mugo #14 brought one step further

This mugo pine, Pinus mugo was collected by Peter Thali in 2003. I got it in 2004 as the first image shows. In the past days it was seriously styled in the crown for the first time. This looks quite rough. It will take another five years to look fine. One branch has developed a witches broom, as the last image shows. I will leave the withches broom on the tree for the time being. The only bonsai that I know which has a witches broom.

new mugo shines

This mugo pine, Pinus mugo, makes me very happy. See the images as of 1999 on the mountain, as Peeter Thali found it, right after collecting, and 2005 when I got it from Peter.
Lena took off the wire and plucked all old needles. Now the mugo is almost ready for exhibit for the first time. It looks vey unusual, certainly not like a cookie cutter bonsai, rather like a very old real pine tree in the mountains. Looking back at the old images I hardly can believe the change in only ten years.

new growth after defoliation

Four weeks after defoliation they come back nicely:

Field maple, Acer campestre
two European beech, Fagus sylvatica

Lena fixing big larch

Lena ordered the branches, attached some guy wires and made the thing again look more like a mature tree today.

one more new spruce, number 43

This European spruce I got in a trade this week. It was collected two years ago in Slovenia and looked healthy and ready for a first styling. Nothing can hold me back if I have a good piece of raw material which is ready for styling. So it had to happen right away. This is just a rough sketch. Th tree will be left alone for a few months now before finishing wiring. Th last iamge is a virtual to see what it would look like in a decent pot.