in my eyes when they turn out well. All things considered, I prefer them quite a bit ... more work and headache and uncertainty, but you get what you pay for in life, and the extra dues paid were well worth what I got from them. It'll be nice to see some of my old ones soon when I visit Dan at Elandan.

It would be great to see you post some of your progressions here, BTW!

Thanks again.
 

Cosmos

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Grouper, those progressions you posted in the thread What is the difference? are splendid and, most of all, extremely inspiring. My favourite type of progressions is from totally raw material.

Thank you for posting these and good to have you back on this side of the Pacific soon.
 

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I'm, returning to the States - probably permanently - in about two weeks, so I'll see it and the others again.
Oh no! (and yippee!) I hope all is well and things didn't go South for you in the Philippines. None of my business by the way so need to respond.
 

grouper52

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Grouper, those progressions you posted in the thread What is the difference? are splendid and, most of all, extremely inspiring. My favourite type of progressions is from totally raw material.

Thank you for posting these and good to have you back on this side of the Pacific soon.

Thanks, Cosmos. I think I'll re-post those progressions from the other thread over here tomorrow just to flesh out the idea a bit more here, but I sure hope others have kept such photographic records of their trees' progressions and can diversify the progression artist count at least a wee bit soon ... It would sure make this thread a great central location to give newbies some idea what's possible over time, and perhaps how to go about it :)
 

Brian Van Fleet

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It would be great to see you post some of your progressions here, BTW!
Here is a 16-year progression. Japanese Maple, Chishio Improved from Gary Wood. Starting in the ground in 2002, every couple years up to 3rd US National Bonsai Exhibition in 2012, and every couple years after. Last 2 are 2018.
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grouper52

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How about a 8-year(?) progression on a ROR trident maple. Attached in maybe 2010, all the way up to 2018.

Great work, Brian, on both these trees. Once again, I think folks here who are just getting started - and even us more experienced folks - can get a great deal of inspiration and education to see how it's done, and the sort of transformation they can make with even questionable-looking starter material from all sorts of sources.

I hope many others - if they (or their computers) kept a photographic record of such progressions, will post them here on this thread for the edification of newer folks. Thanks, Brian, for posting, and thanks in advance to any others who do so.
 

Brian Van Fleet

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Hawthorn I found and chopped in 1999, then collected in 2000.
The earliest photo is from 2000, then about 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010. This tree went on to win the ABS John Naka award in 2012, and to the 4th USNBE in 2014. After this show, it underwent serious work.
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grouper52

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I'll keep drip, drip, dripping these old progressions until they're all done. I certainly hope others will do so as well, and that newbies and such who might benefit from studying these progressions will be drawn or directed here over time.

A Japanese Larch, which I believe originally from John Hinds as part a half dozen or so he had raised and then sold to Dan Robinson to sell at Elandan Gardens, where I acquired it. The progression goes from 2007 to 2015. One of my all-time favourite trees to work with and look at, BTW - enjoy!

jl-i.jpg jl2.jpg JL-W-07.jpg JLarch-09Spring-HDR.jpg JLarchHDR.jpg J-Larch-Spring-12.jpg J.Larch.jpg
 
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@Brian Van Fleet Thank you for sharing this progression!

Quick question, in some of the photos of your maple it looks like the tree might have been a graft (maybe it's just the part of the trunk that gets he most light?)? if it is a graft, it is great to see (in your second last photo, for example) that this can be healed so beautifully albeit over the span of 16 years
 

petegreg

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I'll keep drip, drip, dripping these old progressions until they're all done. I certainly hope others will do so as well, and that newbies and such who might benefit from studying these progressions will be drawn or directed here over time.

A Japanese Larch, which I believe originally from John Hinds as part a half dozen or so he had raised and then sold to Dan Robinson to sell at Elandan Gardens, where I acquired it. The progression goes from 2007 to 2015. One of my all-time favourite trees to work with and look at, BTW - enjoy!

View attachment 211484 View attachment 211485 View attachment 211486 View attachment 211487 View attachment 211488 View attachment 211489 View attachment 211490
What a beauty! Thanks for posting these.
 
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