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Showing posts with the label Contemplation

Birch # 000001

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" ...Not worth the effort...." "A great species for bonsai" Simple statements.  Different weight though if said by a bonsai novice or by someone who has thousands of  admirers /followers.      Birch is  easy to grow.  Give it what it needs for happy life and it will reward you.   Fail with the basic horticulture and the tree will give you a clear feedback.  Withering up of some branches that the tree consider as not important.  Thats it.   Your choice Two of my birches have lost some branches this year.  Something that happened for the first time with these trees.    A random visitor of my place said: Yeahh, thats always a problem with birches " .   NO.  That is NOT a problem with the species as such. It was my problem with not adequate watering in the season before.  Too much of other activities and not enough care of my trees.  Why should I blame the tree for my faults?           

Yamadori_Prunus mahaleb_How old is this tree?

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 It is quite common to ask this question.   Supported by many professionals who sell trees and instead of providing details of origin, variety  and substrate used they try to impress the potential buyer with AGE of the tree.   Just comparing the size of the tree and its presented age, I do have a strong feeling that there is obvious clash.   If these guys are just like me each of them would add some years once the tree moves from their hand.  So at the end the tree that  in my oppinion is about 3-4 years old is claimed to be 8-10 years in propagation.    Unfortunately,  this AGEING is typical not only for the bonsai retailers.   A great bonsai amateur Mr. Pall is a good example of  that.  Well,  I believe  that he IS in fact a well established bonsai retailer with great marketing skills, but because he always disclaimed that  he must be an amateur then. What really strikes me was the Mr Ryan Neil's pages with promo sales of some of his trees.  RMJ,  185 years old...  Frankly,  I ca

Enokitake_happy to learn something new

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For years we have been searching the forest during the winter months to look for very special mushroom called penízovka in Czech.   It was only today when I searched wiki to find something more about it.    Wikipedia: Flammulina velutipes is a highly regarded mushroom especially in Japan where is called Enokitake or Enoki 榎茸, エノキダケ.

Winter solstice

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Winter solstice with its longest night of the year has passed and from now on the nights will be shorter and shorter.   It is way too early to get out to sniff out the first gusts of spring, but we know it is on the way.    Just be patient, have some winter sports if you care and for sure enjoy the planning of next development of your trees.    Have a great time.     Thank you all who visit this site now and then.    A special THANKS to Luďek, Mark, Maros, Peter, Rasťo and Salvador for their effort letting  me know they have cared.   Prunus mahaleb_Fat belly 2015  2016 Spring 2017 Winter A bit blurry pic 2018 Winter Pruned in November.   Second round of carving focused on the jin on the back side.  

Prunus mahaleb_Easy peasy_update

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Apart from collecting some really big trees I am also building up the number of small trees.  There are basically two practical reasons for that.  First - weight,  second - it is faster to achieve reasonable results in case you are starting from seed or cuttings.  Starting from seed or cuttings? Yes.  It is definitely the best way to start small tree.  Well, I know, small trees collected  from  Nature may have a great character. But there are also a lot of challenges.  Is it worth the effort?  Don't know, leaving that open... Let's start with Yamadori.  The following little mahaleb could make a good representative of this category. So what do we have to start with? Problematic roots The only solution to fix this is the air/ground layer.   Keep fingers crossed to get nice even distribution of new roots that could be used to grow nice nebari. Got it?  Great, but it is only the first step.  Then, how long does it take to the point when new roots will get the similar charact

One day in the life of a bonsai freak...

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Waking up with the first thought about the items on the to do list you have prepared  in your bed just before you went to sleep. Quick "inspection" of the new items in the garden to see how they are doing.   Any new development?  New leaves?  Buds?  Great! The tiny leaves are not doing well?  What should I do? Hope and Despair are the two part of the coin.... Repoting .  After the completion of the 10th tree I feel like a robot.  I do hate monotonous work. Health control.  With such density of plant on a spot you have to be very careful Watering.    The weather is far too nice for an April.   Today I have chased off the wild ducks and occupied the pond for a few moments instead. The water  was close to 17°C.  And not to forget the main part. WATCHING.   Rhodohypoxis  Euonymus.  Full of flower buds... Magnolia Beauty and the Beast.  In the main role:  Blossoms of A. campestre and  unknown Ants Mahaleb Where is the front?

