Paradox
Marine Bonsologist
Yea can't leave trees on the ground when you have varmints around
What did you do today? Show us Pic Required
- Thread starter Underdog
- Start date
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
The varmints better say "Vamonos" to one another soon.
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The Barber
Chumono
Found another bird nest in one of my hinoki. Sooo 2 out of 3 of my hinoki have birds nests in them today...so no pruning till the kids leave home.
IzzyG
Shohin
Repotted this pinyon pine in March but finally edited the photo. Found more nebari during repot and decided to go with a smaller J cross container to visually strengthen the narrower base and help anchor the composition. Will probably look to restyle this fall or next year towards a tension design.
After:
Before:
After:
Before:
Hack Yeah!
Omono
Leaves, hold my 
!
!coltranem
Chumono
A little pruning and wiring on this guy.
shohin_branches
Omono
19Mateo83
Masterpiece
That needs to be your moniker when you reach 10k. “coonass with Asian descent”
19Mateo83
Masterpiece
That’s a tasty one to hold too
I bought a Camellia a few weeks ago from a nursery sale for next to nothing with eyes to mess about and make a small little single/few flower japanese mame-esque tree, or a tiny little bujin style tree (or perhaps more correctly - aspire to that and fall short of my desire).
Not sure what I expected to find when I removed some soil but it wasn't 'grafted to a figure 8, sweet potato looking root base, planet on it's side'.
So, I figured it was a perfect time to have a shot at ground layering (and a not-so-perfect season to do so).
Worst case, I've had some ground-layering practice; best case, I have a stick-in-a-pot with a nice flower or two every so often haha.
Substrate is just perlite and peat; and I threw a layer of sphagnum moss on top (not pictured).
Not sure what I expected to find when I removed some soil but it wasn't 'grafted to a figure 8, sweet potato looking root base, planet on it's side'.
So, I figured it was a perfect time to have a shot at ground layering (and a not-so-perfect season to do so).
Worst case, I've had some ground-layering practice; best case, I have a stick-in-a-pot with a nice flower or two every so often haha.
Substrate is just perlite and peat; and I threw a layer of sphagnum moss on top (not pictured).
Attachments
Mad Tabby
Yamadori
I’m seed sorting. Somebody (not me) goes a little bonkers every year buying seeds. I bought these little boxes. Labeled them “Winter planting” “spring planting” and I need one for “rotational” where you plant for a few weeks so you have a constant supply.
I have 5 “Jumbo packs” of radishes. I hate radishes. Only my husband eats radishes. Daikon is okay, but the little red “cherry belle”? HATE with a passion. Although now I’m wondering how well they pickle.
Oh and no photo, but argued with my brother about how to thicken bonsai. He says small pots so that the plant puts energy into the tree once the roots have filled the pot. I told him the experts seem to agree on planting in the ground/large pots. So since I have those 4 white spruce, I’m going to put the two I have standing straight up into 1 gallon pots, and leave the two I tilted (want to do a windswept & arched raft with those two). Actually Thinking out loud here, it would be fairer to do one upright & one arched into each type of pot. It pleases my inner mad scientist.
I have 5 “Jumbo packs” of radishes. I hate radishes. Only my husband eats radishes. Daikon is okay, but the little red “cherry belle”? HATE with a passion. Although now I’m wondering how well they pickle.
Oh and no photo, but argued with my brother about how to thicken bonsai. He says small pots so that the plant puts energy into the tree once the roots have filled the pot. I told him the experts seem to agree on planting in the ground/large pots. So since I have those 4 white spruce, I’m going to put the two I have standing straight up into 1 gallon pots, and leave the two I tilted (want to do a windswept & arched raft with those two). Actually Thinking out loud here, it would be fairer to do one upright & one arched into each type of pot. It pleases my inner mad scientist.
Attachments
pandacular
Masterpiece
we’re hunting for varmints, smaller than the eye can see!
TrevorLarsen
Chumono
I did some more work on my ash tree. It’s one of the trees I dug from my yard when I first started bonsai. It’s actually starting to get some potential I think.
This was when I repotted it last month
And today after wiring.
This was when I repotted it last month
And today after wiring.
