Alpineart's Blog

These will pose a little challenge due to the fact they are multi- trunked  and and plenty of vertical side branches that will require removal .The tree’s are around 1.8m high and the trunks on these are around 150mm and as yet i haven’t tried to remove them from the ground .I did transplant them from another area in the garden about 15 years ago however a bobcat was used to excavate them and to transplant into their current position .I would expect them to continue to back shoot  down along the trunks that are remaining .I will keep them in the ground until winter then remove them .I most certainly wasn’t gentle when it came to trimming them , 2 down 6 to go . There is several green varieties and golden forms as well.Cheers Alpineart

These are a few Sycamore Maple forest / groups that are in there second year of training . They were collected seedlings in Winter  ’09   and planted into a polystyrene box . This winter i set them up in trays as forest starters , now its time for a defoliation  then back to the benches .Some of the trunks are quite unique and again i may re-design the trays as they progress into larger tree’s Cheers Alpineart

This was collected from my mothers yard , i actually pinched it while she wasn’t looking . At 90 years old she is legally blind so she could not see the tree  and  kept tripping over it , she asked me to trim it so i trimmed it below ground level and brought it home .Planted at the wrong angle it grew in a windswept fashion  .I did replace it with a cutting growing upright . When i visit i do a lot of maintanence work at her place and collect all the self sown trees and plants she wants removed  for Bonsai .I have set 3 layers up top to keep for trainer rather than just hack them off . This will give me time to plan the finished article , cliff dweller or windswept . The shade cloth was placed over the pots to allow  360 degree rotation of the tree so as to promote even growth all around the trunk . I may just make a custom rock for the “cliff dweller/informal upright clinging style”  as a wind swept would be high on the upkeep due to the prolific growth .Cheers Alpineart