Carpinus orientalis

Oriental hornbeam after second trimming this year. 

Quercus pubescens No.4

This is first post about this little oak this year. Tree survived well during winter but it dropped lower strange branch. Now stump must be carved and transferred to uro soon. Rest of the crown is dong well. In spring I made few not drastic adjustment of the roots and couple of strong roots were shortened. What I like on this tee is his great mikihada. I have seen this  word on facebook recently. Did you know about bonsai glossary where you can find various bonsai terms from japanese language, worth visiting. 

Fraxinus No.2

Tree was defoliated for second time this season. Now all long branches were shortened, few spots in structure were edited and wired. Few guy wires were also applied to get thicker branches into better positions. 

In May 2011, shortly after collection from wild. 

Tilia cordata Nr.2

Linden was worked recently. Tree was defoliated in May this year. New foliage grew quickly and it was mature already for a few weeks already. Now almost all leaves were removed for the second time this year. All longer shoots were shortened since they partly fulfilled its purpose. Tree needs wiring since it was not yet fully wired ever. So structure of the crown is rough. Few words about tree history you can find in older post here. 

Carpinus betulus "Rusnak"

Hornbeam bonsai tree was worked last time in May. Since then new flush of leaves grown and new shoots extended to 10 or so leaves. I had to cut it back again. This time I reduced all lengthy shoots also in lower part of the crown to induce some back budding there as well. Whole tree was strongly defoliated for the second time this season. Hope everything will go well again this time. No before picture now, I have been doing in a hurry. 

Acer campestre No.2

Acer was growing for some time and shots were quite long already. They were easily around meter long. It is good for gaining thickness in branches. But due to space issues I decided to cut it back even if further unrestricted growth would not hurt it anyway. So branches were shortened, almost leaves removed. Stumps were carved since they were just roughly cut during collecting. Now they are more suitable to overall design. Then all branches were wired and now I will wait for another flush of growth. Tree is still quite fresh, collected only in 2014 and it sits in large plastic bowl. But in year or two it will go into first ceramic training pot and roots will be worked at the occasion as well. Now it could look bit messy but trust me, there is nice tree hidden inside. 

After wiring and carving.

July 2016 - on beginning of the session. 

Cut back

Start of the wiring and carving

Reverse taper of the stump must be solved with power tools.

Dremel starts to work

and Makita must take over the job for tougher moments

scars on branches must be worked also

and after wiring this is current result

One of initial pictures from last year one year after collecting from wild.

Picea No.2

 During last few days I revived one old project which was on standby in my garden for some time. Tree I was working with is Picea abies, spruce. Tree was collected in spring 2010 and you can find few words about it here. It was first major complete styling of the tree. Now wires will stay for a long time, maybe year or eventually more. More work will be done on top jin and other jins as well when wood will dry. Some of the main branches will be removed later when crown will fill with new growth and smaller branches I would like to keep will be stronger. 

Current stage after wiring and styling. 

 

April 2010. Shortly after collecting from wild. Potted into plastic pot into almost pure zeolite. Branches are sparse and long. They were shortened on transportation minimum, but still way  too long. All inner needles except news fell off in 2010.

Size comparison and detail on empty long branches. Long branches must be cut back step by step, year by year. Tree grown new buds back on older wood and I had to cut back so they have enough energy to grow.

New buds visible on old wood in Autumn 2010.

May 2011 - vigorous new growth after first winter in pot. Growth far from trunk though. 

April 2012 - one year later, growth around the apex. 

Late April 2012 - tree responds with strong growth. Result of  good feeding, watering and maximum sun exposure. 

April 2012 - all bottom growth removed and only those branches left which will be used in final design. In 2011 during Walter Pall visit in my garden when discussing this tree, he grabbed lower branches and says "Cut this off". So, this was easy part. 

Long and healthy shots. Point is always keep only two growing from same spot. I usually remove middle one. 

June 2012 - lots of new growth. 

June 2012 - I decided to pull branches down with guy wires.  I hoped it will help me with their final positioning. later. 

August 2012 - tree was slip potted into new ceramic pot. Not final, and yet too big but made manipulation much easier. 

June 2016- after neglecting the tree for some time, this is stage where it started this year. 

Dense foliage must be reduced. On spots where more shoots grow from one place only two are left. 

Details of the bark. 

Working on jins. 

Carving jin with Dremel and bit made by Rudo Spanko. 

And wiring beggins. 

...and continues. Seems like endless job. 

And this is result after few hours of wiring and styling. Now still too dense, after new buds will appear branches will be further shortened. 

Detail of the lille dry stump, you can see amazing wood density. It is clear tree was growing in harsh condition with very limited resources and was growing very slowly.