Juniper progress 2009-2016

This juniper started his bonsai journey as a urban yamadori in 2009 and since then it is developing quite nicely.

Juniper - starting material in 2009

Juniper - 2016 

Prunus mahaleb progress 2014-2016

This Prunus mahaleb was collected in 2014. When I found it in nature the amazing hollow trunk and the nice deadwood immediately attracted me. Unfortunately the branch structure was not the best so I decided to develop it from point zero.

Prunus mahaleb - 2014 after collecting

Prunus mahaleb - 2015 after first styling

Prunus mahaleb - 2016

Prunus mahaleb progress 2014 - 2016

Larix decidua yamadori - First styling

This Larix decidua was collected a couple of years ago and now it was finally time to make the first initial styling.

Larix before the styling

Larix after the styling

Acer buergerianum

This small Acer was imported from South Korea and joined my collection last year. A couple of days ago it was time to make the first steps. The pot is just a temporary one and will be changed to a smaller one.

Acer buergerianum - before the first step

Acer buergerianum - current image

Noelanders Trophy 2016

This years Noelanders Trophy is behind us and for me this exhibition is the mile-stone which opens each new bonsai season. Despite the fact that it is a long drive from Slovenia it is more than worth the trip. It is always great to meat old bonsai friends, enjoy the great trees at the exhibition and of course have lots of fun.

Noelanders Trophy entrance

Unfortunately it is still not allowed to take photos of the trees at the exhibition but fortunately Bonsai Empire published a great video which shows a great part of the exhibited trees.

On both days there ware demonstration from established bonsai artists and as soon I will process all the photos I will publish some additional posts with photos from the demonstration.

Next to the exhibition and demonstration stage there was a huge bonsai market with an enormous number of traders (I think the number was 96) who basically offered anything a bonsai enthusiast can wish for.

One of the two huge sales areas

On Sunday Matej arranged for our group a visit in Jean-Paul Polmans garden which is relay amazing. Not only the level of the trees and yamadoris but the whole garden is fantastic.

Jean-Paul Polmans garden

Acer from Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

Ginko
 Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

Pine
 Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

Amazing Juniper
Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

Mugo Pine from Matej Planinc

One of many the yamadoris
in Jean-Paul Polmans garden

Pine
Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

It was a great weekend, the motivation is here so now we need to speed up the momentum till the new Noelanders Trophy.

Restart of Acer buergerianum

This Acer buergerianum was imported from South Korea. The tree was healthy and in solid condition but had many wounds all over the trunk, the front side had a weak nebari and considering the fact that soil didn't absorb water normally, it was obvious that the tree was not repoted for a long time. My conclusion was that the tree was neglected for a longer time so I decided that I will rebuild it from scratch and make it a learning with experience lesson for myself.

Acer buergerianum - 2014

Acer buergerianum - 2014

The first step was repoting in spring. When i took the tree out of the pot I found out that the roots have grown around the pot several times because there was no more space in the pot. Even with this variety which is tolerant to all kind of stress this would soon affect the health of the tree. So my advise if you buy trees from resellers, even if they tell you that it is ready to be styled, don't take the risk and at least check the roots before you start to work on the tree. 

Roots before repoting

For the first step the plan was to make the tree as strong as possible so the wounds would close faster. Because of this I decided to plant the tree in a bigger but shallow pot and prepared an aggressive feeding plan. In combination with the aggressive feeding regime the branches ware left almost free to grow and in one growing season some wounds between 2 and 3 cm diameter almost completely closed.

Last week at the weekly workshop where bonsai friends work together at Janez's place I decided to make a branch selection of primary branches and the first very basic styling. 

In the next season the plan is to continue closing the wounds and start to work on the nebari improvement. The last photo shows the current stage of the tree after one year of development.

Carpinus betulus in authum colours

Carpinus betulus yamadori 5 years in training.

Pot: John Pitt

Carpinus betulus