Czech Yamadori

This little tree seems to be not very cooperative in helping me to have a more oval shaped crown... Height: 34 cm Width: 35 cm Pot: Martin Ašenbrenner_wood fired kiln In training since 2012 Nov 2019 October 2019

The picture below has been taken in 2018.  Happy days... On this picture you can see the thread graft - on the left side of the trunk.   I was quite optimistic that it is on a good way to make it and that it can be separated  later that year.   Reality? You can see the remains of it on the picture taken in early October 2019.   Bad luck or doing something badly? As you can see I have left this year growth untouched.  Till the early November to be precise... Then a short visit in the barber shop and another meeting with my Dremel.   But that was just a fine tuning. No dramatic change. November 2019 I have left the low branch on the right side in place.  Not sure if I will keep it in the future design.  Height: close to 50 cm

Another small tree that has been collected in central Bohemia in 2016.  I am so grateful for the lucky coincidence to find a place where the Nature has done most of the work... 2017 2019 Height: 18 cm Width:   25 cm Style: Informal upright with cascading branch  ( at least that's the plan for the time being )

Any time I am moving close enough to this tree I can here: POT, POT, POT .  Loud and clear. Can you hear that too? The tree seems to be desperate to move into a proper pot.   In fact that was the plan for  this spring. But after more closer inspection of the roots I have decided to postpone the move  and to improve the root ball in the meantime.  So this is the reason for a sacrifice branch.   Height: +40 cm Pot: Plasthalla Age: Collected in 2015 The open space in the foliage ( see below ) has not been left for birds to fly through.    Somewhere there is a pampered tiny branch that may fill the space one day...  I hope.

I do not like the  before and after series when it comes to styling a tree.  That is a kind of a shortcut that is more about the person than about the tree.  On the other side  I am happy to accept that series of  pictures  mapping in detail a transition of  a starter pine into a piece of art ( such as we can see with Kimura, Suzuki etc. )  is a great studying material. But for me this is a quite different story.    And what  about sharing pictures that map  a development of the tree in the course of years?  Well, I think it is a bit different  but still  maybe not fair  ( at least  from the perspective of the tree ).    Would you ask Bella Hadid to share  how she looked like at the age let say twelve?  Would you be even interested to see it?    Please meet my Bella Hadid.  I hope  it doesn't mind sharing the pics from its early times in a pot. Height: 24 cm Pot: Martin Ašenbrenner  Oct 2019 Summer 2016 Height: 20 cm Oct 2013

  What is all this fuss about ?   An autumn?   Gosh. I do not care - I do love spring and my blossoms... This little tree was bought a long time ago as a stick in the garden center with the idea to have a bonsai from it. One day.   After two or three years I have ground it and left it unnoticed for another good number of years.  Last year I have given it another closer look and decided that there is some potential for further development... Potentilla fruticosa_cinquefoil Height: 17 cm Pot: Hugo Studeník Spring 2019_first styling and rough structural carving.  

Height: 17 cm Pot: unknown The size of the pot and the position of the tree is based on the current state of the roots.   I hope it has improved from last check and we will see next spring...

Blackthorns do not produce great autumn colours.  At least in my garden... But it seems this autumn could be a bit special.  For sure for this small one.  The blackthorn has been allowed to grow without any restriction this year - just to support the air layer.  I will keep the branches  as they are till there are any working leaves.  Then I will shorten them a bit somewhere around the beginning of Nov, I guess.  Ahh, nearly forgot about the long branch on the right side.   It was there just to help to improve the reverse taper.  The job has been done ( nearly ) but I feel like keeping it in place and adjust the rest of the tree accordingly. Height: 27 cm from the rim of the pot  (as  expected after the trimming ) Pot:  Training

One of the few trees collected in 2014.   Nicely built semi cascading trunk with upward growing branches.   The initial idea then was to reduce the length of upward going branches and build the crown from their remains.  The branches on the both sides have developed new shoots reasonably close to the main trunk so in that case there was not any problem to proceed with the reduction.  The branch in the middle has not produced any new shoots closer to the trunk.  There was just the one I have left after the collection. 2015 Closer inspection of the branch in the middle revealed a live vein that has crawled up to feed the shoots on the top.   One can feel it under the bark. The rest of that branch was dead.  And not even that.   Once I have started to remove the bark  I have realised that the dead part is much bigger than anticipated.   2018  So this is the starting point for the next season.  Hardly can wait to see how I am going to tackle this challenge...

