Fisher's Elms

[Vin]

Glad I inspired such nice work on your part, and the whole collection and it's elm theme is very nice!

Here are the images that I think May have inspired you:

View attachment 187806View attachment 187807

Where is Maidens, Virginia? I grew up on the Northern side of the Mason-Dixon line mostly, in Kensington, Maryland, but my mom was from Caldwell and Calhoun stock from the Norfolk area, and I spent six summers working at the Goshen Scout Camps near Lexington, and later a year there for my Rat Year at VMI. Didn't want to marry a rich upperclassman's sister, as I was being groomed/pressured to do, so I dropped out, joined the Navy as a Corpsman, and settled out West most of the rest of my days - but Virginia has always seemed to be where my heart was. I could just Google "Maiden" to answer my question, but I'd like to hear you tell me about it if you don't mind .. I recently retired overseas to my wife's homeland in the Philippines, and miss the States more than you can know.

You must have been gone too long Will @grouper52 . I believe all of Maryland is south of the Mason-Dixon line.

 

[VAFisher]

Glad I inspired such nice work on your part, and the whole collection and it's elm theme is very nice!

Here are the images that I think May have inspired you:

View attachment 187806View attachment 187807

Where is Maidens, Virginia? I grew up on the Northern side of the Mason-Dixon line mostly, in Kensington, Maryland, but my mom was from Caldwell and Calhoun stock from the Norfolk area, and I spent six summers working at the Goshen Scout Camps near Lexington, and later a year there for my Rat Year at VMI. Didn't want to marry a rich upperclassman's sister, as I was being groomed/pressured to do, so I dropped out, joined the Navy as a Corpsman, and settled out West most of the rest of my days - but Virginia has always seemed to be where my heart was. I could just Google "Maiden" to answer my question, but I'd like to hear you tell me about it if you don't mind .. I recently retired overseas to my wife's homeland in the Philippines, and miss the States more than you can know.

Yes sir, that's the one. Here's the thread for those interested in seeing it and reading your thoughts on penjing. The image in the thread is slightly different but it's very nice in both versions.

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/hokkaido-chinese-elm-penjing.3685/

Maidens is in Goochland County, which is about 30 miles west of Richmond and about 50 miles east of Charlottesville. I love it. It's far enough away from Richmond and Short Pump to feel like the country, but close enough for all of the conveniences. There are lots of nice country roads to run on and look at the horse farms. The James River is about a mile from my house for kayaking and some smallmouth bass fishing. And Shenandoah National Park and the mountain trout streams are about an hour and a half away. Unless something happens with my job, I plan on retiring here, although I could possibly be talked into checking out western North Carolina for a while.

 

[VAFisher]

After going back and reading that thread again, I should probably also mention that my little scene isn't penjing in the way that @grouper52 describes. It has evolved over the last year or so away from a design where the rocks were much more prominent to the current design where the trees are the focus. It also has no sense of human presence. I guess that makes it just a landscape - not that it really matters I guess.

As I look at it more and more, I wonder how it would look on the bigger slab that's sitting under it. Maybe less cramped.

 

[grouper52]

You must have been gone too long Will @grouper52 . I believe all of Maryland is south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Technically, geographically, I believe you are right, Vin, but the term was used more colloquially where I grew up - a couple hours drive from so many of the famous battlefields - to simply divide the area into the States that fought for the North and those that fought for the South. But yes, I've been gone far, far too long - about "40 days and 40 nights" ... during which time much can change, as we know ...

 

[Vin]

Technically, geographically, I believe you are right, Vin, but the term was used more colloquially where I grew up - a couple hours drive from so many of the famous battlefields - to simply divide the area into the States that fought for the North and those that fought for the South. But yes, I've been gone far, far too long - about "40 days and 40 nights" ... during which time much can change, as we know ...

I grew up in Pittsburgh and didn't know that. Thanks!

 

[Crizzi Questions]

Love the landscape especially the Hokkaido elms. I just purchased my first prebonsai Hokkaido. I placed it in a slightly bigger pot and in Hoffman bonsai soil to let it develop a trunk. I’m hoping for some knarly twists and multiple trunks. Just not the usual S curves. I was thinking my new baby tree was too small for any trading or pruning but your design has me rethinking this.
What do you guys think?
BTW I’m in southwest Ohio. I need thoughts on how to winter this. I have an attached garage. I’ll be moving sometime later this year too. Which is why I did not plant this in the ground to grow. It’s sitting outside now and I’ve just begun to give it some partial sun after reporting and buying it from a greenhouse.

 

[VAFisher]

Did some more work on my landscape. I had this big piece of slate laying around, so I decided to put it to use. I also added some mini sedums to the scene. They're supposed to have little red blooms which will be cool. Sitting next to my American Elm.



Bad part is I think I may have just created my first 2 man operation. This one is going to need some wheels next spring.

 

[Wilson]

Did some more work on my landscape. I had this big piece of slate laying around, so I decided to put it to use. I also added some mini sedums to the scene. They're supposed to have little red blooms which will be cool. Sitting next to my American Elm.

View attachment 198106

Bad part is I think I may have just created my first 2 man operation. This one is going to need some wheels next spring.

The landscape is lookin awesome! I was just shopping around for some miniature plants.

 

[VAFisher]

Summer updates.

American Elm. The chop is starting to heal and I'm slowly improving the branching I think.

 

[VAFisher]

Water Elm forest I started last year from cuttings. I just gave it a trim and wired up some branches.

 

[VAFisher]

Winged Elm that I bought from @Eric Group last year. Its in the process of being ground layered because it had some reverse taper near the base and no surface roots. This is my first try at a ground layer. I'm letting it grow wild to help it along. Next spring, I should be able to remove the old roots and cut it back really hard to rebuild and compact the canopy.

 

[VAFisher]

Water elm root over rock that was started from the same batch of cuttings that I used to make the forest above. The roots have grown around the rock pretty well and I'm now just letting it grow to try to thicken the trunk.

 

[VAFisher]

This one is about due for a haircut. It's really exploded in the last month.

 

[cmeg1]

These are all lookin’ cool ,man!

 

[VAFisher]

One beer after work and things are back in shape.

 

[VAFisher]

Pulled back the moss to have a look at the roots on my root over rock water elm project. Things seem to be looking pretty good. I could use some thickening of the roots that go over the ends of the rock I think. Not sure if I should plant it deeper again next year or start raising the rock higher out of the soil. If anyone has advice on that, I'm all ears. Also not sure at what point I should start developing the top. Ive chopped off 2 of the 3 trunks that I started with to be left with one leader. I figured I could work on healing the wounds while I was letting it grow wild. My plan is to use the stub from the 2nd one as my primary branch.

 

[Cosmos]

One of the threads I often come back to here. Any leafless pictures, Fisher?

 

[VAFisher]

One of the threads I often come back to here. Any leafless pictures, Fisher?

Thanks. I posted these in another thread but I suppose they should go here too.

 

[VAFisher]

 

[VAFisher]

Spring update time. Everything got repotted this year. First up is my Water elm, which went into the Sara Rayner pot that my oak grew out of.