Vincent's forest

Few days ago my good friend Vincent Vadovsky passed away. He created temporary training concrete pot for those trees, and for few others from my collection. Vincet was good man and skilled artist. To honor his memory I name this bonsai after him - "Vincent's forest".  

Betula No.2 and mushrooms

Carpinus betulus "Rusnak" in autumn silhouette

Tilia cordata No.2 in autumn color

Tilia cordata in autumn color

Birch in autumn colours

Quercus pubescens catching autumn colours

Larix decidua

Few guy wires applied to bring branches into more desirable positions. With lots of foliage they naturally move up during the season. More work ahead after needles fall off. Wiring of new sots is necessary.  Compared to summer pictures it is clear a lot of needles were burned during summer heat waves. Larches hates this and requires a lot of watering when hot. Good point is structure is better visible now. 

Acer palmatum

My maple had few overgrown shots and it needed some maintenance. It looks pretty untidy, I know. But I think it is getting into stage when it will look like nice tree. I think I will pot it into decent pot next spring and in winter it could be wired. Autumn seems to be too far yet, but colors are amazing. It is hard not to fall in love with maples. 

messy stage before trimming

Hollow trunk at the base, in forest perfect place for fox to hide...

...and this is what fox would see on its way back home from walk in the woods, when blackbird start to sing up there in the crown.

Ulmus

Ulmus as of today. Top of the crown looks too flat, but crown is in early stages of development, as the tree itself. Collected only 2 years ago it has long way ahead. Few earlier pictures can be found here and here. 

Carpinus betulus "Rusnak"

Few overgrown shots must have been removed on this hornbeam. It was last major intervention this season. Foliage is tired after long heat wave during this summer witch lasted too long. 

Cornus mas No.3

Tree was cut back in late July as you can find in previous post here. I was hoping for new flush of growth and here it is. New shots are about 10 cm long already. Good base to increase ramification. New growth is fragile and gentle yet and I can damage it wiring it now but I will wire it bit later. 

Older foliage is getting autumn color slowly. 

Cornus has tendency to shoot four shots from same place, it has to be removed and only two in good position remain. If kept like this it will get so ugly you will have to remove it completely. When shots mature a bit I will cut stomp from original branch. I have super small concave cutter for such jobs, I love this tool and use it often for this kind of jobs. 

In Training: a book of Bonsai photographs by Stephen Voss

Crataegus monogyna

My slightly neglected hawthorn was trimmed. During last session back in May this year I left bottom growth untouched. Now branches were reduced including bottom growth. In winter I plan to wire it and it will have basic structure ready next year. I plan to achieve umbrella shaped crown for the future. In summer I left one of the flowers on tree and now I have little haws (or berries?), I wonder of my favorite black birds will have them for lunch when they ripen. 

August 2015 before work

and after reduction...

May 2015

August 2015

Carpinus betulus "The Wild Boar"

We are having terribly hot weather during last month or so. Every day is over 35°C and it is not funny anymore. Man has to be really brave to go outside during the day. During heatwave like that you have to take care about your drinking regime. So, when I was working toady on this hornbeam, I had to be careful not to lose too much water and minerals by sweating. 

There is hardly anything better for the job as Czech beer. We have been living in one country with Czech brothers long enough to learn how to recognize good beer. 

So, tree was defoliated two months ago, mainly on top of the crown. Since then new foliage appeared and new shoots emerged. After last trimming there were little stubs which I leave on purpose. I'm trying to avoid cutting branches to close to the last bud. I think it is much safer, you just have to go around the tree when new shoots grow from bud and are strong enough. Then you just cut the dry stubs off to create nice transition between old and new part of the branch. 

Some new shots grow in wrong direction, and are too dense, so it must be cleared.

Shots get quite long in top section of the crown. 

Where I see those I cut them off. My favorite bonsai job.

And tree looks like this after one beer and few cuts. Only low point is moving this beast around.