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Showing posts with the label dead wood

Prunus spinosa_Kifu

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Kifu sized blackthorns_26 cm.       

Prunus mahaleb_X_Men

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 X-Men?   The Hug Men?  Predator?     Forget it.   My brother in scissors RasÅ¥o has come with the perfect name.   Frankly, I had to look for the meaning of Ent in the wiki but once I saw the picture  I was in love with it.    Perfect.   Thank you, RasÅ¥o.   OK, back to the Ent. I  have made some corrections to lower parts last night.   It still needs some indian ink to blend nicely with the rest. And then few coats of resin to preserve it.    The crown  needs to add some wood.  Not too much though.   I do not like trees that have a lot of deadwood  combined with a flourishing crown full of branchlets.   But that is not a problem of the tree but rather of the person behind it... Prunus mahaleb_The Ent Height: 50 cm Pot: Training China          

Potentilla fruticosa ? Dasiphora fruticosa?!

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 There was a time when I believed that there are some solid cornerstones in the Universe.     Unfortunately this time is over.  Well, for most of them at least.    Good news:  some of them are still there:   My parents on the other side of the river.      My wife.      My family.       Matters that are important to me.     Bonsai is somewhere on the very top...            Shrubby cinquefoil   Pre bonsai.   But in a proper bonsai pot by Mr SHIMIZU Masakazu    kiln  YOUZAN Height 18 cm  

Pinus nigra subs. nigra ( austriaca )

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 In one of my earlie post about this pine I have mention some of the challenges we face.   Happy that one of them has been fixed.  Or at least nearly... The tree looks still empty and out of proportion but at least the remains of the main trunk has been converted into something that looks OK to me.     The way it was back in 2019    Preparatory work in 2020        And now in mid of Feb 2022.   It looks very fresh now and it will take a time to get a patina  but we are on the way... Height:  65 cm Pot: Martin AÅ¡enbrenner  ( Wood fired kiln )      

Prunus mahaleb_Double

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 Another fairly small but massive mahaleb cherry with a lot of deadwood.    Height: 44 cm above the rim Pot: Hugo Studeník    

Birch # 000002

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Black wiper It was the dark lower section of the trunk that gave this tree its name. Lovely tree, in my eyes at least.    I know.  The thick elbow like branch in the middle is an eyesore. Even more it is just  a piece of a dead wood.  Dead wood on a birch? Are you serious?    And what about the transition between the old and new parts?  Yeah, it doesn´t look very nice rigth now.    BUT If you look on this lady from a reasonable distance, its getting dark and your eyes are not so sharp as they used to be ....    I guess you know  how this goes on...   I have heard this from one of our best actor Mr Jan Werich and I hope he would not mind if  I use it now and then.   Funny,  he crossed the river long time ago but he still there in our minds.  At least when it comes to my generation.   Autumn 2020 Summer 2020   Colour festival in November 2021 Who said: " Not worth the effort" ?

The HUG_three years after

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 The life seems to be like a fast train.   Weekdays like a stations you pass without stopping and weekends are short stops to see some other people outside...  How different it is at the age  of -teens and now.    I shared this tree just about three years ago.  If interested you can find that post here: https://doriyama.blogspot.com/2018/07/    The tree looks a bit more mature now.  The crown is a bit heavier but I am  still thinking about it much more like a deciduous literati than anything else.   ( Well, I know. It looks  quite heavy in fact, but don't you think that one can see things the way one wants?  First there is the Wizzard of Perspective, second the Witch of Camera and last but not least the Kind Lord of ones Mind ) Total height of the tree above the rim of the pot is about 50 cm while the first branch is at 30 cm.   Very dramatic dead wood feature.  Because of the changed position the remains of the root on the left are now showing the straight cut - some more carving

Prunus mahaleb_Shohin/Kifu_blossoms

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Crazy world.  It is a summer.  Time to enjoy your holidays and relax.  Reality?  In many places it is just a moment to see your properties and belongings are taken by storm or water.   And this is not even the worst.    Many people were fighting just to safe their bare life.  And many of them have lost.    Terrible... Water and Wind.  Good servants but bad masters.   But is it really just the Nature to be blamed for it?   What is the role of the mankind?  Nobody knows for sure.  But the mankind has been doing a lot of bad things for the sake of Earning and Consumption.   Regadless if we paint these words  into more fancy colours such as amusement, dreams fulfilment, better life or something like this. It is just a shame that all the time we follow the same scenario: Running Problem! Stop running and start thinking ???  Is it no GO?   Never mind. Keep running. .... Gosh. That's it.   So here it is the promised tree Prunus mahaleb Height: 10 cm Width: 28 cm which makes it a kifu size

Welcome a new dweller at our place...

