Alpineart's Blog

These were collected last winter in the local river bed .this will make a very nice literati , and and quality twin trunk .Both of these were simply slip potted into bonsai pots as is then trimmed and wired  .  This specimen was growing in and on a rock  with an  awesome root base  suitable for root over rock or clinging style .Instead of wind swept this one is   water swept .I was inspired by a member of “Ausbonsai” to find an exceptional specimen .This one will do until i locate another more outstanding natural trunk . It has a very natural shari at the base with a very predominant base .The first  branch will become the new leader and apex .I found a suitable piece of scoria to use as the rock , then with a bit of aggression and a wood splitter i hacked a piece off , then with an angle grinder and a diamond wheel i simply carved the rock to accommodate the roots and base of the tree . When i was happy with snug fitment of the roots to the rock , i wrapped the base with heavy twine to secure the tree to the rock . Carving the rocks to suit the roots is easier than trying to manipulate the roots to the rock , especially with older established  collected Yamadori . All wrapped up and time to pot the trainer for the finishing design , i prefer the tilted position as this shows off the natural shari and the base , possible needs to be rotated around 45degree’s depending on the growth and the overall outlook when it is removed and planted onto a slab or into a large tray . Another 3 quality trainers added to the collection . Cheers and happy Bonsai . Alpineart

These were removed from a garden by the owner in the Summer of 2010 and thrown onto the lawn .It is were i spotted them on a very hot day, so i stopped and asked if i could have them .The owner told me they were  almost dead and had been pulled out for a couple of days . On closer inspection i noticed the grubs  had eaten them back to the branches , no leaves remained .Into the back of  ute and off home were they were placed into a solution of seasol {seaweed extract} and then potted up into large pots  . These were in a single clump, separated before potting and yes there was 4 plants, what a bonus .They were then placed around the yard and in a green house over the next 12 months until they recovered . With nothing better to do with my time i decided to whip them into shape as trainersTaken in to consideration the movement of the trunks and the branch placement i chose to make 3 semi-cascades and an informal upright .These will now rest and recover , which they seem to have done almost instantly .The back budding and new shoots have already been trimmed since these were styled .Come spring next year they should be relatively compact and set for a nice perfumed and floral display. Cheers Alpineart

This was collected back in 2008 , growing on the side of a cutting it had an exposed  tap root and a stay root anchoring it to the ground .With both roots exposed and quite large i did notice some unusual callousing around the base ,  it had no fine feeder roots close to the main trunk . I severed the 2 roots and gathered some soil and Mycorrhizae  from the immediate area and returned home with the tree . I didn’t consider the survival of the tree would not  be good however i did pot it up into a wooden training box with  red Sc0ria and added extra Mycorrhizae then placed it under a shade cloth cover .It remained there until Winter 09 when i noticed it was still green so i decided to check the roots .After lifting it out of the box  only 1 very fine feeder root was present , it was  about 900mm long  . I  used this feeder root as a tourniquet to the base and gently wrapped it around the severed base to create a fine feeder root area , returned it to large terracotta bonsai pot and potted it up with the same mix as the  previous year . It has now had a basic  pre-styled and is still progressing nicely . Come Winter i will slip it out of the pot and hopefully find a nice root network .It will no doubt take many years to establish a good Narebri however i have all the time in the world .The tree itself has had the top jin added as the original apex was straight and lacked character. It was  positioned  in the training pot to accommodate the large side root , this is  not the finished position for the tree. Height of the tree is around 800mm and the base around 65mm in diameter