Czech Yamadori

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 no...

I guess that with this yamadori the mother Nature has been inspired by some of the trees made in mass production nurseries.   Well, to be fair, one can still  differentiate the part made by the mother Nature and  me.    Clearly, I have not spent too much time to elaborate what to do with it.   We will see how much time it would take to heal the wound on the trunk and to produce matured bark in the "new" top section.   Just that and I will be more than happy with it.  The lower part has very nicely formed alligator skin partially covered by silver lichen.  The tree as it is: It has survived my problematic horticulture last year ( the problem with overdone MTB cycling ).  This spring I have added few layers of sphagnum moss on the front section of the pot - crossing my fingers in a hope  I can get some new roots there.   Opened the crown to the light to promote backbudding.  Fingers crossed here too...

Another fairly small tree I have in my collection.   As I have defoliated this little guy quite late in the summer - early September in fact - I should keep  my fingers crossed for him to make it over the winter.   I do defoliate some of my mahalebs around that time but that is a quite different species.  They can keep the newly formed leaves till the end of December in my garden ( if you provide them with a little bit of special care ).   At the bottom -this is a pic of one of my mahaleb as it looks now.  Please note-this is not a standard practice I would recommend.  Height: 18 cm Pot: China In training since 2010 Prunus mahaleb_shohin 11th December.  Sunny day with temp around 2°C . Not sure if such extended season makes any significant change in terms of accumulated energy but it is a fun to have something that green in December.