Czech Yamadori

Small trees in my backyard... Part five:  Prunus spinosa_Smaller than small Height: Around 10 cm Collected: Central Bohemia Age: + 20 years It is quite difficult to find a decent sloe in my region.  Most of them look pretty much like a stick to support tomatoes.  Only a few have reasonable thick trunk,  but no taper.  Finally,  a very few are worth of collection.  Lucky enough to find one after hours you have spent on your knees clearing your way through the prickly shrubs?   GREAT.  You have completed the easy part.  NOW you  face a challenge how to bring home not only the trunk, but also enough roots to keep the plant alive. BUT if you succeed,  then you are every single spring rewarded with a flood of delicate yellowish white blossoms that contrast with dark chocolate color of the branches and trunk.  After the pollination the  fruits appear.  Small hardly visible green balls that quickly gain vo...

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...

The Drunkard This is my first hawthorn.   The name which is not very poetic for bonsai comes from its twisted roots.   If I remember well the tree has grown in a crevice that has formed the basic shape of the roots.  The piece of stone at the base of the tree came only some time after the  collection.   The growing pot is a bit larger to allow the free growth of  roots that are encircling the stone from its front and back.  I hope that within the next one or two growing seasons to roots will be strong enough to present them as a surface roots that should create with the existing ones a stable root base. Front  view Back view Detail of my stupid attempt to speed up the ageing of the bark at the bottom section of the tree.  A few years ago I used a flat chisel to puncture the bark.  While the idea is maybe not completely wrong the execution was a disaster.  The cuts are too dense and the appearance of this part of the tru...

Prunus mahaleb_A bit of procrastination I should have been working on the apple tree this weekend.   Well, as I have been  still contemplating the possible design of it from different angles for quite a bit of time  I have decided to stop it  for now and to work on another teaser.    The cock - that is the nickname of this tree in my file - is about 24 cm tall and nearly 40 wide.   If you look at it there are two nearly independent part.  The first one in the shape of twisted pig tail and the other  is stretched to the side trying to reach something in a far distance.   From the side, it looks like a cock to me.    Well, the tree is not THAT  bad.   I would rather say it is I who cannot grab its natural yamadori beauty and make the most of it. Nov 2014 Spring 2015 Summer 2015 After pruning  Front Option 1 Detail of the shari and jins The greyish part is the origina...

     Global warming_a final proof_hummingbirds spotted at Czech Karst near Karlstein This is the final proof to stop the  endless discussion about global warming.   The  hummingbirds that are without any doubt a  typical representative of birds with domicile in  tropical or subtropical countries on the other side of the globe have been spotted and photographed in central part of Czech republic.   This place near the castle Karlstein is known as the Czech Karst and it is also a place with temperatures well above the rest of the country.   This factor plus its proximity to the Prague's airport could lead to a possible explanation of this breaking news.   The world -wide known Czech ornithodologist  Karel Hauptvogel is  rock-solid sure:  "  The hummingbirds are merciless invaders of new territories.  In last few thousands of years they extended their habitat located  originally in central  America t...

Current height:  60 cm Collected: Spring 2014 This Pear has grown in the tiny  stone pit used in the past by locals to get some material for their houses.   The pit was abandoned while ago and now the nature is slowly taking it back. The hawthorns, wild roses, locust trees are the dominant species that are again invading the space with enormous vigour. I came to this area during my search for the blackthorns that grow on the adjacent slopes.   I was initially attracted by the hawthorns and only accidently spotted a tree that grew in the pocket in the otherwise upright stone wall.  Many years ago a small seed of a pear landed in the crack of weathered rock.  Anchored the first tiny roots and begun the life of struggle with hard rock, scarce water and nutrient supply.   The nature elements - water, frost, sun and wind - have combined their forces to erode the place more and more.   On one side it was beneficial to the tree on the other side t...