Czech Yamadori

 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...

Mahalebs are hard working trees.   They tend to keep their leaves till the first harder frost night and then they simply drop them.   At least this is very often the case with mahalebs in our place.  And I think this is also the case for some other species from the Prunus Genus like apricot for one. But sometimes for unknown reasons they could present some splendid colours.  Like this little mahaleb.      Height: 34 cm Collected: 2012

 ...I mean the winter silhouette of the small Pyrus pyraster.      Airlayered yamadori. Height 38 cm Training pot

 X-Men?   The Hug Men?  Predator?     Forget it.   My brother in scissors Rasťo has come with the perfect name.   Frankly, I had to look for the meaning of Ent in the wiki but once I saw the picture  I was in love with it.    Perfect.   Thank you, Rasťo.   OK, back to the Ent. I  have made some corrections to lower parts last night.   It still needs some indian ink to blend nicely with the rest. And then few coats of resin to preserve it.    The crown  needs to add some wood.  Not too much though.   I do not like trees that have a lot of deadwood  combined with a flourishing crown full of branchlets.   But that is not a problem of the tree but rather of the person behind it... Prunus mahaleb_The Ent Height: 50 cm Pot: Training China          

 About 4-5 years ago I started pondering about getting some more native species to my collection.  Specifically cornus and eonymus.   It is easy to plan but knowing the growth habit of these species I knew it would require a large amount of luck while being on my knees thoroughly searching undergrowth.  For sure there are plenty of them all around my place.  The only problem they are in form of straight sticks... Anyway, here we are:  Euonymus europaeus in early winter colour boasting with few fruits that I left there for joy.      Origin: Ground layered yamadori Height:  17 cm Pot: Klika&Kuratkova.   A bit oversized one but it is the way I prefer

 Some of my trees seem to be a bit unpatient. During last weeks of the Summer they were eagearly looking for the first changes of the weather and now they are getting ready to change  a bit obsolete green colour of their leaves into the more bright and fancier autumn festivity colours... This little Pyrus pyraster is really the fastest one.  I know that some people claim  that this is a sign of a weak tree. Well, I do believe that this could be the case but on the other hand some trees are simply quicker than the others...  And apart from the individual differencies I know that I can delay the senescence by defoliation done a bit later in the Summer.   Anyway, I do believe this tree is quite healthy.     Pyrus pyraster Height:   38 cm  Pot: China Origin: Airlayered yamadori collected in central Bohemia  Still long way to go to get a more decent nebari...             ...