A Crape Myrtle Project

[johng]

I snapped this photo this afternoon...

 

[Waldo Street Pottery]

Man, I love, love LOVE this tree. It's so much of what I aspire to in bonsai. Thanks for sharing John, and thanks for letting me see it in person a time or two.

 

[johng]

Man, I love, love LOVE this tree. It's so much of what I aspire to in bonsai. Thanks for sharing John, and thanks for letting me see it in person a time or two.

Thank you sir! I just acquired 6 more that make this one look small...what the hell am i doing???

B&b with 300# root balls...I think I have lost my mind!

 

[barrosinc]

B&b with 300#

what does that mean? B&B gives results of bed and breakfast and the 300# shows nothing useful in that statement.

The trunk kinda gives the impression of a bald cypress, and the autumn colors are spectacular. I hope this flowers some day.

 

[sorce]

Balled and burlapped.

300 lbs.

Sorce

colors

 

[barrosinc]

Thanks Sorce.

And the picture makes the trunk look sooo much better this time that in the december 2014 pic.

 

[Waldo Street Pottery]

Thank you sir! I just acquired 6 more that make this one look small...what the hell am i doing???

B&b with 300# root balls...I think I have lost my mind!

You are doing what you love, what you are great at and providing yourself with many years of this enjoyment! That is what I call a good life... Easy on that back though!

 

[johng]

Thanks Sorce.

And the picture makes the trunk look sooo much better this time that in the december 2014 pic.

It was wet this time...seems to make the nice qualities of exfoliating bark stand out even more.

 

[LanceMac10]

Yep...this tree is telling me it's fall. Actually, more like screaming!!!!
Beautiful tree, though that bottom branch on the viewers left looks a bit small for it's location.
Super photo and thanks for sharing!!

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Love it. I think I like bark and autumn leaf color more than the flowers.

 

[Dav4]

Thank you sir! I just acquired 6 more that make this one look small...what the hell am i doing???

B&b with 300# root balls...I think I have lost my mind!

I smell a new rock planting or forest in the works.

This is a great tree. The tapered trunk with the exfoliating bark is really amazing.

 

[just.wing.it]

Any new pics of this beast, John?
Was just looking at your video of it on YouTube.
What an awesome example of how it's done.

 

[Lazylightningny]

@johng How about an update on this guy, John?

 

[sorce]

I smell a new rock planting or forest in the works

Lol! Was this before we saw those new 6 monsters?

@johng @markyscott @Adair M and @M. Frary stand around perplexed at where to pick it up....
And call @Don Blackmond to bring the tractor!

At that point.....
We are better off attempting to shrink John!
That's a huge forest!

Sorce

 

[VAFisher]

Oh man, I've never seen this thread before today. What a cool tree. Probably the best crape myrtle bonsai I've seen. That fall color pic is awesome!

 

[c54fun]

I had no idea a crape myrtle could look this good let alone "great" Well done. Need to look for one now. They grow awesome here in Dallas.

 

[just.wing.it]

Oh man, I've never seen this thread before today. What a cool tree. Probably the best crape myrtle bonsai I've seen. That fall color pic is awesome!

Same... that's why we all want to see it!
John is slow rolling us...

 

[johng]

Sorry guys...no pics right now but I will say the tree has changed very little since that last photo. The tree remains one of the favorite of most visitors to the garden. It is the other 6 that are developing like gangbusters in the last 18 months that I should be showing you...but alas you may need patience until they get nekkid to really see what has been growing. I have pretty high expectations for the results after wiring this winter.

 

[SU2]

Thanks for posting that is an awesome find, I can't believe it was just left-behind like that!! But yeah there was some great potential there and you did excellent with it, can't wait til the next update pics

 

[SU2]

Thanks a ton for sharing, have saved every photo in one of my 'progression series' folders (crepes are one of my favorites!!

I know this is history now but have a question for you from this tree's beginning (I've got a large yamadori crepe right now that's just got <1' shoots! ), you said:

This pic is from about 2 weeks ago...the new growth has already extend to nearly 2 ft and new buds continue to emerge. To make sure that the large wounds began their covering process effectively I used cut paste on the edges of all the large wounds...the wounds have already begun to cover...I suspect that in 2-3 years with some vigorous growth they will completely cover over.

Can you elaborate on this 'completely cover over' of wounds? Do you mean bark would form somehow? I thought that, once the cambial layer is removed, that spot is dead and you'd only ever have deadwood there... any elaboration you care to provide would be incredibly appreciated, I've just purchased wood-working grinders and am starting to practice on topiary trees in my yard, am planning to do one of my bonsai soon - I wasn't even aware you could 'heal over' an area that'd been de-barked (well, not an area of any real size - obviously a nick in the tree would get scabbed and have a cambial layer over it once more)

Because most (almost all) of my trees are yamadori, and most quite large, I've got a ton of areas where it's a situation of ~1" wide branch that's been lopped-off and has new shoots growing, I figured that - when those shoots were thick enough - that I'd be using my grinder to 'smooth out' the taper difference between the 1" branch I'd cut when collecting the yamadori and the new growth on it...I'd been thinking that these areas would become deadwood, and had been racking my brain trying to think of how to do anything aesthetically pleasing when I've gotta have deadwood 'caps' at the intersections of old/new growth!

Thanks again for posting and, damn, what a lucky / awesome find that was, and what you did with it was just 100% perfect!!