Bonsai Growing in My Yard

[grouper52]

Hi folks.

With spring here, I thought it might be a fun post to catalogue some of the trees I've planted in the ground here to thicken up and develop the nebari, trunks and main branches. They are scattered about the yard in various locations, and often now find themselves surrounded by other vegetation that intrudes on my effort to photograph them well, but I think most of the photos will at least give some impression of their attributes.

Some of these trees were planted as trees for the yard, but my wife then didn't like them and told me I could have them for my own nefarious purposes. Others, small or large, were bought or collected solely for the purpose of developing them further in the yard. Others, having once been established in bonsai pots for various lengths of time, had hit some sort of roadblock - horticulturally or aesthetically - that necessitated time in the ground. Indeed, some of them have old progression threads from back when they were in pots, and perhaps those threads will help explain why they went back in the ground.

They've been in the ground now anywhere from 3 to 10 years. Many are planted over tiles to develop the nebari. I've included the obligatory and traditional metal can in most of the photos for size reference - my apologies to those who expect me to have made this a beer can, but I've become a Pacific Northwest microbrewery snob now (when I'm not seeking my preferred aesthetic insights from absinthe or really primitive mescal - ), and a growler of local Lucille IPA just isn't a good size-reference for most folks living elsewhere . . . . but I digress, as usual.

Enjoy.

 

[grouper52]

Some more . . . .

Two shots each of these two.

 

[grouper52]

A few more:

 

[whfarro]

I like the way these maples are starting out here. Please post on a separate thread any work you do on either of these

 

[AboveBeyond]

Wow! They are all amazing trees. I have more than a dozen trees ground planted in my yard 3 years ago, so this thread gives me encouragement that patient will pay off!

 

[JudyB]

How is the Luna doing? Nice beech started there...

 

[grouper52]

I like the way these maples are starting out here. Please post on a separate thread any work you do on either of these

Will do. Anything I dig up and re-pot will either get a new thread or be posted in its previous progression thread.

It's an interesting process. What most people don't understand is that a tree put in the ground to develop really doesn't start growing a whole lot for at least five years, and until that happens it's not a very gratifying thing to do at all. Trunk thickening really depends on the unfettered growth of large whips, and these don't occur for a while while the roots are developing. Once they've grown for a few years, some people then cut them off to spur other whips to develop elsewhere on the tree, but then that process also takes a few years to bear fruit. Then there's the decision to stop the process at some point and make the tree into a bonsai, or to continue to let it grow further and become - perhaps - an even better bonsai down the road. Then there are the practicalities of one's lifespan . . .

 

[grouper52]

Wow! They are all amazing trees. I have more than a dozen trees ground planted in my yard 3 years ago, so this thread gives me encouragement that patient will pay off!

Glad you find it encouraging. Just be patient - but you already knew that, or you wouldn't have started the process.

 

[grouper52]

How is the Luna doing? Nice beech started there...

Hi Judy. You're not asking about the luma I posted here before are you, the one that looked so great in it's training pot once I dug it up? It died the next year . . . quite a sad moment.

This luma is another one I bought at the same time from Brent, and put in the ground at the same time, but it was in a much less developed stage to begin with. I just now, this past fall, cut the large whips back. I also ringed the soil around it to encourage roots in close in anticipation of digging it up in a few years, but I will proceed very cautiously one this one, having been really caught of guard with the first one. Ultimately, they are a largely unknown tree in this climate, and may just be too finicky to mess with too much, but I didn't have any way of knowing that at the time I bought them, and am finding it out the hard, hard way. Wish me luck.

 

[grouper52]

How is the Luna doing? Nice beech started there...

Ooops! Sorry Judy, I actually did NOT post the Luma - here it is.

 

[JudyB]

Ah, that is sad. As I remember it was a lovely tree. Luma, not luna... well I hope you figure them out.

 

[daygan]

Nice looking trees! It's always fun to see what you're doing

 

[M. Frary]

Love the elm!
How long have you had the Jack pine? Or I should ask will you be starting a thread for it? I have questions.

 

[grouper52]

Love the elm!
How long have you had the Jack pine? Or I should ask will you be starting a thread for it? I have questions.

I'm tempted to say I grew it from one of those crazy bonsai kits someone used to sell online that featured a few Jack pine seeds "to get you started" - LOL. Anyone here remember those things?

I acquired this nemesis at a local landscaping nursery here about a dozen years ago when I went through a rather futile Jack pine phase. I don't think I had come to this web site until after I put "Jack" in the ground years ago (he likes me to call him "Jack"), so I doubt there's any old progression thread on it, but he was, at one point, in a pot - doing poorly of course. Actually, he should have simply stayed in his pot and completed his death spiral, but I had developed by then a perverse masochistic addiction to the frustration he caused, and I wanted somehow to prolong the blessed agony by keeping him alive. At one point I was even close to marrying Jack (legal in this state), but that's another story.