WEI
Mame
set up a formal display at this weekend’s bonsai show at the national bonsai museum and created 5 kusamono in the morning for others to use (but most brought their own). since I have so many left over, now I’m starting to think I need to figure out how to assemble a kusamono-only setup. here’s one that ended up in another display:
takira
Yamadori
Attended ABS show at Meijer Gardens! Sadly, family obligations meant I could only go one day, but I still laid waste to my bank account because I'm efficient like that.
Morning workshop on Kotohime Japanese Maples - it doesn't look like much now, but there's a Plan and someday it'll look like a Real Tree.
Took in a few pretty sights on lunch (I really do need to get back to the gardens just on their own at some point):
Afternoon was the Twisted Japanese Black Pine workshop, with this funky little guy looking like a dragon sleeping on the ground - a little artful branch placing attempts to hide the giant turd-like protuberance on the trunk at the back.
...and then I got to haul home THIS magnificent creature (puzzled cat in background for scale
):
..............on the balance, probably best that I couldn't go all three days or it might have gotten even MORE out of hand. >_>;;
Morning workshop on Kotohime Japanese Maples - it doesn't look like much now, but there's a Plan and someday it'll look like a Real Tree.
Took in a few pretty sights on lunch (I really do need to get back to the gardens just on their own at some point):
Afternoon was the Twisted Japanese Black Pine workshop, with this funky little guy looking like a dragon sleeping on the ground - a little artful branch placing attempts to hide the giant turd-like protuberance on the trunk at the back.
...and then I got to haul home THIS magnificent creature (puzzled cat in background for scale
):..............on the balance, probably best that I couldn't go all three days or it might have gotten even MORE out of hand. >_>;;
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
Heavy cut back on BC. Two done, a few dozens to do.
Japonicus
Imperial Masterpiece
Northern Lights here
pictorangelicvs
Seedling
Sifted so much soil. Past two days Akadama. Tomorrow Pumice and organizing the back yard deck all week.
Repotted these grafted and variegated Japanese Red Pines into wood boxes. One arrived very frazzled from shipment, a golden ghost. Another much healthier, Cesarini’s. They won’t be good for bonsai, but I was inspired by a very large and tall tree from an Australian poster on this forum named Michael. I saw his beautiful tree searching through the old posts on pinus densiflora. Thank you sir for the inspiration, I hope to make these into smallish sized garden trees and want to eventually pot them up in terra cotta containers. I’ve got one more coming that is much older than these two but let’s see how that arrives from the nursery. The Golden Ghost first, a bit stressed but where candles were floppy they now are straight and it will make a recovery I think. The Confucian symbolism of Red Pines appeals to me very much as does the sinewy movement and flaky bark they are capable of though these variegated sort are a little wack-a-doodle and it will be many years of trying to keep them alive before these become special.
Golden Ghost to the left, a bit stressed but where candles were floppy they now are straight and it will make a recovery I think. Cesarini before I repotted, both had very dense root systems and the Cesarini had a ton of mycorrhiza. I’m not sure you can see it here but I’ll let them grow for a year and then remove the extra stem left over from the grafting while being very careful not to touch the graft union.
Took photos to check in on some trees I got earlier this year. First up a beautiful thick trident which I had butchered with my silky making an overenthusiastic trunk chop. A few months ago I almost killed it using copper tacks to fix in place the root grafts but I replaced those with non-poisoning metals and they seem to be growing really well. Thankfully some lower growth down on the trunk to offset everything happening just above the brutal chop. The paste is cracking however and I think it will heal alright given patience. It’s also screwed to a board with the screw coming from the board and into the bottom of the nebari, a real victim of amateur Dr. Frankenstein over here.
Second Trident where I learned my lesson and gave up the Jack The Ripper cosplay. The leaves are almost purple in some places and seem really full of life. Buds everywhere, I’ve covered the nebari with chopped moss on all these to encourage growth and spread of the roots along the base of the trunk.
Dwarf Japanese maple. This tree has completely exploded with consistent, vibrant growth for at least two maybe even three or four months now. Im
Really excited to begin styling it in earnest this fall. If there’s good branching I think I can even begin pinching next growing season. It will stay a smaller Chuhin-sized baby dragon and be my testing ground for refinement and ramification. I removed poor root grafts I had attempted on it earlier this year a few weeks ago.
