Two New Pines:) (embedded pics)

[johng]

Last Sept some friends and I went to Bill's Shohin Bonsai Symposium in Rochester. One afternoon we decided to go check out some nurseries. We found one that specialized in conifers and maples. They had a pretty amazing selection of material. Much of what they had was grafted and thus had limited use for bonsai but they did have a fair amount of material that would work. They had probably the largest variety of pines that I have ever seen at a nursery. I bought a few small trees while we were there but while I was talking to the owner I discovered that he shipped to a regular customer that was only a couple miles from my home in South Carolina. hmmmmm...you ship to SC... I am sure my eyes got big. Any how... as a result I put my name on two large pines and asked him to ship them to me.

They arrived yesterday... a few months late but finally here!
I received 1 large Dragon's Eye Red Pine and 1 large Kotobuki black pine. The red pine is going to become part of the garden but I think the Kotobuki has potential to be a bonsai.

Here are a couple of pics
Just arrived home from the loading dock

cutting the box open with my sawsall

The red pine - its about 6' foot tall and 6" or so at the base.

The Kotobuki...in its pot it stands right at 6' tall and from what I have seen so far it has a root base of about 8 or 9 inches (maybe a little more but it does suffer from nursery can roots).

Since they are coming out of upstate NY I am going to just spend the next year or two trying to help them acclimate to the much hotter SC weather. I will certainly be sharing more pics as I make them.
John

 

[Bonsai Nut]

That kotobuki is insane. I wonder how long that thing has been in a nursery container? They grow so slowly and I can't say I have ever seen one looking so green and robust.

Share some more pics one you get them settled in!

 

[Ozzy]

What a coincidence theres a guy over on Bonsaitalk thats just done exactly the same thing.

 

[johng]

Here is an iffy pic of the base. The guy at the nursery said that they had been using it to collect scions for grafting for nearly 20 years. It does appear to be very healthy although I have noticed some scale on the needles. That's all I really know, but I am really looking forward to transforming this tree...my wife was concerned when I told her I thought it would take about 20 more years before it will hopefully reach its potential as a bonsai.

Posted here first but after no response the first day I decided to take a different approach at BT.