Even in the ground he has done little to commend himself, of course, but I finally just trimmed off all the upper foliage this past fall in the hopes of one day merely making some little gnarly, butt-ugly conversation piece out of him - or at least putting him out of his misery trying. I don't believe it is my karma to have much affection for his species in this life, but I do at least have great compassion for all the future karmic suffering they are bringing upon themselves through their endless aggravation of the few bonsai enthusiasts who have been lured in by their apparent charms. Indeed, my compassion in this regard is so great for this little fellow that I may be moved, for the most altruistic of reasons, of course, to simply perform a mercy killing at some point. I'll start a celebratory thread for it when the time comes.

 

[M. Frary]

I'm tempted to say I grew it from one of those crazy bonsai kits someone used to sell online that featured a few Jack pine seeds "to get you started" - LOL. Anyone here remember those things?

That would be wild. Probably make you the first person ever to actually get the kit and it worked! Would put you right up there rubbing shoulders with the likes of Walter Pall as a pioneer in bonsai! Just imagine it. Japanese Maple number 1 in competition with Jack for one of the most recognizable bonsai in the world!

I acquired this nemesis at a local landscaping nursery

People plant these in their yard on purpose? For what? These are the ugliest pine trees we have here! And there are mlions.
But seriously.
1. How does it take rootwork?
2.What time of the year did you do rootwork if ever?
3. Can it be forced to backbud?
4. Will the needles reduce in size.

 

[sikadelic]

They all look awesome but I especially love the redwood grove and the hornbeams!

 

[grouper52]

People plant these in their yard on purpose? For what? These are the ugliest pine trees we have here! And there are mlions.]

Oh, ye of little faith. . . . Yes, they have been sold here at several of the more upscale nurseries. I've never seen one in anyone's yard except my own (it's true - I have no shame), but I think the appeal is the odd shape and growth habit of some of the variants. We're somewhat near Seattle here - people are into the ugly and the weird.

But seriously.
1. How does it take rootwork?
2.What time of the year did you do rootwork if ever?
3. Can it be forced to backbud?
4. Will the needles reduce in size.

Here's a thread about the one hard-earned quasi-success I've had with these things:

http://www.bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/jack-pine-cascade.8005/

It lost a few more live branchlets over the past winter - not that that's a bad thing, you understand . . . . I may re-photo it later today if the spirit moves me.

1. It handles root work OK, but I'm fairly good at that, having said for years when I was starting out that my root hook was my favorite tool.
2. I have no idea - our climate is VERY benign, and with one of these bad boys from the bad lands it may not make any difference here, but where you are I'd try late fall early winter when it's gone dormant.
3. No. Well, let me clarify that - NO! What it does do is "Forward De-bud" if you get my drift.
4. Yes, slightly, as you can see if I post the update later. I have not, however, tried the typical maneuvers to encourage needle reduction - It would likely just result in death . . . not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

 

[grouper52]

Sorry, I have no idea why that turned out in small italics, other than the general quirkiness of anything connected with these Jack pines.

 

[grouper52]

People plant these in their yard on purpose? For what? These are the ugliest pine trees we have here! And there are mlions.]

Oh, yea of little faith. . . . Yes, they have been sold here at several of the more upscale nurseries. I've never seen one in anyone's yard except my own (it's true - I have no shame), but I think the appeal is the odd shape and growth habit of some of the variants. We're somewhat near Seattle here - people are sort of into the ugly and the weird.

But seriously.
1. How does it take rootwork?
2.What time of the year did you do rootwork if ever?
3. Can it be forced to backbud?
4. Will the needles reduce in size.

Here's a thread about the one hard-earned success I've had with these things:

http://www.bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/jack-pine-cascade.8005/

It lost a few more live branchlets over the past winter - not that that's a bad thing, you understand . . . .

I may re-photo it later today if the spirit moves me.

1. It handles root work OK, but I'm fairly good at that, having said for years when I was starting out that my root hook was my favorite tool.
2. I have no idea - our climate is VERY benign, and with one of these bad boys from the bad lands it may not make any difference here, but where you are I'd try late fall early winter when it's gone dormant.
3. No. Well, let me clarify that - NO! What it does do is "Forward De-bud" if you get my drift.
4. Yes, slightly, as you can see if I post the update later. I have not, however, tried the typical maneuvers to encourage needle reduction - It would likely just result in death . . . not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

 

[grouper52]

Did it again - oh well. Be sure to "click to expand" to get the entire post.