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   Busy spring day.   Late afternoon.   Buuzzzzz.  Head up and looking around. What was that?  Nothing can be seen.  Strange.  Sounds like a large bumblebee.   And again Buzzzzz.    Now I had a chance to spot a dark colored Something that zoomed around my head.   Sized like a large bumblebee, sounded like a bumblebee BUT what about the color?   A bumblebee from Chernobyl?  Or a creature from an eastern laboratory?   Gosh, need to find out.  Right,  let's  try to get a picture of  it first.    Easy to say.    A number of photos that could be labeled  like: - the exact place where the creature was a blick ago or - the place where the creature will be seen in a split of a second   Later on I have managed  to get some reasonably good pictures with nicely sharp backgrounds but blurry image of the creature.  And finally - patience brings roses - few shots with the creature.  Gotcha!   With the pictures and help of the aunt Wiki it was quite easy to find out what it is:  WIKIPEDIA: Xyloco

Looking at my trees...

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If the dogs look like their owners does this also apply to our trees?    The logic is pretty much the same, isn't it.    We tend to select things that are somehow "compatible" with   perception of ourselves.  Prunus mahaleb_Double          If the above statement holds then I am affraid my problem is much bigger than originally thought...    

Prunus mahaleb_The Cock

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Another year spent on building the surface roots.  So far all the efforts were solely based on the usage of a sphagnum moss.  For the next years to come I will cover the soil with "standard"  moss while adding more acadama to the roots encircling the rock.  I feel that the first root from the top looks a bit strange.  Time to cut it off?  Happy for your thoughts. Happy with this deadwood.  Nice focal point. The roots shouts: " GO! Catch more sunrays, we hold you fast".   So it means a cascading trunk despite the horizontal line of it.  See the second and third pics.  I feel the third one is about right.   And if so I have another problem to find a suitable pot.  I do not like the crescent bonsai pot that one should "normally" use.   I guess I would need to combine something different to please my eyes. Despite the fact I do like semi or full cascades similar to this one I have to admit they a bit of a nuisance once it comes to basic horticulture.  The inc

Cascading Prunus mahaleb_Reworked

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 Long autumn evenings, short rainy days - what a great time to spend some time on dead wood carving.   Well, for sure.  There is a lot of other work to be finished before the winter but my fingers were itching so badly that I have no other choice than to grasp a Dremel and few chisels.    Still long way to go but it starts showing the potential...   Airlayered in spring 2020, separated in Sept.   There is more details in the post published on 26th Sept.  Reworked at the end of October Possible new front Need to decide about the direction of the main branch.  Semi or full cascade?  I would prefer a cascade - just a matter of my preferences - but the trees is quite strongly asking for a semi... and much more work on the dead wood. 

Prunus spinosa_Curling_Trimmed

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Height: 27 cm from the rim of the pot Pot:  Training I really like this small tree.  The mirrored movement of the top section looks quite special.   Two headed dragon?  Dancing snakes?  Black - white?   Good - Evil?   Yin - yang?   Pretty much in line with the  role that blackthorn played in our history - see the previous post. I hope that now after all that time with one step forward and two steps back I have found a direction to follow.   Well, nearly.  Still must decide how to proceed with the low branch on the right and  select more appropriate pot.  The rest is "just"  a horticulture.     The green mass on the top of soil = a shredded moss to promote growth of surface roots.  Fingers crossed.

Too many Prunus perhaps? Never mind, here is another one...

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I do not think there will be a day when I say: "Enough is enough"  and as a result I would stop collecting this genus. Perhaps it is because they are part of my life since the time I can hardly remember... An old  bird cherry was the first tree I was able to climb. At was at my age of  three or perhaps four?  And it was only possible with a massive help of the girls who were taking care of me.  It must have been a hard job to push my fat ass up the tree.   Frankly, I do not remember that part too much but,  I do remember the feelings when I stood on the lower branch with the whole world below me.  Who would care that I was not able to reach any of the cherries - the girls did a good job there as well.    And what about blackthorns?   I used to watch the berries,  as they were moving up and down in the large storage jar that my beloved grandfather used for making wine.  Much more worth than most of the programs on TV these days...    And what about the return from the other