MY GARDEN, SHARE YOURS

MACH5

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Your garden is truly amazing! Looks very well laid out and thought out. Very nice composition of everything, super clean and lots of space between different elements. Love your rocks.

Here is mine:

It’s a WIP (as any garden), and my videos only show my backyard perimeters and side-yards, and none of the in-ground trees (I’ve spent countless hours pruning and restyling every old ground tree). My old (20-30yo) in-ground trees I’ve restyled into Niwaki are - 4 eugenias, 1 lavendar star, fern buddha pine maki-like, guava, unknown bush next to AC exhaust, meyers lemon, also 1 unknown vine and also a grape vine up on big T-posts I recently pounded in. New trees recently planted into ground (just young whips) are 1 persimmon and 2 ume. Everything else is in nursery pots because only young saplings in development (I don’t have any real bonsai… just babies); except 2 old niwaki JBPs in wine barrels and 1 old niwaki San Jose (in a 15gal nursery pot too though).

My front-yard looks pretty much the same, although a diff layout.

Only (big) thing I still want to change, is to replace all the red-brick hardscape with natural-stone or flagstone-style hardscape. That costs sooo much though.

Next and just for now though, since much cheaper and easily/quickly done, I will replace my old exposed-aggregate concrete stepping-stones with real granite ones, and also wanna replace my cheap concrete lanterns with granite lanterns from Japan. More boulders wouldn’t hurt either (very hard to place by yourself though with only a dolly, even small ones… I’ve placed 2,500lbs worth of boulders alone, lol).


Thank you. Yours is looking really nice and clean with the gravel as well. Very zen! 👍


Working until sundown keeping things clean and tidy after experiencing for a few weeks the yearly shower of flower petals from a tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) above the garden.

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エドガー

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Thanks and glad you like it! ...my goal is to make it like Japan :)
I only wish I had even a fraction of your amazing old trees though (I have zero, since I am a bonsai n00b, lol)

Yeah... keeping it clean and maintenance is tough (I do it every weekend). Right now, I don't have any big deciduous garden trees,, so it's not super bad yet for cleanups... but, I recently planted 2 ume and 1 persimmon whips as garden trees... so those will be a lot of cleanup in the future. Also have a few J maple saplings (which I'll just keep in pots I think), which will be more cleanup in the future.

For now... just cleanups of a few weeds, occasional leaves & flowers from neighbors and/or my trees. When I trim my ground trees, I try to remember to use a few large tarps, so cleanup is much much easier. My beach-pebbles are actually a pain compared to gravel, because leaves/flowers/debris gets inside the nooks and crannies and spaces, and I have to lift the pebbles to clean.

Trying to think of a method to clean between those pebbels easier. Leaf blowers only work to a certain degree; but after that, theres still debris in the nooks/spaces. I was thinking maybe a powerful shop-vac. My neighbors would prolly think I'm absolutely crazy if they saw me vacuuming my rocks/garden as if it were interior/carpet, hahaha.
 

MACH5

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For now... just cleanups of a few weeds, occasional leaves & flowers from neighbors and/or my trees. When I trim my ground trees, I try to remember to use a few large tarps, so cleanup is much much easier. My beach-pebbles are actually a pain compared to gravel, because leaves/flowers/debris gets inside the nooks and crannies and spaces, and I have to lift the pebbles to clean.

Trying to think of a method to clean between those pebbels easier. Leaf blowers only work to a certain degree; but after that, theres still debris in the nooks/spaces. I was thinking maybe a powerful shop-vac. My neighbors would prolly think I'm absolutely crazy if they saw me vacuuming my rocks/garden as if it were interior/carpet, hahaha.


I also get stuff in between the gravel. It is unavoidable. A shop-vac may not work too well since it will probably suck up the gravel with everything else. I use a leaf blower and whatever else is left I remove by hand. The smaller pieces of debris I tend not to sweat. They sink to the bottom of the gravel layer and decompose.
 

