Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
Here is a nice cork elm that I have been working on for a few years. First photo from two years ago shows some potential, but it has a nasty inverse taper and no development on the bottom of the tree. However, there were a few buds popping down there so I decided to grow them out and see if I could thicken the base.
Here you can see the 'sacrifice' branches after two years. I got a lot of growth and a surprising amount of thickening in the lower trunk. However the more I looked at it, the more I decided that even with major thickening I just wasn't going to end up with a bonsai I felt happy with. So next plan - air layer this Spring.
Here is the photo of the planned layer.
Here is a photo of the final planned bonsai (many of the branches will need to change - especially the lowest branch on the right). I would go with a deeper pot than normal due to the thickness of the trunk. The corking on the bark might even take me to a more masculine pot - something unglazed - though I really like the tokoname pot I have chosen for this virtual. I think the tree with green foilage might look really nice in this pot.
Finally, I will be left with a nice stump to play with as well I have no idea what I'd do with it at this moment, though I would try some new techniques for getting trunk scars to heal quickly.
Here you can see the 'sacrifice' branches after two years. I got a lot of growth and a surprising amount of thickening in the lower trunk. However the more I looked at it, the more I decided that even with major thickening I just wasn't going to end up with a bonsai I felt happy with. So next plan - air layer this Spring.
Here is the photo of the planned layer.
Here is a photo of the final planned bonsai (many of the branches will need to change - especially the lowest branch on the right). I would go with a deeper pot than normal due to the thickness of the trunk. The corking on the bark might even take me to a more masculine pot - something unglazed - though I really like the tokoname pot I have chosen for this virtual. I think the tree with green foilage might look really nice in this pot.
Finally, I will be left with a nice stump to play with as well I have no idea what I'd do with it at this moment, though I would try some new techniques for getting trunk scars to heal quickly.