Sitting high pressure system. Bonsai on the move

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It has become  kind of  a "tradition".  With a winter fighting tooth and nails with the first initial signs of spring in the air I have changed again  from a bonsai grower to a bonsai carrier.   The ones who keep their trees in  frost free zones  know quite well what I am talking about. With temperatures  that are in my frost free  storage  well in the red section of a thermometer for last couple of weeks  most of the trees stored there  show  first signs of a new life... Well,  luckily most of my trees are still sleeping well protected in their winter beds scattered all over our backyard.  Neverthless some of the trees those in my view a bit more vulnerable by harsh winter ( heavy bending, late summer airlayering, special cuttings etc ) are stored in the frost free area. That means only one single simple thing. I should move them out  every  day with  temperatures above zerro and bring them back for frosty nights.  With this damned high pressure system well seated abov

January?

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  With the temps in the red zones and the "March look" of the garden,  it is quite difficult to suppress the urging need to get out to collect yamadories or to start with some sort of bonsai activities.  In fact I have brought one of my birches to my workshop just to see how it looks. Within a minute I have found myself with a pruning shears ready to tackle to poor lady...   The temptation was really a great one,  but at the end the common sense has taken the upper hand.   Its January.  Who knows what surprises has the Mother Nature in her handbag ready for us... So lets assume it is a "normal" January.  ( OK, I know, that's really a crap, there is no more such a thing as a normal weather anymore. Anyway...)   Good time for skiing as far as I am concerned.   Well deserved rest time for the  majority of my trees.   A good time to revise  plans for the development of my trees in the upcoming growing season.  Last but not least:  a good time to please my mind

Cornus mas_Cascade_Winter silhouette 2017

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Cornelian cherries are one of the most attractive deciduous trees for bonsai.   Not easy in terms of development ( I should really take some deshi time at Maros's ) and they will always look a bit rough.   But in any other aspect they are just great.  At least for me.    ( Well, one should not take this too seriously. As my wood guru said: "If there is not the timber  I love,  then I love the one that is available here".  ) The wood of  Cornelian cherries is extremely hard. Dense and Hard.  Difficult to carve but very resistant to the rot.  It means the deadwood is a quite natural feature.   The flowers are quite special.  First the flower buds are formed into small but distinctive balls that makes this tree look through the rest of the season different from any other species in our region.    The buds are formed in the summer and they are really very keen to show their unpretending beauty as soon as possible once the first winter snow starts melting.   I do l

Crassula ovata_blossoms

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Crassula ovata_blossoms The plant has spent most of the season on a balkony with a regular doses of sunshine, water and a fertiliser. As the temps got closer to the 0°C it has been moved to the inside. Now it is paying back...

The carnival of colours has just arrived...

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The carnival of colours has just arrived... The flowers such as the Arenaria or Erodium are still shooting new blossoms but the autumn has finally safely landed also in our backyard. Carpinus betulus  I have collected this little tree earlier this year.   With the trunk diameter of 15 mm it was not the standard size I normally collect but this little fellow has developed into the very decent broom starter - so I could not resist... As at 25th October.  Still a bit shy to show what he can do... As at 31st October. Looking great in the morning sunshine... Pyrus pyraster This small pears shows a number of different colours ... Betula verrucosa I have hoped to get the tree to the 75-80 cm category this year.  The new terminal has shown a promissing start,  but then the tree has decided to switch the energy to the trunk in the effort to heal a bit the hollow part.  I feel she is a bit bossy with me... Maybe it is because I  promissed her a new pot last

One can smell the autumn in the air...

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One can smell the autumn in the air... but it seems most of the trees and a number of my favourite plants in the backyard are apparently suffering from a bad cold.   I do not have any better explanation for the nice juicy green colour of their leaves.  Not to mention even some blossoms.   Not bad though.  At least they are still working hard to store as much carbohydrates as possible.  Good for the next season.  I hope... Arenaria montana Erodium album Erodium Bishop's form Lithodora diffusa. In reality the colour is much more darker... Prunus mahaleb still  working hard...I do not plan any autumn pruning - leaving that for the late winter time In the meantime I follow blogs of my fellow bloggers to see some nice colours of the autumn carnival. OK, to spend the time a bit more productively I am about to post an article about my attempts on threadgragting.  Should be here on this Wednesday... And now off to the forest to see if there are any