AMERICAN ELM

MACH5

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This is an American elm (Ulmus americana). I had worked this tree previously with Doug (@jimib) at a workshop that @JudyB hosted at her place in late 2018. This is wild collected material with a simple character, maturing bark with sharis and other "imperfections" that gave this tree a nice natural feel. I worked the tree with Doug as an informal upright making some decisions and establishing a general structure. Many thanks to Doug for his generosity as he gifted me this tree at the end of the workshop!

I kept the tree for a year without doing much to it. As is typical with Ulmus, American elms grow vigorously and bud back readily. So they can be developed as bonsai fairly quickly. Earlier this year and before bud brake, I started to think what else could be done to this elm in order to bring out more of its character. Somehow in this process I decided to commit to a more asymmetrical design and plant the tree on a slab instead. As the tree grew this year, I pruned and roughly wired it to have a decidedly right lean to it. After leaf fall, it was pruned once more and lightly wired to further develop and refine what I had envisioned.

This is the tree last March. The trunk line on the selected front had a nice subtle movement to the right with a good flare at the base. But I felt I could tease out more out of this material.

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November 2020. Beautiful clear yellow fall color typical of elms. Although it has a good flared base, it lacks a good nebari. In fact is mostly non existent except one large heavy root on the right and a small one to the back. I plan on grafting some roots in the future.

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Winter image. The slab used is a Japanese Kurama stone. The heavier branches on its right were further brought down and the lean towards the right was emphasized with some pruning and wiring. Next year the tree will be shifted a bit more to the left and probably add a few small plants to complete the image. Not too bad for just two years in development!

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MrWunderful

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Great composition as always, love the directionality between the main branch and the Asymmetry of the slab.
 

Mikecheck123

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This is an American elm (Ulmus americana). I had worked this tree previously with Doug (@jimib) at a workshop that @JudyB hosted at her place in late 2018. This is wild collected material with a simple character, maturing bark with sharis and other "imperfections" that gave this tree a nice natural feel. I worked the tree with Doug as an informal upright making some decisions and establishing a general structure. Many thanks to Doug for his generosity as he gifted me this tree at the end of the workshop!

I kept the tree for a year without doing much to it. As is typical with Ulmus, American elms grow vigorously and bud back readily. So they can be developed as bonsai fairly quickly. Earlier this year and before bud brake, I started to think what else could be done to this elm in order to bring out more of its character. Somehow in this process I decided to commit to a more asymmetrical design and plant the tree on a slab instead. As the tree grew this year, I pruned and roughly wired it to have a decidedly right lean to it. After leaf fall, it was pruned once more and lightly wired to further develop and refine what I had envisioned.

This is the tree last March. The trunk line on the selected front had a nice subtle movement to the right with a good flare at the base. But I felt I could tease out more out of this material.

View attachment 341584




November 2020. Beautiful clear yellow fall color typical of elms. Although it has a good flared base, it lacks a good nebari. In fact is mostly non existent except one large heavy root on the right and a small one to the back. I plan on grafting some roots in the future.

View attachment 341593




Winter image. The slab used is a Japanese Kurama stone. The heavier branches on its right were further brought down and the lean towards the right was emphasized with some pruning and wiring. Next year the tree will be shifted a bit more to the left and probably add a few small plants to complete the image. Not too bad for just two years in development!

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Great tree, even better timing on that fall shot!
 

HorseloverFat

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Mmmm! VERY tasty por mis ojos!

The “mounds” around the visual “horizon” the substrate/base line, (higher:left, lower-plateau:directly right of Ulmus and higher: further right) are COMPLETELY in coordination with NOT ONLY matching visual points on drop-branches, but also the “edge” focal points of the slab itself!

A very delicate and perfectly executed balance.
🤓
 

MACH5

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Mmmm! VERY tasty por mis ojos!

The “mounds” around the visual “horizon” the substrate/base line, (higher:left, lower-plateau:directly right of Ulmus and higher: further right) are COMPLETELY in coordination with NOT ONLY matching visual points on drop-branches, but also the “edge” focal points of the slab itself!

A very delicate and perfectly executed balance.
🤓


Thanks @HorseloverFat! You have a sensitive and observant eye!
 

MACH5

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Very nice! Is that rock or iron ore? Here on the Chesapeake Bay I usually pick up odd looking pieces of iron ore on the shoreline with hopes of using them one day for rock plantings.


The Kurama stones are found in the northern region of Kyoto, Japan. Not completely sure but these stones are not iron ore. They are more closely related to granite. However, I suppose you could use iron ore for bonsai?
 

MACH5

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SERIOUSLY, you need to start a YouTube channel detailing this work.

Thanks Gary! The thought has crossed my mind. There are so many doing this already that I fear becoming yet another one in a sea of bonsai YouTubers. It is a lot of work and would need some real commitment and of course time. But perhaps one day Gary :)
 

BobbyLane

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I was saying to @ConorDash the other day, that Mach's work reminds me of Ryan neils work. the attention to detail, the style, the creativity and aesthetic is all on a similar level. Mach doesnt really need to do any videos, if you want to produce work at this high level of artistry just watch Ryan in my humble opinion.

ps i dont mean watch Ryan's personality traits, spend more time watching and studying his work;)
 

Gary McCarthy

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Thanks Gary! The thought has crossed my mind. There are so many doing this already that I fear becoming yet another one in a sea of bonsai YouTubers. It is a lot of work and would need some real commitment and of course time. But perhaps one day Gary :)
That's true but, the others out there are not specializing in deciduous trees like you do.

