on the road again

See travelogues for the exhibit in the Nymphenburg Porcellaine Factory.
I will fly to Washington and Oregon for two and a half weeks. Reports after July 7 in travelogues.

still one more RMJ - part 2

Some finer styling of the crown in June 2007.

1) before
2) other side
3) right in between
4) finished for the time being
5) virtual with better pot.

Give him another five years and it will be fine.

still one more RMJ - part 1

This came to Europe already in 1999. But it never looked healthy enough to do final styling. Well, now in June 2007 it did. By now I am running out of larger RMJs. I still have a dozen real small ones here vthough. So I will have to go visit my American collection next week.

1) 2003
2) spring 2005
3)to 5) cleaning and preparation of deadwood, using fire. The cloth is to protect the living parts from the flame
6 and 7) after

new trident maple - part 2

Since there seems to be more interest than I thought about this 'mutilation' that I possibly plan, here some more information.

The blue dot shows the rather thick branch right in front of the trunk. If I cut the branch off there would be a hole of about the size of the blue ring. This hole could be round with a knob cutter. It could possibly close within a few years. I could also make it irregular and even larger. This would then eventually look like a hole that came about after a branch broke off a long time ago. I am not decided at this point in time what sort of hole I want there.

But besides the problem or non-problem of the hole in the trunk there would be a hole in the canopy. This is shown by the red circle. This area would be without foliage. One could see into the crown and the umbrella effect would be diminished. This is the real reason for contemplating the cut. The hole in the trunk would just be taken into account as a side effect.

Or I do nothing and declare this tree as a bonsai meant for the winter silhouette. Without foliage the front branch would not bother.

Well, maybe someone wants the tree exactly as is and I don't have to make a decision anyway. We'll see.

new trident maple - part 1

This trident maple (Acer burgerianum) was part of a trade. It looks very healthy, has not a single hole in the trunk and the pot by Peter Krebs is fabulous. At the moment the crown looks like an umbrella. This tree will look a lot better without foliage. I wonder about cutting off the thick branch right in front.It would open the view into the crown. I am sure the former owner has often thought about this too. But I believe he did not do it because the tree otherwise has not a single hole, as so many other trident maples have. Well, I kind of like interesting holes on deciduous trees. I know exactly that these are considered second rate in Japan. But we are not in Japan and I do not consider holes bad as long as they look natural. Very often they can make an otherwise boring tree interesting. I think this is a boring trident maple. While it could win awards for being 'perfect' it does not turn me on, I don't want to sleep with him. I would not give him high points. So let's think about mutilating the tree to make it more sexy. No joke, btw. Or I wait for the fool who wants the immaculate trident maple and pays accordingly.

triple trunk RMJ

This one comes from Dolorado. I got it in fall of 2005. It is rahter small, only 35 cm high.
RMJ = Rocky Mountain Juniper, Juniperus scopulorum

1) fall of 2005
2) June 2007, before
3) June 2007 after first styling
pot by Ian Bailly

RMJ cascade - part 2

in June 2007 the junipe screamed for final styling.

1) before
2 to 4) three possible fronts again

pot by Axel Brockmann

RMJ cascade - part 1

This one comes from South Dakota. I got it in fall of 2004.

1) spring 2005
2) summer 2006 before cleaning
3) summer 2005 after cleaning
4) summer 2006 after cleaning, also good side

the pine with the knob

This is a collected and well established Austrian black pine, Pinus nigra Austriaca. It was part of a trade yesterday. Apparently noone other than me wanted it. This is a nice tree with an interesting big knob in the trunk. Or is it just ugly? After closer inspection it looked like a spriraling trunk which has built this knob after many years.

So the remedy was to enhance the spiral and at the same time not disturb too much the sap flow. Here the result after 30 minutes work. I am definitely sure that the pine will not mind much and become a very nice elegant bonsai eventually.

small sabina juniper

Juniperus sabina, sabina juniper, collected in Austria in 1999, pot Tokoname, 35 cm high, around 100 years old.

The huge Swiss Stone Pine - part 4

1) rough sketch to show the future. This will be done in one afternoon. Probably later this summer.

2) just in case some had their doubts why exactly I called this pine 'huge'.

The huge Swiss Stone Pine - part 3

Less than 24 hours after the pine saw my garden here the results of rough deadwood styling, rough editing of branches and plucking the needles. At this time of the year cembra pines are full of sap and many branches would break when bent after wiring. Therefore I did nothing like wiring and bending at this point in time. This will be done later. Since this tree is more than three years in this pot alrady I could have done the whole styling all at once were it not for the time of the year.

The huge Swiss Stone Pine - part 2

Those who know me well would have guessed that I started to style the tree the minute the person who brought it had left my garden.
Here the first results.

an interesting Rocky Moutain Juniper - part 2

June 2007

1) back
2) front
3) finished original front
4) slightly turned to the left
5) turned more to the left, this one loks like the best front
6) virtual with the pot in the right position