Czech Yamadori

Mahalebs are hard working trees.   They tend to keep their leaves till the first harder frost night and then they simply drop them.   At least this is very often the case with mahalebs in our place.  And I think this is also the case for some other species from the Prunus Genus like apricot for one. But sometimes for unknown reasons they could present some splendid colours.  Like this little mahaleb.      Height: 34 cm Collected: 2012

 There was a time when I believed that there are some solid cornerstones in the Universe.     Unfortunately this time is over.  Well, for most of them at least.    Good news:  some of them are still there:   My parents on the other side of the river.      My wife.      My family.       Matters that are important to me.     Bonsai is somewhere on the very top...            Shrubby cinquefoil   Pre bonsai.   But in a proper bonsai pot by Mr SHIMIZU Masakazu    kiln  YOUZAN Height 18 cm  

 In one of my earlie post about this pine I have mention some of the challenges we face.   Happy that one of them has been fixed.  Or at least nearly... The tree looks still empty and out of proportion but at least the remains of the main trunk has been converted into something that looks OK to me.     The way it was back in 2019    Preparatory work in 2020        And now in mid of Feb 2022.   It looks very fresh now and it will take a time to get a patina  but we are on the way... Height:  65 cm Pot: Martin Ašenbrenner  ( Wood fired kiln )      

 Another fairly small but massive mahaleb cherry with a lot of deadwood.    Height: 44 cm above the rim Pot: Hugo Studeník    

 The first few days of the new year are a bit lazy. So why not to take the advantage of it and share some other trees? The mahaleb Zorro is one of my largest trees.  Well, better to say heaviest ones.  It is not very large, in fact it is just about 50 cm in height and about 70 cm in width.  But the trunk is quite massive and the pot needs to be quite large to accomodate the long surface root.   The shape  is not very typical for deciduous tree but I do like it that way.  And that counts...   Still long way to go...   The "new part" clashes with the old one - just looking like a baby's arse.  Not to mention  a better taper and finer ramification... Hope to find some time later on to repot it and while there to change the planting angle. The left side is right now planted too deep. Height: 50 cm Width:  70 cm Pot: China  

Crazy world.  It is a summer.  Time to enjoy your holidays and relax.  Reality?  In many places it is just a moment to see your properties and belongings are taken by storm or water.   And this is not even the worst.    Many people were fighting just to safe their bare life.  And many of them have lost.    Terrible... Water and Wind.  Good servants but bad masters.   But is it really just the Nature to be blamed for it?   What is the role of the mankind?  Nobody knows for sure.  But the mankind has been doing a lot of bad things for the sake of Earning and Consumption.   Regadless if we paint these words  into more fancy colours such as amusement, dreams fulfilment, better life or something like this. It is just a shame that all the time we follow the same scenario: Running Problem! Stop running and start thinking ???  Is it no GO?   Never mind. Keep running. .... Gosh. That's it.   So here it is the promised tree Prunus mahaleb Height: 10 cm Width: 28 cm which makes it a kifu size

Being strict with its height of 22 cm above the rim this little mahaleb should not qualify into the shohin category.  With some more needed development I think that  the final height is somewhere around the 25 cm mark.    Repoted, some root work and back into the wooden box.  Covered with shredded sphagnum moss and plastic mesh to keep blackbirds away.   Some females love to use this moss for bedding in their nests...That's above their rutine digging activity.   They make life harder but I do like them.   Nice to watch them taking regular bath in the pond in the early morning regadless the weather.  Winter? who cares...  Lovely to see the young birdies - little downy balls - sitting somewhere in the undergrowth demanding more worms from their parents.   And their parents trying to keep away faddy cats and plundering magpies.  Well yes,  they are a pain in the butt with all that mess they create in the garden looking for food.   But if I look around in the Nature - using slightly di

 Pears are  one of the best trees for bonsai in temperate zones.   And for me the P. pyraster ( European wild pear ) is really on the top.   Cracked bark, tiny fruit and small leaves with spectacular colours in the autumn.   That really makes them hard to match.   Yes, Prunus mahaleb or blackthorns  are great. Aged bark,  blossoms, tiny fruits - in all these characteristics they are similar.  But when it comes to the autumn color festivity - no match for pears.   Unfortunately, there are not many of them on the benches or even shows.   Is it because of the fear of the pear rust ( Gymnosporangium sabinae ) killing  pampered junipers ?  Difficulty to find /collect one?    The rust might be a problem for sure.   But I do not agree with the basic recommendation you may find - if you grow junipers do not grow pears ( and vice versa ).   OK, it may sound good, but what about trees grown by your neigbours?  The spores may spread hundred of meters from their place of origin by wind or insects.