Winter solstice with its longest night of the year has passed and from now on the nights will be shorter and shorter.   It is way too early to get out to sniff out the first gusts of spring, but we know it is on the way.    Just be patient, have some winter sports if you care and for sure enjoy the planning of next development of your trees.    Have a great time.     Thank you all who visit this site now and then.    A special THANKS to Luďek, Mark, Maros, Peter, Rasťo and Salvador for their effort letting  me know they have cared.   Prunus mahaleb_Fat belly 2015  2016 Spring 2017 Winter A bit blurry pic 2018 Winter Pruned in November.   Second round of carving focused on the jin on the back side.  

Apart from collecting some really big trees I am also building up the number of small trees.  There are basically two practical reasons for that.  First - weight,  second - it is faster to achieve reasonable results in case you are starting from seed or cuttings.  Starting from seed or cuttings? Yes.  It is definitely the best way to start small tree.  Well, I know, small trees collected  from  Nature may have a great character. But there are also a lot of challenges.  Is it worth the effort?  Don't know, leaving that open... Let's start with Yamadori.  The following little mahaleb could make a good representative of this category. So what do we have to start with? Problematic roots The only solution to fix this is the air/ground layer.   Keep fingers crossed to get nice even distribution of new roots that could be used to grow nice nebari. Got it?  Great, but it is only the first step.  Then, how long does it take to the point when new roots will get the similar charact

Sunny and reasonably cold.  On some places in the south there was -20°C.  The central part is much warmer  just below -10°C.  No snow though.  Hoar frost.  The weather forecast  for next week indicates  daily temps around 12°C.   So for the time being I have left most of my trees outside.  The only ones I have moved to the frost free area are the newly airlayered guys, some of the threadgrafted trees and some others. This elm is the only one of the airlayered bunch that has not been separated this autumn.   I will check it once again in spring.   The reason?  Pretty much the same as for the small spindle tree.   The real growth of new roots has only started in Sept.   At that time there was just few tiny roots that have developed since the late spring when the air layer has been made.  One of them was visibly stronger - with diameter just 2-3 mm.  I was considering to cut it short but then I have left it alone.   Right now this root was over 12 mm.   Within two and half  months of

Cornelian cherries are one of the most attractive deciduous trees for bonsai.   Not easy in terms of development ( I should really take some deshi time at Maros's ) and they will always look a bit rough.   But in any other aspect they are just great.  At least for me.    ( Well, one should not take this too seriously. As my wood guru said: "If there is not the timber  I love,  then I love the one that is available here".  ) The wood of  Cornelian cherries is extremely hard. Dense and Hard.  Difficult to carve but very resistant to the rot.  It means the deadwood is a quite natural feature.   The flowers are quite special.  First the flower buds are formed into small but distinctive balls that makes this tree look through the rest of the season different from any other species in our region.    The buds are formed in the summer and they are really very keen to show their unpretending beauty as soon as possible once the first winter snow starts melting.   I do l

How much dead wood is too much???   Well,  if I look on some specimen of Prunus mume I know there are no limits for that.   So lets go and see what the tree will look like in another 5 years from now.  I certainly hope for more visible progress... 😎 2017 Finally,  I have separated the stronger of the two threadgrafts.  The other one doesn't look like it is ready to go without the feeder.  Let see how it goes next season... CURRENT FRONT FRONT_OPTION LEFT RIGHT 2012