Shohin Hornbeam Airlayer

A few shots of this promising bit of material airlayered from a parent tree two years ago.  It’s been recovering from its first rootprune and repot earlier in the year.  No new shoots this year so I’m leaving it to bounce back and next year I’ll consider pruning and styling.

The front showing a possible reverse twin trunk image

From the back showing good trunk movement and taper

Future nebari needs covered and thickened

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Shohin Literati Scots Pine (Pinus Sylvestris)

Took the cutters to this pine yesterday.  Sacrifice branch at the bottom left on to help thicken the lower trunk.

Before

After

It’ll go into a ceramic pot in spring.

Future Ash Bonsai (fraxinus excelsior)

This is an ash sapling that self seeded in the garden 3 or 4 years ago.  It was put in a  flower pot and then has been largely ignored since then but recently I had a closer look and I actually really like it as potential bonsai material.  In fact, next spring I may just give it  a root prune and plonk it straight into a bonsai pot.

September 2015

Nebari

The trunk has some movement, internodes are pretty short and there’s promising nebari.  It’ll be something a bit different but after some surgery, it could be nice as a shohin bonsai tree.

Shohin Amur Maple summer update

This is the small tree that originated as a hardwood cutting from the parent tree in the post two days ago.  It was dramatically chopped last autumn too in the hope that new buds would set over winter and this tree fared better.  I’m very happy with the new branching and I’ll continue to pinch out emerging buds and build up girth in the bottom branches and leader.

Before. Summer 2015

The back of the tree

After.

New Azalea pot

I’ve been looking online for a light blue pot for this azalea but haven’t found one the right size with the features I’d like.  I was just about to put off repotting for another year when on Friday’s club meeting I found a suitable one being sold by another member.

Before

The existing pot was too long, too deep and too formal for this tree.  I ideally wanted an oval with cloud feet but this new one is the closest I’ve found to what I want.

After

Side by side.

I left it a bit late to repot and the new pot is smaller so I’ll pick out half of the flower buds that are developing to help it recover.  Hopefully it’ll be wired later in the year.

 

Shohin Amur Maple repot

I undertook some drastic pruning of this Amur maple last year and at the weekend noticed buds starting to swell so it was time to root prune and repot.

Before – in a seed tray

Definitely in need of a repot!

I was a bit disappointed to find one thick root that dominated the pretty much one sided nebari.  I expected better because this was originally a cutting from a parent tree.  In hindsight, I should have checked the roots last year.

 

Flat, fine root mass

However, there were still other roots present that helped me determine the front of the tree last year when pruning.  Aside from the thick root, I was really pleased with the rest of the rootball which was quite flat and even.  It was like cutting a cake. I removed a substantial amount on the side with the thick root and also pruned that back too.  I had a spare shallow cream pot available and so placed the tree in that.  It should make a nice image when more branching and foliage is developed this year.   I tilted the tree towards the front and some fine roots were exposed once potting was complete so some moss was placed on part of the surface to prevent them drying out.

nebari

Job done