Czech Yamadori

One of the few trees collected in 2014.   Nicely built semi cascading trunk with upward growing branches.   The initial idea then was to reduce the length of upward going branches and build the crown from their remains.  The branches on the both sides have developed new shoots reasonably close to the main trunk so in that case there was not any problem to proceed with the reduction.  The branch in the middle has not produced any new shoots closer to the trunk.  There was just the one I have left after the collection. 2015 Closer inspection of the branch in the middle revealed a live vein that has crawled up to feed the shoots on the top.   One can feel it under the bark. The rest of that branch was dead.  And not even that.   Once I have started to remove the bark  I have realised that the dead part is much bigger than anticipated.   2018  So this is the starting point for the next season.  Hardly can wa...

Winter solstice with its longest night of the year has passed and from now on the nights will be shorter and shorter.   It is way too early to get out to sniff out the first gusts of spring, but we know it is on the way.    Just be patient, have some winter sports if you care and for sure enjoy the planning of next development of your trees.    Have a great time.     Thank you all who visit this site now and then.    A special THANKS to Luďek, Mark, Maros, Peter, Rasťo and Salvador for their effort letting  me know they have cared.   Prunus mahaleb_Fat belly 2015  2016 Spring 2017 Winter A bit blurry pic 2018 Winter Pruned in November.   Second round of carving focused on the jin on the back side.  

Another growing season for this interesting flowering quince.  In the part one I have given quite lengthy comments on its collection so no need to repeat myself ( https://doriyama.blogspot.com/2017/12/flowering-quincetrunk-it.html ) 2017  winter Building the basic structure of primary branches & leader &  I should not forget the other "foot" that I have also started ( see below the youngest part of it  - yellowish new roots ).   Anyway, for the time being it is still called Long John Silver...   The bark is showing its age.  I know nothing to compare with some other species,  but this is Chaenomeles. 2018 Pics taken today ie 18. Dec.  Nice bright sunny spell.   John is still with remains of green leaves and a number of developing new leaf buds.  He obviously did not pay any attention to the season ( there were few nights with temps close to - 10°C )  Tough guy as much as his namesake....

This little tree has been collected about the same time as the Zorro.  So, quite a long time ago.     But it was only in 2015  when I have decided to pick this little Ciderella and move it to the next stage... 2015 Development of lowest branches and the top leader to get some taper. 2017 The top leader has reached desired thickness and it will be shortened in the course of 2018 .   The lowest branches have been pruned back as well. 2018 The basic structure of the lowest branches is there.  Now I need to focus on development of branches in the top section.   I also plan to move the tree into a flat wooden container to work on surface roots.  

Few years ago I confiscated this Crassula ovata cultivar Monstruosa from my wife.   Despite the obvious age - the diameter at the soil lever is about 12 cm - it has never produced a single flower. Well, I should say until this  winter.   Only few of them and not very showy but happy to have them.   2017 2018 This is a blossom of the common Crassula ovata.  Again just a few ones on each of the plant.  Is it because the autumn was a bit warmer then the plant needs for nice flowering.  Maybe too much water?   Any idea what should be done to get it flower more?

Red firethorn started fom cuttings in 2006 2018  Spring  Winter Height: 18 cm Crabapple / Malus evereste #2 Started from seed in 2011 I guess .  2013  2018   Height:  17 cm Crabapple / Malus evereste #3 Smaller tree from the same lot. 2018  Height:  11 cm So, as you can see you can "build" a shohin sized prebonsai reasonable quickly .     Just in case...  The apple trees above are not the same:) Even more strange: different autumn coloration of leaves Other projects?   Yes, I do have a few. Main focus? I hope to move from this screwdrivers compositon to something that would be more appropriate to my current taste...

Apart from collecting some really big trees I am also building up the number of small trees.  There are basically two practical reasons for that.  First - weight,  second - it is faster to achieve reasonable results in case you are starting from seed or cuttings.  Starting from seed or cuttings? Yes.  It is definitely the best way to start small tree.  Well, I know, small trees collected  from  Nature may have a great character. But there are also a lot of challenges.  Is it worth the effort?  Don't know, leaving that open... Let's start with Yamadori.  The following little mahaleb could make a good representative of this category. So what do we have to start with? Problematic roots The only solution to fix this is the air/ground layer.   Keep fingers crossed to get nice even distribution of new roots that could be used to grow nice nebari. Got it?  Great, but it is only the first step.  Then, how long doe...