 Just looking at this mahaleb last autumn I realised  that all my previous attempts to change the angle of the trunk in its last third were just a mere tickling.   I was thinking to fix it  immediately but giving it a second thought I decided to postpone the activity till the time the tree enters the post pormancy period = the level of hormones inhibiting the activity of the tree is low but the tree is not starting its activity ( I mean visible activity  such as the growht of the buds ) because it is kept low till the time of longer days and warmer temps.   Autumn and winter are in my experience the most suitable periods for heavy bends  but the most problematic one at the same time.  Heavy bends mean a tissue damage that could suffer even more because of the winter frost.  So you should keep such trees in the non frost area. Not below freezing point and not above 5-6°C as this is about the right range to keep the trees in dormancy.  Clear - you do not kill your tree if for any reason

 Most of my mahalebs are the last to drop their leaves.  Right now ie on the 30th of November there are still four of them with no signs of  changing color or being  damaged by frost ( the lowest temps so far was only -3°C,  27°F ).   While the other species in the garden have started  the colour festivity around early Nov the majority of mahalebs were in the status - what is the fuss about?   With the arrival of first frosty nights some of them have started to change their colour from green to something yellowish but definitely nothing spectacular.   Some others have simply drop their green leaves.  And the last group is still in full swing.  I can hear their whisper : carbs, carbs, carbs.   Height: 19 cm   The target height should be in the range of 23-26 cm.  

Massive nebari is probably the most attractive feature  right now... The trunk has nice white color... The crown starts showing some initial branch structure and even some sort of ramification...    Is it a birch, though? Birches tend to be slim, tall trees with thin long branches.  White in color with lots of black spots.  Joyful dalmatians.   Well, at least the vast majority of birches looks like that.    For sure, this tree will never have such typical habitus.   On the other side there are some very old gnarled birches that definitely differ from the " typical" birch perception.    Looking at this one I know that I need to go into this direction.    And that would require a lot of time to get the right appearance of age.   This tree looks promising but still looking way  toooo young for that category.    

Dewired and lightly pruned. Need to fix the scar in the top section next season.                                                                       

 I have this larch in my collection from 2013 I guess.   We had met few years before the collection in fact neverthless I was more focused on the deciduous trees at that time for one and I did not like the strange looking elbow like branch near the top of the tree.   Luckily that did not prevent me to visit this tree  any time I was in the area.   Still it has taken me few years to realise that the elbow like branch is something special.  Something similar to what  makes  monumental larches in Switzerland so special.    Collected: Central Bohemia 2013 Height:  43 cm Pot: Tokoname  Getting there.  Need some more styling and time to improve...   Elbow like branch_situated on the back of the tree Elbow like branch Flower buds ready for next spring The only cone left after the removal of blossoms in the spring Improving surface roots I have added the moss on the surface only this spring with the hope to get some new roots to improve the heavily one sided nebari a bit.  Very happy indeed fo

 European wild pear is one of my favorite tree.   Aged bark, wild appearance, blossoms, tiny fruit and beautiful autumn colours make of it a great candidate for  Four Season Bonsai.   Collected in cental Bohemia in 2017, air layered in 2019.  Current height:  22 cm - the top shoot included, target  18-19 cm Width:  24 cm  Front Left side   Alligator skin nicely developed.  Nebari - nothing to see there (YET ), but it is on the way - just look closer. Another five years and it might be there...:)  After the late summer inspection. Wiring, adding new load of Biogold and then back under the plastic cover to keep moss in place.  The moss will be removed in late autumn just before the winter rest to have better control of soil moisture.