Czech Yamadori

 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. 

Basic data: Origin: Yamadori Collected in 2011 Height: 38 cm Width: 50 cm Pot: Growing - China  The tree has been nicknamed "The Drunkard"  thanks to the lower section of the trunk.   The current inclination of the trunk is +/- the same as it was on the original biotop.   At the very beginning I was thinking to follow the line of the trunk and develop a subtle crown  with opposite inclination.   You may recall a Collin Lewis's hawthorn  that I had in my mind as a design to follow.   Well, I guess most of us was trying to imitate someone else's bonsai in their early bonsai age.   Worse for me, I was in bonsai for nearly 10 years then.  Shame on me... Luckily I have decided  to make it different.  Maily because of the character of the trunk - not much movement in the middle section and overall thickness not very suitable for the Bunjingi.  So I have built a kind of Myogi instead.   Maybe not the best choice but at least it's me behind it... And here we go.   Strong

There was an article about this topic on this blog last spring.  Leaves on twisted branches have turned back within few days after the twist.  Surpriced?  Not really, I had noticed the same thing on a number of occasions on different deciduous species in my gardem.    Based on this results I have decided to make another test later in the year  to check what would be the reaction at the end of the growing season?  All plants are at that time working hard to store as much nutrients ( maily carbs ) as possible.  Having the largest possible  surface area of leaves should be one of the most important factor for production of carbs.   Based on this assumption I thought that the leaves on twisted branches should turned back within few days.  Results? 4.10.   Cotoneaster.  Just twisted.      13.10.   Nineth day after the twist.  C'mon quys - get moving!   Some changes there but most visibly at the end of the branch ie only the youngest leaves are back in their normal position.  The others