Czech Yamadori

A burl from birch,   a number of different tools, persistence.  And more than 20 hours of carving.  In early stages of my learning curve.  I hope the next one will be better.  Not sure about the time spent, though . With more elaborate curves... 49  x  24  x  4 cm 19,3  x  9,5  x  1,6''

Water. Nutrients, Oxygen.  Warm. That is the basics to make and keep  roots of our plant happy. Substrate?  This is "just" a king of anchoring medium and we can use different materials,  providing we deliver the items in the first line. I believe that the same should be applied  trying to make a good airlayer. A good airlayer.   What do I mean by that?    A process in which we will force the plant to produce a new set of roots at desired position. That is: Numerous roots that grow all around the circumference of the trunk. A great start to produce a flare in the lower part of the trunk with nicely spread radial surface roots.  That was I believe the main/initial  purpose of the air layering technique. When it comes to airlayering a good start is importat.  Bearing this in mind I start the preparation usually in the course of previous year.  Main target -  to get as much new growth as possible. If the target is met,  then I start the air layer. If not I skip it for n

This pear  found a way to my garden a few years ago.   And only after another good number of years I was passing by it.  This was definitely NOT a love on a first sight.  And at the time I have decided to collect it there was a nasty surprise below the surface.   At a first sight plenty of small feeder roots.  But we know this could be deceptive.  You must be sure that they are part of your targeted plant.   So I have started to dig deeper and deeper to find the place where the first  feeder roots are connected to the primary root.   Bad luck the place was more than 50 cm deep below the soil level.  Gosh. Right.  At home, I have squeezed the long primary roots with collected feeders somehow into the large plastic pot and left it for a few years there. Spring 2019 - time to start with the airlayer Late summer 2019  - first check to see the result.  Yes, I have learned to be very patient.  ( not really:(  ) And this is how it looks... Before separation.  Just removed the bask

Another mahaleb waiting patiently for its new container.  A lot of fast wood there.  Just have a look on the down hanging branch on the right... It would take another few years to get nice conicity and finer structure.  But for the time being - yes there is a tree.  At least if you present it with a low resolution and its getting dark...  The piece of deadwood stretched to the left seems to be too much.   Height: current  33 cm, expected +/-36

Last year I decided to move this semi cascade further on to the full one.   Still not there,  but at least the lowest branch has been extended a bit and now we will wait for next spring to change the planting angle.  Would be nice to have a new pot too, but frankly I doubt it.  I cannot see the one I have in mind around. In the meantime, I am trying to develop more side roots on the massive anchoring root  that goes across the rock.   Still not there. I guess this goes on my account as I cannot keep the place moist... Front And there is another thing that bothers me a bit.  And this is the 'strange' habit of  some species of the Prunus family.  They produce shoots just with berries with no leaves on them.  And unfortunately this results in the loss of the branch.   You can see that in the middle of the crown.  The branches with fruits will be lost by the autumn.  I need to find out how to deal with that.   Lets see some articles  about Mume.

I am really a strange type of guy.   Most of bonsai folk would try to get a yew with as many twists and sections of deadwood as possible.  Just have a look around.   And my yew looks like a lamp post... Strange, isn't. Taxus baccata Height: 25 cm from the rim of the pot. I am somewhere at the beginning of building the right structure of branches with rosettes.  Not sure there is enough space in between layers to do something structured.  We will see... Many years ago I saw an  ancient gracious yew in the garden that belongs to the visually impaired  center where I was doing some community job.   I have not take any picture but the vision of it is deeply imprinted in my memory...

There are not many common plums  in the world of bonsai.  Why is that?  Happy to learn. I was always thinking about getting one,  but could not find any decent Yamadori.  As my clock are ticking faster and faster I was quite desperately looking for something  reasonably good.   ( reasonable =  anything I am able to get a hold ).   Based on this approach two reasonable specimens have landed on my place this spring.   Too early to share though - lets wait for next spring.  There is nothing wrong being a little superstitious isn't it. In the meantime,  I am happy to share  two pics.  A wild form  designed by the Nature and a picture of a plum from a garden.  That one looks very different from the rest of the common plums I have ever seen.  But believe me it is a common plum... This is a typical shape of common plum  And this one is from a garden.  Frankly,  I do not believe the owner is taking too much care of it.  I guess the basic structure was made years ago and since th