Mugo pine nr. 36

This mugo pine was collected in Italy in spring of 2002 and planted into the round training pot immediately. The deadwood and movement was most interesting right away. But the foliage did not look very promising in the beginning. It took six years before there was enough of it to finally style a decent crown. In July 2008 the whole styling took place at once. It was decide that the tree cold be taken out of the round training pot with a fully intact root ball. It was then placed into the wonderful crescent pot by William Vlaanderen which seems to have been made for exactly this mugo pine. This is not repotting! This is transplanting with fully intact root ball. One can do this any time of the year, even in the middle of summer.

Mugo pine nr. 35

This is a very nice small mugo pine. I have collected this tree in 1994 in Austria. It was a rather long cascade until 2004. Then I decided to make deadwood of the longest branch. It was then potted into the container by Axel Brockmann. Then it did not do well for a few years. Btu in July of 2008 it looked just fine, ready for a final styling. The foliage is very small at this point in time. It might well grow longer again in the future.

mugo pine nr. 8 coming to look fine

This is extraordinary mugo pine (Pinus mugo). It is some of the best material that I ever found. But it is a real horticultural challenge . After collecting in spring of 2001 the tree was planted into a plastic pot. But it would not grow very well. It just sent one new bud at each shoot. No ramification. In 2006 I decided that it might be the soil of the original habitat that had to be removed. consequently I took ti out of the container and planted it into a good bonsai pot. I often do this quite contrary to conventional bonsai wisdom which tells you to first style the tree and only then find the final pot I do it the other way round for several reasons. On is to be able to style it in then pot finally and not re pot it afterwards for many years, like more than ten years. But it still would not grow. In the fall of 2007 I fed it with chicken pellets, which is simply dry chicken do. and in spring of 2008 all of a sudden it came to quite vigorously. It still does not have enough ramification to really style the crown. but it was enough to make it pleasing finally. Before it looked funny, like it was styled by someone who had no clue. Now one can see what the aim of that was. it wills till taken another five years before we have a decent crown. But the movement of the trunk and the most outstanding deadwood will make this a killer tree. As has become the norm in my garden by now the tree has at least two very god fronts.