Czech Yamadori

Pyrus pyraster_ Pear_The Grandma I believe this is the oldest tree in my collection.    The Grandma of pears.     She grew at a very dry south facing slope.  Thin layer of poor substrate on a limy bed.  A scarce water supply in summers affecting the lenght of growing seasons...  That was the biotop that modeled her appearance for dozens of years before she has been spotted and collected by a bonsai novice.      I guess I would leave such tree alone these days having a respect for its wild character and ability to survive in such harsh environment.  But at that time I have just seen an amazing tree  and have not realised that a collection is only the very and the relatively easy beginning of a journey of such old tree from the wild to the bonsai pot... Autumn 2010 2013 Spring 2015 Spring 2015_An alligator skin all over the body

Prunus Spinosa_1 Prunus spinosa Height: 18 cm till the top jin Diameter:  4,5 cm Training pot  A sloe is one of my most favourite deciduous tree/bush.  There are  not many good quality blackthorns bonsai in the Czech Republic.   First of all it is quite difficult to find a decent tree in the nature. And secondly, it is even more difficult to collect a plant with enough roots to keep it alive.   The blackthorns grow  in clumps with a "single"  root system that starts from the mother plant.  Quite often the plant you have selected doesn't have fine roots at all.  There is only a kind of a root runner with no fine roots that is disappearing into the ground.    The small blackthorn on the pic has a fairly nice twisted trunk with the first signs of aging bark.  The trunk has a reversed taper  unfortunately.  I have tried to improve that by leaving there a sacrifice branch (the first one on the right ) and root...