Dogwood

[Maros]

Hi,
let me share with you few pictures from progression of my Dogwood (Cornus mas) bonsai tree. It is from collected tree which was purchased in 2009. I love how it changes through the year, it is already flowering in March, and has nice red berries in summer. Right now it is in rather big pot because there is still plenty of old roots which should be removed during next repotting sessions but it could not be done too quickly. For the future I can see it in much shallow pot and hill will be lower I hope. It has been recently slightly wired and edited.

Full story of this tree with few more pictures from its development could be found on my blog here:
Story of my bonsai tree: Cornus mas No.1 "Vesna"

October 2010


Late October 2010

July 2011


Early April 2012

April 2013 in new pot

November 2013

 

[Maros]

In April 2014 on exhibition Bonsai Slovakia

And after wiring and editing in February 2015

 

[Cadillactaste]

Lovely material!

 

[CWTurner]

Very nice Maros. Dogwoods are awesome trees, but I don't see many as bonsai.

Is it just a trick of the lighting, or is the bark paler now than in the older pictures?

CW

 

[wireme]

Nice, thanks for sharing, I'm a fan of the European cornus I see in photos. I'm trying here with a couple native cornus sericea. Not as good as cornus mas I feel with growth characteristics similar to shrubby willow species. Still, the flowers, the colors, not ready to give up just yet!

 

[Maros]

Very nice Maros. Dogwoods are awesome trees, but I don't see many as bonsai.

Is it just a trick of the lighting, or is the bark paler now than in the older pictures?

CW

CW,
Thanks for your compliments. Regarding color, I think color of the bark could be just lighting issue. Recent pictures were taken when my garden was still in direct daylight. And pictures made earlier were done with compact camera which was not good at all, now I'm working with DSLR which is able to make much better pictures if used correctly.

Nice, thanks for sharing, I'm a fan of the European cornus I see in photos. I'm trying here with a couple native cornus sericea. Not as good as cornus mas I feel with growth characteristics similar to shrubby willow species. Still, the flowers, the colors, not ready to give up just yet!

It is definitely nice species to work with. Grows fast and changes a lot during the season.

Forgot to add picture with cherries...

 

[Maros]

With full flowers today...

 

[sorce]

I really like this one!

Is that wired right branch flowerless for a reason?

Thanks for sharing!

Sorce

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Beautiful! How are the fruit? I really like them dried and then made into tea, very nice!

 

[Maros]

I really like this one!

Is that wired right branch flowerless for a reason?

Thanks for sharing!

Sorce

Hi Sorce,
I think there were no flowers on this one ever. Maybe it is related to its position on tree and not enough sunlight.

Beautiful! How are the fruit? I really like them dried and then made into tea, very nice!

Bunjae, I have never tried them actually. Usually I leave them for black birds. But I can try your tea recommendation.
I know fruits are used in some areas of our country to produce rare distillate. I heard it is very good but never tried it. My tree is big enough to produce about 10ml.
One of our ex-presidents was from region where this spirit was quite popular. And when his majesty Prince Charles was on his official visit in Slovakia he was given one bottle as present. I can imagine him drinking it.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

pozdravy! Vďaka za odpoveď! Yes, I tried some Korean type fruit alcohol made from Dogwood berries and it tastes pretty good. I found lots on a google search. It seems to have several useful medical properties too.
Health Benefits and Therapeutic Uses of Cornus:
The leaves, ripe fruit and bark of the cornus plant offer many health benefits and have been used for medicinal purposes for many years. Given below are some of the main health benefits of the cornus plant.

• The fruits were widely used to treat dysentery and diarrhea. The method for doing this is as follows. About 9 cornus fruits were mixed with some pears and nutshells and a tea was made from these. This remedy was found to be effective for diarrhea.
• An important fact to keep in mind while listing the health benefits and therapeutic uses of cornus is that all the parts of the plant have astringent properties. This is because all the parts of this cornus plant contain tannin.
• A tincture can be made out of either the leaves or the bark of the plant and can be used to treat various ailments such as eczema, skin infections, intestinal parasites, veal skin, and gout and so on.
• The tincture should be prepared in the following: mix 50 g of the ground plant in 250 ml of alimentary alcohol. Filter this mixture for 15 days. It is advisable to consume about 10-15 drops of this tincture (after diluting in water) about three times a day.
• Cornus, as mentioned above, has astringent qualities and therefore is often used as a substitute for quinine.
• Cornus is also useful in treating colic.
• Making a tea out of dogwood has been found beneficial in bringing down high temperatures, and relieving body chills as well.
• Dogwood teas are also effective in inducing vomiting as well as bringing about relaxation in sick persons.
• The bark of the dogwood can also be used to treat external hemorrhoids. All you need to do is to boil about 4 tablespoons of the bark in about 1 liter of water for about half an hour. Filter this mixture and then apply on the affected areas for relief.
• The leaves of the cornus plant are also effective in treating ringworm. A decoction should be made by boiling cornus leaves along with hag berry leaves. Consume this decoction in order to treat ringworm.

So you can have a beautiful tree and medicine all in one. That's brilliant. Now I am thinking of growing some from seed thank you for the inspiration! Majú skvelý deň!

 

[Maros]

Update on my Dogwood. Remnants of the flowers still visible and fresh leaves are emerging. I changed old moss, and applied new one on some places.

 

[Maros]

I would like to post little update of my tree. It was time to remove wires and shorten new growth. So here are recent pictures. We are having quite rainy weather recently, so it is not ideal time to take pictures in the garden.

 

[Maros]

Fruits are ready to harvest

 

[JudyB]

I would love to see this in a more suitable (nicer) pot, it's a wonderful clump. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[j evans]

A very nice tree, thanks for the progression shots. I see your photos cover about a five year span. How old do you think the tree is?

Jamie

 

[Maros]

I would love to see this in a more suitable (nicer) pot, it's a wonderful clump. Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks for comment Judy. You are absolutely right, tree need much better pot in the future. Its current pot is rather big due to horticultural reasons. Tree is collected yamadori, so it has quite a lot of original strong roots still there. I was not brave enough to remove too many during last repotting. I prefer to progress slowly with root reduction, not to kill it. In the future I would like much more shallow pot, and try to reduce hill on which tree is sitting. I hope it will improve visual balance significantly.

A very nice tree, thanks for the progression shots. I see your photos cover about a five year span. How old do you think the tree is?

Jamie

Jamie, I purchased this collected tree so I do not have a lot of information which could help me with defining its age. I only guess it could be between 30-50 years old.

Important will be to make look like it is much older. Which is game we play with bonsai I think.

 

[j evans]

That is true. Just wondering. Thanks for sharing.

Jamie

 

[coh]

Awesome tree! That's the problem, now I want a dogwood bonsai

 

[Maros]

Dogwood after all leaves fell off. Flower buds are prepared for spring already.