MACH5

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Not big but I'm happy with it, little birds bees and butterflies also like my space :)
Just caught a bird helping me out catching some caterpillar out of my juniperus :D
View attachment 250442View attachment 250443


Nice!! 👌But just remember, it's not the size but what you do with it. At least that's what she said! Yeah right! 😂🤭
 

MACH5

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Your ginkgo is a beast @MACH5 ! Noticed the small creeper beside it. Do you defoliate the larger foliage at any point? To keep it so compact?


Yes! It is making up for it's sheer laziness of last year! There ain't no place for laziness here son. You're in M5's garden now! 😂😂😱

Letting it really extend this year. In the fall when it goes bare, I will need to asses where exactly the design may need to go. My instinct as per one virt I shared earlier on this tree's thread, is to have a longer, taller canopy. So we shall see.


Regarding the creeper, I have not done much in the way of defoliation because I need to gain in trunk girth. So I have let it run every year since I got it as a tiny plant from Owen in 2016. Amazing autumn color!!
 
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That Sharp's Pygmy is looking good! Wasn't it undergoing major reconstruction? It's looking better than ever!

I don't recognize the maple in the background of this photo... nice base though! Any more pics?! 😁
 

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MACH5

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Derek, yes the sharp's pygmy is looking quite strong. I am not rethinking the design necessarily but improving it. I think I had been after it too intensely in terms of keeping it's silhouette etc. I was approaching it too preciously. I let it go this year with some partial defoliation and left lots of inner growth intact for now. Nebari is looking even more impressive. There are good extensions even on some of the weaker parts for the tree which is good to see. It currently has a branch that I am air layering since it had gotten just too long and heavy. The resulting tree from the layer will be used for future stock in case I need grafts on this tree. Looks like the air layer was successful as I now see some strong roots through the plastic.

The maple in the back is one that I purchased from Owen back in 2016. It has been through a lot of work including a grafted second trunk much like I did on maple #5. Next year I plan on starting a thread on this tree after it gets cleaned up and wired around March. It originally came from Warren Hill. It is now over 40 years old. It is looking quite good this year!

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Arcto

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Curious about your setup with the planks(?), slabs balanced on the round boulder with your Sub Alpine Fir sitting on it. Just leveled with shims, or permanently attached? Garden is looking great.
 
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Thanks for sharing @MACH5 !

really love the simplicity of that trunk line 😍

curious to see what you will eventually do with the left branch when the secondary trunk gains significance! I really like that branch and the way it droops a little, almost like a nod (figurative and literal!) to the vallejo maple!
 

MACH5

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Curious about your setup with the planks(?), slabs balanced on the round boulder with your Sub Alpine Fir sitting on it. Just leveled with shims, or permanently attached? Garden is looking great.


Thanks Arcto! It was rigged and leveled with some shims and bricks. I even tested it out by standing on it. It is surprisingly stable. I was inspired by what they did on some of the displays at the Omiya Bonsai Museum. I think eventually I may change it to a long rectangular slab of bluestone supported at the end by a wooden post. Not sure yet but thinking something along those lines.

BTW the subalpine fir drives me a bit crazy in that old wooden box. Cannot wait to pot that tree in a nice container. But patience is calling!
 

MACH5

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Thanks for sharing @MACH5 !

really love the simplicity of that trunk line 😍

curious to see what you will eventually do with the left branch when the secondary trunk gains significance! I really like that branch and the way it droops a little, almost like a nod (figurative and literal!) to the vallejo maple!


Yes that area obviously needs sorting out between the small trunk and left branch. Will get there in time. It is all still new and raw. The drooping branch happened all by itself. I also do like those nuances as they tend to give deciduous bonsai a very relaxed and natural feel. Here is a maple from Vallejo that originally came from Fuyo-en. It was displayed at the Trophy this year and one of my favorites trees at the show. Look at all those drooping branches! I believe this happened naturally. My maple #5 is doing a bit of the same.

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