Stewartia: I took perhaps way too many branches off of this prime piece of nursery stock but I also enjoy the line of the trunk that I extracted. I found an old issue of International Bonsai centered on the species and in it a translated Japanese article saying that I should pinch the growth on new shoots as they emerge to prevent the branches from getting out of shape. I did that twice all over every time they flushed out, and now I will leave it and see if there is anymore growth and what it looks like.
Finally, took a pic of this cute Sazanami I got from Mr. Walston at Evergreen Gardenworks last fall. And some Cedrus Atlantica I got going. After the seedlings, the small one in the dense photo was an Eastern Leaf tree which I pruned back hard months ago but has taken on a sort of interesting shape and the large one is an eBay find I butchered but is growing back well. Hard to see the large one. Both I’ve had for about 8 months now.
Repotted these grafted and variegated Japanese Red Pines into wood boxes. One arrived very frazzled from shipment, a golden ghost. Another much healthier, Cesarini’s. They won’t be good for bonsai, but I was inspired by a very large and tall tree from an Australian poster on this forum named Michael. I saw his beautiful tree searching through the old posts on pinus densiflora. Thank you sir for the inspiration, I hope to make these into smallish sized garden trees and want to eventually pot them up in terra cotta containers. I’ve got one more coming that is much older than these two but let’s see how that arrives from the nursery. The Golden Ghost first, a bit stressed but where candles were floppy they now are straight and it will make a recovery I think. The Confucian symbolism of Red Pines appeals to me very much as does the sinewy movement and flaky bark they are capable of though these variegated sort are a little wack-a-doodle and it will be many years of trying to keep them alive before these become special.
Golden Ghost to the left, a bit stressed but where candles were floppy they now are straight and it will make a recovery I think. Cesarini before I repotted, both had very dense root systems and the Cesarini had a ton of mycorrhiza. I’m not sure you can see it here but I’ll let them grow for a year and then remove the extra stem left over from the grafting while being very careful not to touch the graft union.
Took photos to check in on some trees I got earlier this year. First up a beautiful thick trident which I had butchered with my silky making an overenthusiastic trunk chop. A few months ago I almost killed it using copper tacks to fix in place the root grafts but I replaced those with non-poisoning metals and they seem to be growing really well. Thankfully some lower growth down on the trunk to offset everything happening just above the brutal chop. The paste is cracking however and I think it will heal alright given patience. It’s also screwed to a board with the screw coming from the board and into the bottom of the nebari, a real victim of amateur Dr. Frankenstein over here.
Second Trident where I learned my lesson and gave up the Jack The Ripper cosplay. The leaves are almost purple in some places and seem really full of life. Buds everywhere, I’ve covered the nebari with chopped moss on all these to encourage growth and spread of the roots along the base of the trunk.
Dwarf Japanese maple. This tree has completely exploded with consistent, vibrant growth for at least two maybe even three or four months now. Im
Really excited to begin styling it in earnest this fall. If there’s good branching I think I can even begin pinching next growing season. It will stay a smaller Chuhin-sized baby dragon and be my testing ground for refinement and ramification. I removed poor root grafts I had attempted on it earlier this year a few weeks ago.
Stewartia: I took perhaps way too many branches off of this prime piece of nursery stock but I also enjoy the line of the trunk that I extracted. I found an old issue of International Bonsai centered on the species and in it a translated Japanese article saying that I should pinch the growth on new shoots as they emerge to prevent the branches from getting out of shape. I did that twice all over every time they flushed out, and now I will leave it and see if there is anymore growth and what it looks like.
Finally, took a pic of this cute Sazanami I got from Mr. Walston at Evergreen Gardenworks last fall. And some Cedrus Atlantica I got going. After the seedlings, the small one in the dense photo was an Eastern Leaf tree which I pruned back hard months ago but has taken on a sort of interesting shape and the large one is an eBay find I butchered but is growing back well. Hard to see the large one. Both I’ve had for about 8 months now.
Weta
Shohin
I'm buzzing..
Gonna be a cool night
Gonna be a cool night
