Czech Yamadori

Blackthorns do not produce great autumn colours.  At least in my garden... But it seems this autumn could be a bit special.  For sure for this small one.  The blackthorn has been allowed to grow without any restriction this year - just to support the air layer.  I will keep the branches  as they are till there are any working leaves.  Then I will shorten them a bit somewhere around the beginning of Nov, I guess.  Ahh, nearly forgot about the long branch on the right side.   It was there just to help to improve the reverse taper.  The job has been done ( nearly ) but I feel like keeping it in place and adjust the rest of the tree accordingly. Height: 27 cm from the rim of the pot  (as  expected after the trimming ) Pot:  Training

This was the damage done by a caterpillar to one of my birch.  The entire chunk of trunk has passed through the digestive tract of the beast .  The remains of the trunk looked a bit strange - too weak to hold the mass of foliage I have planned to build. August 2015 Luckily the birch was very keen to close this wound with a callus.  So I have decided to take an advantage of it and have tried to form an uro.   Using an adjusted piece of wood squeezed between both sides of  newly developed callus and fixed firmly to the trunk. October 2019 This is how it looks like from the front: And from the right side. Nearly 3 cm of new wood added forming nicely shaped Uro.   Surely not very often seen on a birch but very happy with it :)

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.