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I put a 3 year old little nursery scots in the ground at my old house 7 years ago (so yes that means it's 10 years old). My kids nicked it a few times with the lawnmower so it has a barkless scar at its base. We moved 5 years ago in October and I transplanted it ground-to-ground to the current...

Semi-cascade. That style jumped right out at me.

Neither. This is a seedling grown from a local nursery. Here are some current pics. Man is it ever hard to properly capture trees in photos! When I chopped and wired, I drove a metal stake in the ground and used it to create some bend in the main trunk. I wired the branches for wiggle and to...

I have a Scots pine that I purchased at a local nursery as a 3-5 year old seedling about 4 years ago. It went directly into the ground at my old house, stayed there for a year, and when we moved it came with me - transplanted ground-to-ground in October (I didn't have any choice). It took a...

I have a spare copy of Colin Lewis' "Bonsai Survival Manual" that you can have if you pay for shipping. PM me if interested.

Sorce - I believe the original comment was to remove downward "facing" foliage. To be fair, you can do a lot of that and not have to remove any branches. I agree with your overall philosophy though.

I noticed an interesting wiring detail on another thread and thought I'd share my technique for creating a guy line anchor point on a trunk. In this case I'm attempting to put a gradual trunk bend on a tall picea. I was able to use a tubing protected wire collar at the base with no danger of...

I'm having a fun time reading about Japanese bonsai technique for flowering quince in old (1950s-70s era) guidebooks. They have such a perfunctory and methodical approach: "In Japan, flowering quince are grown in ground for two years to develop a large stem, root-pruned to encourage rooting...

I can't speak for others, and I'm really just a newbie myself. Personally I have an artistic talent, so hand sketches are easy for me. It's a great way to try out different ideas. I use a roll of trace paper, which also works nicely if you want to take a photo of a tree and sketch over it. As...

I was thinking the same thing. It's not going to hurt anything to let it leaf out this season and make a judgement later. Thanks on the virt. Photoshop is fun.

I'm not prepared to get too cocky about it but it is encouraging.

Any idea how long the death might take? I tented right after posting - it's been almost a month and not only is there no turgidity or dessication yet. In fact, there has been an explosion of more growth.

I wasn't smart enough to make sure I had a "before" image of this, sorry. I got this guy last spring and made a sketch in June. The seller suggested to chop it way low and grow it out, but I kept this sketch at my desk and looked at it for a few months (as well as looking at the tree). I...

What a bummer brigade. Thanks for the input. I will try a tent but am resigned to watch my trig wither and die. BAH HUMBUG!! :)

No, not that kind. I live in a 'dry' state still. I'm talking about sprouts on my first air layer attempt. I decided to try it on an apple tree from my back yard. I girdled a select branch in the spring but by late summer it had only produced a bunch of root nodes, no actual roots. However the...

All of my junipers have started to change color. This is the first time I've seen this in my trees. It's really cool actually.

that is super cool!

As purchased - one of a pair of Star Power Junipers from a local garden center. I have been wanting some interesting material to do a single/pair/forest of foemina. Since foemina are tough to come by in my area, especially in this size, I jumped on these. $45 each. I've been practicing...

That's because I'm a stupid loser and got the strain name wrong. It's 'Star Power" which is pretty hippy dippy. It's a variant of the blue varieties and has a vigorous upright growth pattern. Perfect for what I want.

I bought a smaller foemina pre-bonsai this week with plans for a tall literati styling eventually. After work I stopped by a local nursery and they had five large three gallon needle juniper type trees listed as 'star power' junipers. At 4 feet tall and $40 each I couldn't resist. They are...

Architect. I live in Minnesota and specialize in ice arenas. Go figure. Nobody I know in my daily life does bonsai other than me. I travel one or two days at a time 15-20 times a year. Our practice is expanding nationally so I expect that to increase.

Because the tree was again healthy after losing its apex and I was pinching for density, I let them grow to maybe 6-8 pairs of leaves before cutting back to 2.

That's because I've been cutting them back to promote a thicker canopy. If I choose to let a runner go it will be graft length in no time.

I like that idea. I have never had suckers grow on this tree in the three years I've had it, and only 3-4 minor backbud locations. I will see what happens if I give it some room for roots. Thanks!