Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
- Messages
- 13,098
- Reaction score
- 30,132
- USDA Zone
- 6a
I'm not sure, but I'll ask the next time I'm out there.That is a nice old hornbeam. Is it American?
The tree in the first picture is a very old Chinese elm, and a huge trident christened "The Southern Waitress" by Kathy Shaner, is in the second picture. And yes, we had fun. I probably laugh more during my 6-7 hour stint there every other month then I do for the following week after. I primarily work on my trees solo, but it's fun getting together with other like minded people to hack on other people's trees.What is that giant twin trunk in the second set of pics? Hackberry? Looks like you had a great time!
I don't get out to this garden as often as I like, but when I do, it's always a great time. The group worked on many trees today, mainly junipers, with lot's of thinning and wiring. This tree, which I initially styled 3 years ago, got thinned again in preparation for more wire next month.I spent another great day at the garden today. Lots of new trees were added to the collection, and most of the new ones are bursting with new growth. I didn't arrive at the garden until after lunch due to my son's lacrosse game (a loss). When I got there, Rodney took me over to where this juniper was sitting on the shelf and told me to do something with it or it might need to get culled (auctioned off to make room for the better trees). The first pictures show the tree before working on it. It's typical of lots of the older material in the garden: nice trunks but too many straight branches that need wiring or foliage only out on the ends. After an hour or two of pruning and wiring, this is what we had. I worked on it for another hour tweaking the wiring and thinning out the pads more completely. Rodney told me later that it was definitely making the cut now.
Yes, the quality of the trees has improved dramatically in recent years. The water elm and hawthorn re-potted yesterday were both from Gary Marchal's personal collection and are really special trees. Still, hanging out with Rodney Clemons and the rest of the bonsai study group at the Gardens is why I really go... so much fun!This place really is full of amazing trees, you are lucky dude to get to work on these!
Yeah, we'd like to see it in a different pot, too. We scoured the storage room looking for an oval that would fit it, but the only one large enough, a nice old unglazed brown oval, was cracked. So, it went back into the mica rectangle, which fits the tree well. You can bet Rodney will be on the look out for a better pot to have handy at the next re-pot... donations are welcome!Wow repotting already!
That is a very nice hawthorn. Like the elm too, but would like to see it in a different pot. Is that a mica pot? I could see this in a nice big neutral glazed.