Czech Yamadori

  Collected in 2004.    Current height  54 cm.  Pot: Yixing. The design of this tree really doesn't reflect the natural habitus of  Cornus in the area I live.    In its natural habitat in Central Bohemia ( limestone based dry slopes ) it grows like a shrub or a small multiple trunks tree up to 3-4 m.  Its native range is in Southern Europe from where it has been taken  by Celts to Central Bohemia I guess. Another location where it can be found  and it is quite abundant is in south Moravia.  Below you can see a typical habitus of Cornus . https://pladias.cz/taxon/pictures/Cornus%20mas#image4,  Aleš Moravec This is a typical location in Central Bohemia.   

 Prunus spinosa_Blackthorn is one of the most attractive trees that can be used for bonsai.   Abundant white buds that look like a pearl develop in full blossoms early in March.   Leaves come a bit later.  And as they are quite small they doesn't "spoil" the elegance of the tree.  The fruit is green  at the beginning but later on it develops its typical dark blue colour.   And again  the size of the fruit is quite small so it is almost perfect fit to the tree.    

 Cold.    This is the first thing that would cross my mind talking about this Spring.   It means  some extra portion of physical activity in the evening and then in the next morning to move some trees into and out of the shelter.  But thats OK.  Physical activity is good for our health so no reason to complain.  And to look on it even from a brighter side - the cold spell has extended the Hanami - flower viewing quite significantly.   Flowering quice Blackthorn

 A single trunk  specimen with a raised root that is fused with the main trunk well above the current soil level.   That  indicates that originally  most of the current trunk has been burried under the soil.   The tree is well over 30 years old - it has been planted as a 2-3 years seedling at the side of the D4 highway in central Bohemia.   Lot of refinement ahead but that is a joy with all these blossoms seasoning the journey in late winter/early spring.   

  You never know.      Just imagine.  You  have a very old larch.  Each autumn you eargerly check the buds to see if there is any that could possibly develop into the blossom.   And year after year there is NO SINGLE ONE. Then you pass by a neglected small something that is much closer to a seedling than to a reasonably sized tree.   Gosh.  You can't believe your eyes.  The little blooming bastard is in bloom... So it is now proudly sitting on a prime position next to a sizeable mahaleb.   Let it enjoy a few moments of glory. Note: This small larch was collected just few years ago just like 2-3 years old seedling.  Years from collection 3-4 ?   How old it could be then?   Definitely less than 10 years. Most of the scientific papers would quote the age of 15 as a point when larches reach their sexual maturity.   See below one of them.  Jan Matras1 and Luc E. Pâques2...

Rough structure & missing wood ....       Still long way to go....           But when in full bloom?                       Well,  not too bad.... 

 What a strange name of a bonsai I thought the other day while reading some bonsai magazine featuring a stunning bonsai in early stages of blooming.     Few days later I have looked on one of my blackthorns and suddenly I have noticed that there are pearls all over it... Can you see them?      

 Defoliated in early March and since then protected against frost.  The picture below has been taken on 16th April  This one is from 1st June.   You can see the other Pyracantha on the right only with buds.

  One of the early runners.   Lot of blossoms here while some other mahalebs are just about to start showing first flowe buds.  Most of them came from the same yamadori location meaning that their genotype is/should be fairly similar  but they were overwintered on differenet places around my place.  Good for me.   Thanks to that the spring festivity season will last longer... Pot: Hugo Studeník

It would make more sense to solely focus on the ramification as the Chinese flowering quince  Ch. speciosa is known for its reluctance to ramify.   But I cannot resist to keep the blossoms buds on the tree.   At least for this year.    To deal with this clash_ramification x blossom_ I have three blossoming quinces in pots  so maybe I will keep only one to bloom next year.      

 

 ... repotted this spring into new pot from Martin Ašenbrenner.   A bit burned but that is something that may happen in wood fired kiln.    And yes, the pot is a bit oversized in length and height but it was still the best fit from those readily available.  I have something like another 2-3 years to get some more pots to find the right one.   As " my portfolio " of shohin is growing  nicely I need to shop for more pots anyway.     

 The spring is about the joy of new life.  Blossoms on our trees are  cherries on a cake of  the new season.    Blossoms on larches are something special you do not take for granted.   They may come every single year on some trees while on some others it is a kind of special treat if they appear.    Female blossoms & a cone from the last year.  No male blossoms there yet.

There were few days with temps well over 22°C.   Nice sunny spring days.   The weather fcast for next fortnight has looked quite nice - so I could not resist to take trees from their winter shelter and place them on the shelves.   With the Easterns on their way the temperatures went down.   We may get some snow again and temps may go slightly to the red zone.  No major problem for most of my plants. Nevertheless I will move some of them to the non frost area anyway.  Freshly repotted shohins etc.  Physical activity is supposed to extend your life so I do not complain... 2nd April From this angle the lower part looks like a typical masculine feature.  The picture below is from the 24th March 2020.    

Busy days with watering as the temps are pretty much like in the early summer and rain nowhere in sight... Just thinking how it will look like to lay flat on my back under this tree.  For sure a pain seeing all these pieces of lava there...  But still,  would be nice to do it.

I do believe that the size of trees that goes over 60 cm is the most appropriate for bonsai.   And this is why I still keep looking for trees of that size.   At the same time though,  I do realise that handling such trees could be a pain.  (Well, to be fair,  not necessarilly - I have a birch that is now over 95 cm and I can handle it quite easily, but it is a kind of exception).  And it is not just about handling - the big trees need  reasonably large space - and in my case this is another critical factor.  You may add another point and that is related to the speed of development - "building" small tree takes usually significantly less time.  Not important factor for me,  but fair to mention here. As a result and despite the fact I am a big fan of large trees there are more and more small trees that are invading my place. Like this small Prunus mahaleb.   Collected in 2014 - with a lot of expectations that were gra...