Alpineart's Blog

This Swiss Mountain Pine “Mugo” were discovered on a Bush walking outing with my wife and the Kids . They chose to take the easy trail and a i navigated my way around the Deer and Wallaby tracks . After 4 hours of trekking through the bush ,”I’m sure they thought i was lost” i had found several very impressive Yamadori Mugo’s . My unpaid apprentices “Bamby and Skippy” had been randomly trimming for decades to produce this once in a life time find . Over the coarse of several months i have fertilized and watered these pines and now they have been safely removed and are in my shade house . This Bonsai will need only minor trimming and wiring to improve on the wild- life styling . This find is a result of numerous Softwood test plots here in the N.E dating back to the 1920’s when Cedars , Redwoods and various pines were being trialed

This is the latest edition to my collection collected after pre-trimming several months ago . Originally it was 1800mm long x1600mm wide x 500mm high and has been reduced to 1200 x 800mm x 500 . The pot is 700mm x 500mm x 90mm and yes it is far too big for the tree , but for training purposes it will do nicely . Note this tree is basically how i found it minus 1/3 of the outer leggy branches . Yes even in Aus we can find some extraordinary Yamadori if you know where to look . This now takes pride and place in my Training collection . I have several huge Mugo’s to collect over the coming weeks all of which have been pre trimmed awaiting pickup .

These little projects are required to protect the trees from the elements , as a cant afford a loss on the scale from the previous seasons . For too long i have battled heat and wind which requires to much time moving trees and plants around for their protection . This should make life a little easier and less time wasting in the shuffle . I will need a barrier around the front terrace as my unhired apprentices {Kangaroos} will eventually find the pines to their liking . With over 120 Bonsai at various stages and 400 plus Yamadori and trainers i wont be bored for the want of variety . I hope to add another 300-400 plants to the collection over the next 3 months . With over 5000 seeds to be planted my work in future bonsai is all but guaranteed . My wife thinks i’ve lost the plot but to me its a healthy obsession bordering on insanity . She loves bush walking so it works in well , while she admires Mother Nature i scan the surrounding areas for good looking trees .