Czech Yamadori

Birch_Do I really know where I go?  After the collection the little birch has spent some time in the ground.  Just a tiny layer of soil sitting on the rock bed.   That was my way of building a flat nebari at that time.  After a couple of years the tree has been potted.  The little bit indistinct suspicion that the tree is  "out of proportion" appeared in the most naked form. I had to drop the idea of a graceful a bit formal upright format  and the main trunk has been removed. Well,  if I start to overhaul something than it is difficult to stop me. You know that kind of itching urge " what about to change it a little bit here and there?"     So we have ended up with a number of root and branch thread grafts.  You remember the tree with the carry on handle don't you... Jan 2016.   I have started to fulfill one of my New Year's resolutions - Use your bonsai tackle wisely... No...

Another day in a woodland... I  have spent few hours in the nearby woodland today.   While the single target for the day was quite  clear: go out and find some decent blackthorn(s), I could not resist to make few photographs... Beeches are ready for the winter.  Nice thick bedding to cover their roots. I have never seen such buttress roots on a native tree.  Much more typical for a rainforest then for a mixed forest in our country  Wood ear   Auricularia auricula-judae - ready, well nearly, for the harvest:) Finally. after spending a good amount of time mostly on my knees pushing my way through the blackthorn undergrowth  I have found this massive trunk.    As mentioned somewhere in one of my earlier post.   To find a sloe with a good potential is quite difficult in my area.  Difficult but possible:) To bring it home and keep it alive - well, that's another story......

Golden glow Gingko. An "Old Faithful".  A species that never fail to deliver such  great colours...

Crassula ovata_blossoms The plant has spent most of the season on a balkony with a regular doses of sunshine, water and a fertiliser. As the temps got closer to the 0°C it has been moved to the inside. Now it is paying back...

Even with a small punch you can make a big show... said a Czech tennis player Barbora Strýcova asked about her feeling after the Czech ladies  have won  FED Cup  match against France.   Barbora is a great lady, very active and straightforward, who can match any sailor in the world when it comes to the use of  language.   In this specific conversation she has used a phrase that  expresses a fact that even a man with a small  penis can  make a big performance.    That was exactly the case in that match.  Barbara with her 164 cm of height looks very small in the world of ladies over 180 cm.   But her performance on the FED Cup was really great. I do believe that she has made the decisive turn around in the match and destroyed  the hopes of the French team to win the Cup.  I do admire the French ladies for their endeavor  and skills,  but I am very happy that the Czech team could make it. AGAIN.  A h...

Yamadori_Prunus manaleb_Cascade_First year of styling This  Mahaleb has been collected from my favourite P.M. golden pit in Central Bohemia in the spring 2015.    The first few months of our relationship  were not so positive as I hoped.   All the roots,  but one  have died off.   The only remaining one is emerging on the side of the trunk. It was a pencil thick,  but it seems it was strong enough to feed all the shoots with early spring flowers as you can see on the first pic.    As the tree shown a strong determination to make it - I have not resisted the temptation to do some homework on the dead wood in the course of last summer.  And as the tree was sitting in my small workshop I have made a basic pruning and wiring at the same time...   I guess another example of my a bit stupid approach: "to pull a devil by the tail"  just to test his reaction.  Luckily, the little hero has a strong motivation...

Prunus mahaleb_The dancing snake The story about this mahaleb was my first post on this blog two years ago...  click here The story has ended with  plans for the next development of the tree: namely get more branches and more weathered look of the dead wood. So how do we stand...? Well, first of all I should stop sharing my plans for future cultivation steps.   It is a bit too binding for a guy with a strong inclination to procrastinate... November 2016 The pictures are a bit busy at the top due to the two threadgrafts.  Well, yes - another threadgrafts in place.  I wish I could cultivate new branches from the buds,  but most of my mahalebs are not budding from the lower part of the trunk. In this case not even from the middle section of it.  So the treadgraft was for me a clear option to build the tree to my liking (+/-) Possible FRONT no 1. Possible FRONT no 2 While it may look for some of the enthusiasts a bit aggressive - there ...

The carnival of colours has just arrived... The flowers such as the Arenaria or Erodium are still shooting new blossoms but the autumn has finally safely landed also in our backyard. Carpinus betulus  I have collected this little tree earlier this year.   With the trunk diameter of 15 mm it was not the standard size I normally collect but this little fellow has developed into the very decent broom starter - so I could not resist... As at 25th October.  Still a bit shy to show what he can do... As at 31st October. Looking great in the morning sunshine... Pyrus pyraster This small pears shows a number of different colours ... Betula verrucosa I have hoped to get the tree to the 75-80 cm category this year.  The new terminal has shown a promissing start,  but then the tree has decided to switch the energy to the trunk in the effort to heal a bit the hollow part.  I feel she is a bit bossy with me... Maybe it is because I ...

Threadgrafting _modifications of standard technique  ( part 2 ) I know. I have promissed. And I have missed it. No excuse.  OR? I have spent the last few days just rambling in the vicinity of the place I live  as the weather was great..   Just a poor excuse to cover the  fact that I HAD A GREAT TIME Please fell free to enjoy  with me... One of my maples (Acer pseudoplatanus) in early morning  sunshine How many colours can you see?  One of my favourite spot.  Just behind the slope there is Prague... In fact I was not the only one who took a break to enjoy the warm autumn sunrays.  A crowd of firebugs  Pyrrhocoris apterus in the insect private sun spa... Well, back on the horsebacks now ... In this part of the article I am going to cover the so called OPEN THREADGRAFT and  THE TWO WITH ONE Threadgraft OPEN THREADGRAFT This is a method that combines an approach graft with a threadgraft and c...

Threadgrafting _modifications of standard technique  ( part 1 ) MODIFICATIONS??  Why do I need that? Well,  there are at least a few more or less good reasons. - Genetic predispositions of some plants  that could  disqualify the threadgrafting techniques  ( majority of needle  trees, evergreen plants, plants with large buds - ie linden or leaf opposed buds. - Timing .  Too busy in the spring or just made a decision on a restyling later in the year - Tight fit .  A hole with a diameter equal to the diameter of the branch? OK, how about the buds? - Speed .  You can obtain two new branches/roots with a single threadgraft.  Or even new roots and new branches PREDISPOSITION As with the standard threadgrafting method you should plan the threadgraft at least one year ahead to grow a suitable branch or to get the right VIGOROUS  seedling for a root graft NOT be too much concerned about the right season to...