Alpineart's Blog

These are a few of my pines that are in training , several species are collected from the local  area most are from abandonded test plots from the 1920’s .My favorite pine would have to be the Nigra ,  Pinus Nigra Austriaca or European Black Pine for their ease of collection , durability and needle reduction . Pinus Nigra Austriaca -European Black Pine ,Pinus Nigra var Maratima ,  Pinus Ponderosa-Western Yellow Pine  ,  Pinus Patula – Mexican Weeping pine , Pinus Radiata- Monterey Pine , Pinus Thunbergii – Japanese Black Pine , Pinus Mugo var Mughus , Pinus Monticola – Western White  Pine , Pinus Densiflora – Japanese Red Pine  are among the species i have along with several unidentified specimens as well . I certainly wont have an issue with lack of choice when it comes to pines .Cheers Alpineart

These were collected Yamadori Pseudotsuga  menziesii or the Douglas fir/Oregon pine .This is their first styling , basically building the frame work for the future finished Bonsai .This species can be difficult to maintain in small pots , they have a tendancy to die without any obvious signs of the cause or problem .Pinch and grow method of styling is the best to keep them in check .I basically allow the shoot to alongate then trim back by 50- 75% of the length .They tend to immediately shot from the remaining new growth  thus keeping them lush . They do back-bud regularly even on old wood .Cheers Alpineart

This is the next stage of the layering of my JBP originally purchased in Dec ’09 the apex was then layered and removed in March ’10 and then  a set of side branches were layered , today they were removed and repotted into larger pots  now i have 5 layers as trainers and the original trunk .This was purchased for about $16 at Kmart . The center cascade trainer is the original apex this was used to In-arch Graft a side branch back onto the lower section of  mother trunk. Cheers Alpineart