fall pictures - part 2

Acer palmatum, Japanese maple, 20 cm, pot Monika Busch, from ordinary nursery maple

fall pictures - part 1

1) field maple, Acer campestre, 90 cm, pot Derek Aspinall

2) trident maple, Acer burgerianum, 55 cm, pot Peter Krebs


These pictures were taken with Randy Knight as witness who learned about some tricks how to create this quality.
More on the side-blog 'travelogues'.

The fat cembra pine - part 3

I knew that this tree sat in the rond pot for a few years. So it was save to take it out and see whether I could just plant it into a better pot without disturbing the rootball at all. Well, it worked. The new pot is artistically fine, but it has way too much volume without roots. This is not good for horticultural reasons. So I put in a full bag of charcoal to fill two thirds of the pot. Then the cembra pine and substrate and done.

Bonsai is great fun. Especuially when one has very good material. This cembra pine is an extreme rarity. It would be great material for any kind of pine, but as cmebra pine it is something quite special. One just does not find good cembra pines. And one of this quality is unheard of.

OK, see you after the Gingko Award next Tuesday.

The fat cembra pine - part 2

Within a few hours the whole thing was wired and bent.

The fat cembra pine - part 1

I fooled you. I am very productive these days. So I decided to give the final styling of this cenmbra pine (Swiss sotne pine), Pinus cmebra, a go. I have shown the first steps a few months ago. Now came the final styling which made a great difference.

1) as I got it in the summer of 2007
2) and 3) after the first main steps

the leaning Austrian black pine

Some may remember this tree which I showed a few weeks ago. I took off some bark to get rid of the ugly knob and to enhance the spiral in the trunk. I wanted to see how the tree did after this serious operation. Today it looked very healthy and I decided to give it a go and do my last styling before I drive to the Gingko Award tomorrow all day with David. We will visit a couple of friends on the way back. You can expect a lot of pictures in the travelogues blog.

1) and 2) a few weeks ago

3) and 4) beginning of September - two equally valid fronts again. I have no clue how I do this every time :-)

5) and 6) virtual with pot by Peter Krebs

spruce finished fine wiring

Some will remember this spruce which was shown a few weeks ago. The strong branch was pulled down with force. I then only wired the thick branches and left tehe tree alone.I wanted to see whether the branch survived that rude treatment. Had it not survived it would have become this sort of literati spurce with a small top. But it looked very healthy a couple of months later. So I wired all the small branches. Next spring wit will go out of this mica pot into the final one.

1) spruce three months ago
2) and 3) as of beginning of September 2007 - two good fronts again.

the Austrian black pine that thinks it is a ponderosa - part 6

Now the rest is wired with thick wire. It is not a good idea to use thin wire, like we are told in the books. Austrian black pines are very much like ponderosas in this respect. You want the wire to do a job and to stay there for a couple of years. The aim is an effect and not immediate beauty. It is sort of imposible anyway to try to make this kind of tree beautiful right away. Just like ponderosas it looks very messy and kind of hopeless after first styling. It will only look good in about three to five years from now.

Result of first stylding and some outlook for the future. Now the tree needs some winter protection. The wire will stay on for at least one year and then we will see. Progress will be reprted.

This is a unique black pine. I have never ever seen anything close to this. One aim of modern bonsa is to create something unique. Well, point made, it seems!

the Austrian black pine that thinks it is a ponderosa - part 5

Then black tape instead of raffia around it twice. It does exactly the same job a s raffia, is easier to apply and is just as ugly or slightly less. And then very thick wire around it twice. Now very drastic bending is very possible. Should the branch decide it does not want to cooperate eventually then so what - I was about to totally cut it off anyway. But I think it will work and the branch will stay alive.

the Austrian black pine that thinks it is a ponderosa - part 4

It was decided that it should be OK to just cut off the strong branches with some green which are going upwards. But if one could severely bend the thickest one, it could well be part of the design. It is not possible to bend a branch of a black pine which is old and has some seadwood and is as thick as 2,4 cm, which is 1". OK, so the deadwood core was removed with a die grinder.

the Austrian black pine that thinks it is a ponderosa - part 3

In the beginning of September 2007 the foliage of this year looks quite healthy. I had pluckes all the old needles a few weeks ago in summer. The buds for next year are very strong. So one could dare to start major styling. Again we tried all sorts of possiblities to find the best view. A clamp could be useful to bring some parts of the contorted trunk closer.

the Austrian black pine that thinks it is a ponderosa - part 2

In fall of 2006 David had the task to clean the deadwood, take off some bark, make the wood look natural. And again we were looking for a good way to style this beast. Very difficult indeed.