AND, even the others out there doing YouTube videos look up to your deciduous work.
 

JudyB

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I agree with putting some other plants into the composition, I think that something fern like would really be great. Glad to see this tree going places! Yes to the videos, I would def. subscribe to that. And @BobbyLane I do not think that you can say that just because Ryan Neil has good trees and Sergio has good trees that they do not have different things we can learn from them at all. Everyone has differing methods and certainly these two have completely different backgrounds, and also far different climates than each other, which is huge when speaking of developmental techniques.
 

BobbyLane

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I agree with putting some other plants into the composition, I think that something fern like would really be great. Glad to see this tree going places! Yes to the videos, I would def. subscribe to that. And @BobbyLane I do not think that you can say that just because Ryan Neil has good trees and Sergio has good trees that they do not have different things we can learn from them at all. Everyone has differing methods and certainly these two have completely different backgrounds, and also far different climates than each other, which is huge when speaking of developmental techniques.

Hi Judy, yes i would subscribe to it too, i love Mach's deciduous work. the pictures tell the story for me.

I think its much deeper than just having good trees. there is a reason why that branch goes here and this one goes there, or why that twig dips and this one rises. why there is a low branch here and a high branch there. why is it best to lean this tree to the right and that one to the left. why did you begin styling the tree from this branch here and then arranged every other branch so that they follow the pattern of the first one etc etc etc. Ryan goes over this type of thing with a fine toothcomb and is good at it. I see this same attention in Mach's work, its not by chance that this branch ended up here, everything has meaning.

I agree it would be cool to hear Mach speak about the whys and hows in a video format. i also understand why that would be a lot of work and time consuming. Just by by seeing some of Ryan's stuff.
 

Paulpash

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Thanks Gary! The thought has crossed my mind. There are so many doing this already that I fear becoming yet another one in a sea of bonsai YouTubers. It is a lot of work and would need some real commitment and of course time. But perhaps one day Gary :)
But remember Serge, quality always raises to the top.... 👍👍
 

jimib

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I’d definitely watch those videos. The progress of that elm in just a couple of years is incredible Sergio....thanks for sharing
 

MACH5

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That's true but, the others out there are not specializing in deciduous trees like you do.

AND, even the others out there doing YouTube videos look up to your deciduous work.
I agree with putting some other plants into the composition, I think that something fern like would really be great. Glad to see this tree going places! Yes to the videos, I would def. subscribe to that. And @BobbyLane I do not think that you can say that just because Ryan Neil has good trees and Sergio has good trees that they do not have different things we can learn from them at all. Everyone has differing methods and certainly these two have completely different backgrounds, and also far different climates than each other, which is huge when speaking of developmental techniques.
But remember Serge, quality always raises to the top.... 👍👍
Hi Judy, yes i would subscribe to it too, i love Mach's deciduous work. the pictures tell the story for me.

I think its much deeper than just having good trees. there is a reason why that branch goes here and this one goes there, or why that twig dips and this one rises. why there is a low branch here and a high branch there. why is it best to lean this tree to the right and that one to the left. why did you begin styling the tree from this branch here and then arranged every other branch so that they follow the pattern of the first one etc etc etc. Ryan goes over this type of thing with a fine toothcomb and is good at it. I see this same attention in Mach's work, its not by chance that this branch ended up here, everything has meaning.

I agree it would be cool to hear Mach speak about the whys and hows in a video format. i also understand why that would be a lot of work and time consuming. Just by by seeing some of Ryan's stuff.

Thank you guys. I really appreciate the kind words and support from my fellow BNuts! 🙏


I’d definitely watch those videos. The progress of that elm in just a couple of years is incredible Sergio....thanks for sharing

Of course Doug, and once again many thanks to you for the generous gift! I look forward to keep developing your tree in the coming years.
 

PiñonJ

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This is an American elm (Ulmus americana). I had worked this tree previously with Doug (@jimib) at a workshop that @JudyB hosted at her place in late 2018. This is wild collected material with a simple character, maturing bark with sharis and other "imperfections" that gave this tree a nice natural feel. I worked the tree with Doug as an informal upright making some decisions and establishing a general structure. Many thanks to Doug for his generosity as he gifted me this tree at the end of the workshop!

I kept the tree for a year without doing much to it. As is typical with Ulmus, American elms grow vigorously and bud back readily. So they can be developed as bonsai fairly quickly. Earlier this year and before bud brake, I started to think what else could be done to this elm in order to bring out more of its character. Somehow in this process I decided to commit to a more asymmetrical design and plant the tree on a slab instead. As the tree grew this year, I pruned and roughly wired it to have a decidedly right lean to it. After leaf fall, it was pruned once more and lightly wired to further develop and refine what I had envisioned.

This is the tree last March. The trunk line on the selected front had a nice subtle movement to the right with a good flare at the base. But I felt I could tease out more out of this material.

View attachment 341584




November 2020. Beautiful clear yellow fall color typical of elms. Although it has a good flared base, it lacks a good nebari. In fact is mostly non existent except one large heavy root on the right and a small one to the back. I plan on grafting some roots in the future.

View attachment 341593




Winter image. The slab used is a Japanese Kurama stone. The heavier branches on its right were further brought down and the lean towards the right was emphasized with some pruning and wiring. Next year the tree will be shifted a bit more to the left and probably add a few small plants to complete the image. Not too bad for just two years in development!

View attachment 341594

View attachment 341595

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View attachment 341598
Beautiful evolution of the silhouette!
 
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