Fisher's Elms

VAFisher

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I have threads on a couple of these already but I like to consolidate... so, here are my elms.

I've had this little Chinese Elm the longest. It spent last year in a large pot in an attempt to heal some wounds and fix the branch structure. I think it has definitley made some progress, but still has a ways to go. I'm planning on getting a nice pot for it next year - this one is cheap Chinese. I may build a box for it this spring and slip pot it to see if I can get some more healing on the trunk.



Next up is an American Elm I purchased from Zach. It's potted in a Shawn Bokeno oval that I like a lot. It may have to go into a grow box or a much larger pot at some point because the chop seems to be slow to heal. The new growth this year is a little leggy from lack of sunlight. It came out early and had to spend some time in my garage in low light. I'll let it grow out for a while now and then cut it back.



This one is not really an Elm but close enough for this thread, so I'll include it. Another Zach Smith purchase - in fact, I bought the American Elm above and this Water Elm at the same time. It's potted in a Chuck Iker Oval. I was able to take a bunch of cuttings from this tree last year and they almost all took so hopefully I'll have more of these in the future. Again, the new growth is larger and more leggy this year due to being in my garage, but I think it will be fine now that it's outside.



This is a twin trunk Chinese Elm that I purchased last year from New England Bonsai Gardens. When I bought it, the branches were a little pom-pom like and I worked on growing them out a little last year. It was looking pretty good this spring before being blown off my bench one day while I was at work. Luckily, the only damage was to one branch near the apex of the tree - which was snapped off right at the trunk, leaving that blank space you see near the top. Hopefully, I can fix that in time. The tree is tied to the bench now! I messed up the planting angle a little when I repotted it. The secondary trunk is more upright than the main one, which I'll fix next year. It's potted in a Sara Rayner drum pot.



And last is my little clump Chinese Elm. I think it's a Hokkaido. It was in the "Fairy Garden" section of my local nursery which includes these as well as little mugos and some other stuff. The leaves are a little too small on this one I think. It's hard to make a canopy with such microscopic leaves. It's also potted in a Bokeno pot.



Thanks for looking. Suggestions are always welcome.
 

sorce

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Before I go fish....

I hated that second one last year...

But it's shaping up!

Nice!

Sorce
 

VAFisher

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Before I go fish....

I hated that second one last year...

But it's shaping up!


Nice!

Sorce

The American? What didn't you like about it? Just curious - it won't hurt my feelings.
 

PeaceLoveBonsai

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These are very nice.

I wonder if you rotated that American Elm just a bit, would that hide the scar? Of course that's not gonna help it heal faster, but would allow you to keep in the pot... Grow boxes aren't nearly as fun;)
 

VAFisher

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These are very nice.

I wonder if you rotated that American Elm just a bit, would that hide the scar? Of course that's not gonna help it heal faster, but would allow you to keep in the pot... Grow boxes aren't nearly as fun;)

I've thought about using the back as the front quite a bit because it hides the chop completely. But the tree just looks better from this side. Rotating it might hide it a little but not completely. I may just have to bite the bullet next year and put it in a box and let it go wild. I'll see how it does this year.
 

just.wing.it

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I have threads on a couple of these already but I like to consolidate... so, here are my elms.

I've had this little Chinese Elm the longest. It spent last year in a large pot in an attempt to heal some wounds and fix the branch structure. I think it has definitley made some progress, but still has a ways to go. I'm planning on getting a nice pot for it next year - this one is cheap Chinese. I may build a box for it this spring and slip pot it to see if I can get some more healing on the trunk.



Next up is an American Elm I purchased from Zach. It's potted in a Shawn Bokeno oval that I like a lot. It may have to go into a grow box or a much larger pot at some point because the chop seems to be slow to heal. The new growth this year is a little leggy from lack of sunlight. It came out early and had to spend some time in my garage in low light. I'll let it grow out for a while now and then cut it back.



This one is not really an Elm but close enough for this thread, so I'll include it. Another Zach Smith purchase - in fact, I bought the American Elm above and this Water Elm at the same time. It's potted in a Chuck Iker Oval. I was able to take a bunch of cuttings from this tree last year and they almost all took so hopefully I'll have more of these in the future. Again, the new growth is larger and more leggy this year due to being in my garage, but I think it will be fine now that it's outside.



This is a twin trunk Chinese Elm that I purchased last year from New England Bonsai Gardens. When I bought it, the branches were a little pom-pom like and I worked on growing them out a little last year. It was looking pretty good this spring before being blown off my bench one day while I was at work. Luckily, the only damage was to one branch near the apex of the tree - which was snapped off right at the trunk, leaving that blank space you see near the top. Hopefully, I can fix that in time. The tree is tied to the bench now! I messed up the planting angle a little when I repotted it. The secondary trunk is more upright than the main one, which I'll fix next year. It's potted in a Sara Rayner drum pot.



