Maros Bonsai Blog

Andrija Zokic garden visit

Few pictures from my visit to the Croatian bonsai Icon Andrija Zokic. Fantastic garden finally managed to see in person. Thanks for the hospitality and your time Andrija.

Carpinus betulus "Old Sam"

Few summer pictures of the hornbeam. Some editing was done recently. Doing well after the spring repotting. I would rate it on 3.6 - Not great, not terrible.

Carpinus betulus "The Yossarian"

Hornbeam was too dense so it was time to deal with it. Now looks bit untidy, it will change in a few days when growth will settle down.

before cutting back

Dogwood was too dense already so I cut back almost all of the top growth. Few leaders left to grow out of the proportion to help thicken the structure. Let's see how thick they can get and how much it will help thicken bottom parts of the sub trunk. Top of the crown will be possibly partially defoliated in about the month time.

Acer palmatum

Carpinus betulus "RUSNAK"

Hornbeam was cut back and edited a bit. Too much growth at the upper parts of the crown is shading inner structure and would cause dieback of weaker parts of the crown. Now much lighter and hopefully safe for inner growth for a few weeks. Shoots at the top cut back to one or two buds maximum. The lower part of the growth was largely left untouched to gain vigour.

After editing top part of the crown. The light must be allowed to reach inner parts of the structure to avoid dieback of shaded branches.

The tree before editing after a few weeks of unrestricted growth. Top of the crown already too dense.

Ulmus

After first cut back.

Quercus pubescens No.7 thread grafting result

Back in April 2017, I did thread grafting on this oak tree. The graft was successful but not strong enough last year so I did not separate it back then. I thought it is time to move on with the task last week and I did the cut. As you can see I did not cut it at the entry point but well above close to the mother branch. I'm thinking about having two upward growing sub trunks. Only thing I need is the tree reversing flow in the part of the branch. I am really curious about how it will work. I hope it will not jeopardise the strength of the exit part of brach.

Btw tree was finally repotted in spring from the plastic bowl into china ceramic pot. This tree is really decades from being finished, and not having such movement and nice bark it wouldn't be in my garden anymore. Now it seems to me it could have some future.