Noelanders Trophy 2014

I was invited to be moderator again for the demonstrations.

akadama bag

There is nothing I can do about this. The irony is that I do NOT at all endorse the usage of akadama for collected conifers and I do NOT endorse the usage of akadama in general in cold climate where trees will freeze. Akadama will decompose when the pot is frozen and it will deteriorate into clay which is very bad in a bonsai pot. Very old collected conifers are often NEVER repotted or after ten, twenty years. This is professional to do, but not with akadama. it is highly dangerous to use it, it is expensive, there are many much better and cheaper solutions available everywhere. Plant this RMJ into akadama and it will die within a year. There is a reason why this kind of tree is planted into pure coarse pumice or lava.

big ficus

This rather big ficus is coming along nicely. I have problems overwintering. Therefore it is avialble for trade or sale.

 

Trident maple #9

Trident maple, Acer burgerianum, originally form Korea, received in July 2013. Great material, wonderful nebari, elegant moving trunk, much better than what most of these sumo tridents look like, good branching, terrible pot and way too heavy for one person to carry. Today I fixed a few things. The crown was shortened to get rid of this triangular stereotype bonsai look and have a round crown instead of a pointed one on a broadleaved tree. There are still holes in the trunk. I personally have nothing against hollow broadleaved trees. But in this case the holes will close rather soon anyway because of my aggressive feeding and watering scheme.Then the tree was taken out of the container. Everything was full of hard pebbles- this is why it was so heavy. And then the task was to find the right new pot. Fist try with rectangular pot by Derek Aspinall - not bad, but a bit small for the nebari. Then this very nice Chinese oval pot. So now the tree has another eight weeks to grow new roots and establish itself in the new container. It is becoming cooler and more moist every day now. The hot days are over. It will rain more. The tree will be going happy into winter and start right away in spring. I will feed it immediately with everything that's in normal feed. It will be treated like all other trees immediately. For those who have doubts: just wait for eight weeks and then we will see. There is more to bonsai than is in the books.

 

Mugo pine #13

Mugo pine, Pinus mugo, collected in Switzerland in 1999, old images from 1999 and 2004. Pot by Brian Albright.

 

Rene built a new bench

The old wood started to jsut break and it became dangerous. Rene today renovated the whole thing. I am very happy with his job.

 

Mugo pine #12

Mugo pine, PInus mugo, collected in Switzerland in 1982, pot by William Vlaanderen, last image of 2005

 

Mugo pine #42

Mugo pine, Pinus mugo, collected in Switzerland, second image of 2010.

 

Ponderosa pine #2

Ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, collected in Colorado in 1995, last image of 1997, pot by Derek Aspinall.

 

Scots pine #7

Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, collected in Finland in 2005, third image of 2006, pot by Wiliam Vlaanderen.