Czech Yamadori

    I live in a place where you can find many abandoned orchards.  Sad.  The local producer was not able or willing to compete with the imported product and sold it to developers.  After all these locations are close to Prague so you can understand.  It was at the end of the 90 ties.  Since then - some of the land of orchards  was covered with blocks of flats ( crazy - this is supposed to be country land ) and many others are still there with overgrown trees.   Bad for the country, but something good for me.  I do there to get some nice tasting apples ( nothing to compare with the product engineered for the maximum profit ) and sometimes also to have some wood.   A few years ago I was able to collect there an interesting  V shaped trunk.    I have started to work on it at the end of the last year and the carving work has been  done in the early days of Jan.  Since then I am working on the fini...

A few year ago I managed to collect this interesting stump.  Did my best to dry it out slowly to avoid cracks.  And luckily this was the case.   Well, it is so easy to say but apart from some experience you still need a sizeable piece of luck to achieve that.   And I should  also mention something else:  PATIENCE.  Quite a challenge for me.  At the time of the collection I have realised that this piece of wood has a great potential.  And as my heart beats for root stands my mind has immediately started to work on the image.  So you are ready to transfer your vision into the reality but hey! You still need to wait 2-3 years at least  to  have the wood ready for the transformation.  Pain. Finally,  at the end of the last December the all of us were ready to go.   I mean the stump, me and the straight grinder&burrs.    Taking the stump in my hands and looking at it ( my mind was still fi...

If the dogs look like their owners does this also apply to our trees?    The logic is pretty much the same, isn't it.    We tend to select things that are somehow "compatible" with   perception of ourselves.  Prunus mahaleb_Double          If the above statement holds then I am affraid my problem is much bigger than originally thought...    

Another year spent on building the surface roots.  So far all the efforts were solely based on the usage of a sphagnum moss.  For the next years to come I will cover the soil with "standard"  moss while adding more acadama to the roots encircling the rock.  I feel that the first root from the top looks a bit strange.  Time to cut it off?  Happy for your thoughts. Happy with this deadwood.  Nice focal point. The roots shouts: " GO! Catch more sunrays, we hold you fast".   So it means a cascading trunk despite the horizontal line of it.  See the second and third pics.  I feel the third one is about right.   And if so I have another problem to find a suitable pot.  I do not like the crescent bonsai pot that one should "normally" use.   I guess I would need to combine something different to please my eyes. Despite the fact I do like semi or full cascades similar to this one I have to admit they a bit of a nuisance o...

 Most of my mahalebs are the last to drop their leaves.  Right now ie on the 30th of November there are still four of them with no signs of  changing color or being  damaged by frost ( the lowest temps so far was only -3°C,  27°F ).   While the other species in the garden have started  the colour festivity around early Nov the majority of mahalebs were in the status - what is the fuss about?   With the arrival of first frosty nights some of them have started to change their colour from green to something yellowish but definitely nothing spectacular.   Some others have simply drop their green leaves.  And the last group is still in full swing.  I can hear their whisper : carbs, carbs, carbs.   Height: 19 cm   The target height should be in the range of 23-26 cm.  

 

 This little-leaved linden is not very keen to callus open wound left after size reduction/horticulture cuts.  It doesn't look so bad at the first picture,  but if you look at the second one-you will understand. In the course of last 5-7 years I  have not seen any reasonable attempt to form a callus there.   So inevitably the time to pick my milling machines is getting closer.   As a last attempt I had made an approach graft earlier this spring - see the blueish circle at the second pic.   And I still plan to add another one on the other side of the wound - green circle.  I know that the wound of this size will never be closed but I just want to make it a bit narrower so the inevitable hollow will be less dramatic.   If I keep the front as it is in the first pic  the hollow will not be noticeable I guess.   And if I do the carving well - I can still use the other side as a front and have the tree in my prefe...