Czech Yamadori

Massive nebari is probably the most attractive feature  right now... The trunk has nice white color... The crown starts showing some initial branch structure and even some sort of ramification...    Is it a birch, though? Birches tend to be slim, tall trees with thin long branches.  White in color with lots of black spots.  Joyful dalmatians.   Well, at least the vast majority of birches looks like that.    For sure, this tree will never have such typical habitus.   On the other side there are some very old gnarled birches that definitely differ from the " typical" birch perception.    Looking at this one I know that I need to go into this direction.    And that would require a lot of time to get the right appearance of age.   This tree looks promising but still looking way  toooo young for that category.    

Dewired and lightly pruned. Need to fix the scar in the top section next season.                                                                       

 I have this larch in my collection from 2013 I guess.   We had met few years before the collection in fact neverthless I was more focused on the deciduous trees at that time for one and I did not like the strange looking elbow like branch near the top of the tree.   Luckily that did not prevent me to visit this tree  any time I was in the area.   Still it has taken me few years to realise that the elbow like branch is something special.  Something similar to what  makes  monumental larches in Switzerland so special.    Collected: Central Bohemia 2013 Height:  43 cm Pot: Tokoname  Getting there.  Need some more styling and time to improve...   Elbow like branch_situated on the back of the tree Elbow like branch Flower buds ready for next spring The only cone left after the removal of blossoms in the spring Improving surface roots I have added the moss on the surface only this spring with the hope to get some new roots to improve the heavily one sided nebari a bit.  Very happy indeed fo

With the late autumn approaching and my deciduous trees  gradually changing their colours and loosing their leaves I feel a bit more curious about the structure of their branches.   Yeah, you try your best to keep it and develop even in the peak season but the real picture is shown only now.  Winter look.        Repot next spring and try to have more ramification.  Frankly, not much of a progress this year.  I do love this pot but maybe the birch has different view...    

 Long autumn evenings, short rainy days - what a great time to spend some time on dead wood carving.   Well, for sure.  There is a lot of other work to be finished before the winter but my fingers were itching so badly that I have no other choice than to grasp a Dremel and few chisels.    Still long way to go but it starts showing the potential...   Airlayered in spring 2020, separated in Sept.   There is more details in the post published on 26th Sept.  Reworked at the end of October Possible new front Need to decide about the direction of the main branch.  Semi or full cascade?  I would prefer a cascade - just a matter of my preferences - but the trees is quite strongly asking for a semi... and much more work on the dead wood. 

Basic data: Origin: Yamadori Collected in 2011 Height: 38 cm Width: 50 cm Pot: Growing - China  The tree has been nicknamed "The Drunkard"  thanks to the lower section of the trunk.   The current inclination of the trunk is +/- the same as it was on the original biotop.   At the very beginning I was thinking to follow the line of the trunk and develop a subtle crown  with opposite inclination.   You may recall a Collin Lewis's hawthorn  that I had in my mind as a design to follow.   Well, I guess most of us was trying to imitate someone else's bonsai in their early bonsai age.   Worse for me, I was in bonsai for nearly 10 years then.  Shame on me... Luckily I have decided  to make it different.  Maily because of the character of the trunk - not much movement in the middle section and overall thickness not very suitable for the Bunjingi.  So I have built a kind of Myogi instead.   Maybe not the best choice but at least it's me behind it... And here we go.   Strong

There was an article about this topic on this blog last spring.  Leaves on twisted branches have turned back within few days after the twist.  Surpriced?  Not really, I had noticed the same thing on a number of occasions on different deciduous species in my gardem.    Based on this results I have decided to make another test later in the year  to check what would be the reaction at the end of the growing season?  All plants are at that time working hard to store as much nutrients ( maily carbs ) as possible.  Having the largest possible  surface area of leaves should be one of the most important factor for production of carbs.   Based on this assumption I thought that the leaves on twisted branches should turned back within few days.  Results? 4.10.   Cotoneaster.  Just twisted.      13.10.   Nineth day after the twist.  C'mon quys - get moving!   Some changes there but most visibly at the end of the branch ie only the youngest leaves are back in their normal position.  The others