And last is my little clump Chinese Elm. I think it's a Hokkaido. It was in the "Fairy Garden" section of my local nursery which includes these as well as little mugos and some other stuff. The leaves are a little too small on this one I think. It's hard to make a canopy with such microscopic leaves. It's also potted in a Bokeno pot.



Thanks for looking. Suggestions are always welcome.
First one is my favorite, nice elms!
 

Wilson

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I like that twin trunk! I think with time it will become a real nice composition. Seems like you are doing your part to support the potters too!:)
 

VAFisher

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I like that twin trunk! I think with time it will become a real nice composition. Seems like you are doing your part to support the potters too!:)

Thank you sir.

Definitely. Almost all of my trees are in American pots. Iker, Rayner, Bokeno, Byron Myrick and one Paul Katich I think. I like to support American made!
 

sorce

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Thank you sir.

Definitely. Almost all of my trees are in American pots. Iker, Rayner, Bokeno, Byron Myrick and one Paul Katich I think. I like to support American made!

Amen....

My fishing buddy recently crashed his Nissan Titan into a pole coming back from Michigan....

Lol!

Michigan did it cuz now he's happy as hell with a slick F150!

He paid like 20,000 for the Nissan, and insurance upped about 18k!

Sorce
 

VAFisher

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Amen....

My fishing buddy recently crashed his Nissan Titan into a pole coming back from Michigan....

Lol!

Michigan did it cuz now he's happy as hell with a slick F150!

He paid like 20,000 for the Nissan, and insurance upped about 18k!

Sorce

Hell yeah. I drive a Silverado, drink American beer, fish with American made fly rods and catch native American fish too.







I was getting ready to say that most of my trees are American (besides the Chinese Elms) but then I remembered the Tridents, and the Azaleas, and the Crape Myrtles, and the procumbens, and the mugos and the Scotts. Dammit, I guess most of my trees are foreigners.
 

LanceMac10

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Hell yeah. I drive a Silverado, drink American beer, fish with American made fly rods and catch native American fish too.







I was getting ready to say that most of my trees are American (besides the Chinese Elms) but then I remembered the Tridents, and the Azaleas, and the Crape Myrtles, and the procumbens, and the mugos and the Scotts. Dammit, I guess most of my trees are foreigners.



Girl's bike, Guinness and Gorton's fish sticks.....Am I still American?:p:D:D:D:D:D:D
 

VAFisher

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I worked on a little project this morning. Last year I struck 8 cuttings from the water elm pictured above. I have 7 of them earmarked for a forest planting so I decided to try something new with the 8th. Last weekend I collected this rock from my favorite fishin' hole with the idea to plant one of the water elms on it.



Plant and rock ready to go.



Close up of roots.



These aren't hardy in my winters so it will have to be grown in a pot so that I can move it into the garage. Here it is saran wrapped to the rock and some potting soil filled in around the roots.



And the finished product. I've never done this before so we'll see how it goes.

 

Bonsai Nut

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I worked on a little project this morning.

A general comment about "root over rock" style. This is not intended to be critical towards what you just did, but a general comment going forward.

To make a believable root over rock you need to think like a tree seed. You will never find a tree in the wild growing off the top of a rounded rock - it just wouldn't happen in nature because the seed would wash away, or the seedling would dry up for lack of water or nutrients, or it would get knocked off the rock with the first big wind. So when you are starting a root over rock you are looking for a crack or a crevice to "anchor" your design visually. For example:

6102213109_ec502a2f30_z.jpg

hqdefault.jpg

I think these are good examples that will only get better with time. Here is what I consider a poor example, even though the tree and rock are amazing - it is the placement of the tree that is wrong. It is just floating in midair off the side of a smooth piece of rock. How did that tree get there? The whole design is artificial and feels contrived:

ls_cho10.jpg
 

VAFisher

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A general comment about "root over rock" style. This is not intended to be critical towards what you just did, but a general comment going forward.

To make a believable root over rock you need to think like a tree seed. You will never find a tree in the wild growing off the top of a rounded rock - it just wouldn't happen in nature because the seed would wash away, or the seedling would dry up for lack of water or nutrients, or it would get knocked off the rock with the first big wind. So when you are starting a root over rock you are looking for a crack or a crevice to "anchor" your design visually. For example:

View attachment 149575

View attachment 149576

I think these are good examples that will only get better with time. Here is what I consider a poor example, even though the tree and rock are amazing - it is the placement of the tree that is wrong. It is just floating in midair off the side of a smooth piece of rock. How did that tree get there? The whole design is artificial and feels contrived:

View attachment 149577

Thanks for the examples and your point is valid. This one will be more representative of the trees I see along the creeks when fishing. Their roots are often surrounding large rounded rocks. I think what happens is that they grow around these rocks and then the soil is eroded away by storms, high water, etc. This is meant to look like that as opposed to growing off the side of a cliff.

If it survives and actually works...
 

GGB

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Sweet elms man! Very jealous, I'm just dipping into the genus.

For the record I drive a Buick, use local species (almost exclusively now) and drink yeungling lager. Not just American but local American
 
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