Autumn 2019

[TimS]

I've been off work sick as a dozen dogs since yesterday, but i have been going out with my trees to get some fresh air, and noticed my swampy has really started to turn now

I've a bit of a love/ hate relationship with this tree. I picked it up while on a "fill my bonsai benches" trip to Tien's a year or so back and ended up with a bunch of trees i didn't really love. I've slowly sold them off and now this is one of only a couple left from that trip. Each Summer i look at it and think "yup i'm going to sell it", then Autumn rolls around and i decide to keep it again. I might have to totally redesign it in winter because it's getting really weird with just a plume of foliage on top.

[shibui]

Good to see that some Melbourne trees have started to change colour. Can't believe the gingko is still full green though. Leaves have all dropped off my gingkos now.
Colour is still very slow as we have still not had many cold nights. A couple of the Japanese maples have just gone brown this year instead of the normal bright display.
Here's a zelkova that has a little colour now.

P1210522.JPG

The only other colour I have at the moment is a few out of season azalea flowers
Just a couple of flowers on one of the bonsai indicas

P1210513.JPG

More flowers on this satsuki 'shugetsu' but it is just a young tree in development. This one has actually flowered on and off most of the summer but now having a flush of flowers.

P1210514.JPG

[TimS]

The very tips of that ginkgo have got a hint of yellow now Shibui, but all my ginkgos are holding green for a very long time this year.

Same with my JM as yours, they have all just gone brown/ hint of yellow and dropped leaves this year. I did also get some strong powdery mildew right at the end of summer which killed off the slim hope i had for colour. one of my TM has started going a very very dark purple with one or two orange leaves. My Chinese Elms are 50-50 going brown and yellow, and my prunus' are all firmly holding green still.

I really need to work out a shade house so summer doesn't keep ruining my autumn colours.

[MJL]

I’m hoping my Japanese Maple forest turns colourful soon but with each passing week, my hope fades. Here’s a rather pathetic photo of my Chinese Elms sticks taken yesterday. These a tad of colour ....

As an aside, you’ll see that I’ve removed most of the moss for the winter too; worried it was all getting too wet.

IMG_0492.jpg

IMG_0493.jpg

Bonsai teaches me patience.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Watto]

Autumn colour has been quite poor this season in my area, even the street trees didn't do much. However this maple looks OK, its not currently a bonsai but one never knows?

[TimS]

That Swamp Cypress i posted earlier is now a really burnished bronze all over, very nice indeed!

Here are a couple of the trees under the shade cloth are attempting Autumn with varying degrees of success.

First is one of my Arakawa or Rough Bark Maple air layer experiments i tried before i commit to air layering the entire tree off the graft. It is giving me bout 30% of autumn, which is probably to be expected since it was stressed with air layering this year.

arakawa autumn.jpg

Second is one of my many Shishigashira or Lion's Mane Maples giving me a reasonable percentage, if not intensity, of yellows. Interesting that my other motherstock Shishi is starting to give me very strong neon pinks/ reds compared to the yellow of this plant.

shishi autumnal.jpg

Third is my seed grown weeping maples which are giving me sporadic yellows on some trees, other are just dropping green leaves.

weepers autumn.jpg

Finally my seed grown Ginkgo are starting to think about some autumn colour, with the green turning very pale indeed now. My Ginkgo stump is getting yellow edges to the leaves.

ginkgo seedlings.jpg

[Beano]

My bonsais are still mostly green. The crepe myrtles are starting to turn but they’re very late as we had many hot days in autumn. The trident has just thrown leaves rather than changing colour.

My ginkgo is bare now, went yellow but only because I upset it by digging up its colander as I needed to weed the grow bed and it was looking like a job only round up could accomplish... it sulked cans drooped so even yellow it wasn’t attractive looking. Plus it looks nothing like a developed specimen yet so I haven’t shown it here.

I’ll put up some pics when the crepes turn.

[shibui]

Still quite warm up here. Only one morning with ice on the car windscreen so far so autumn colours are not really happening this year.
Some of the JM have just gone brown and started to drop leaves but a couple have made a half hearted attempt to dress up for the change of season.

P1210576.JPG

This one probably has the best colour of any JM here. It is having a rest from being bonsai after some sort of infection killed a branch, the associated roots and part of the trunk a few years ago.
I've been treating the bare wood with lime sulphur to try to preserve it while new wood heals over the scar - very slow progress. Dead wood not usually seen on JM but maybe I should consider a hollow trunk or shari in the design or maybe just give up and get rid of it?

P1210572.JPG

Around the garden there's a little autumn colour now.

P1210578.JPG

P1210582.JPG

P1210600.JPG

P1210595.JPG

P1210598.JPG

[melbrackstone]

Beaut colour there Neil, but look at all those seedlings coming up!!! I can see why there's a good crop of them come June.

[Beano]

Dead wood not usually seen on JM but maybe I should consider a hollow trunk or shari in the design or maybe just give up and get rid of it?

By get rid of it, do you mean give it to me?

[MJL]

Dad’s Trident group is looking good.

IMG_0593.jpg

Bonsai teaches me patience.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TimS]

Looks beautiful Mark!

[Ryceman3]

Dad’s Trident group is looking good.

...and here's a shot of mine for comparison ... ...

IMG_4120.jpg

In terms of autumn colour I really struggle, just not cold enough I think. Your Dad's is looking good though.

[matlea]

Looks good.... could be just the type.. some colour better than others.

[TimS]

Things are progressing quickly now in South East Melbourne as our nights get much colder.

Swamp cypress now very bronze

sc autumn.jpg

Ginkgo seedlings from last year getting very pale indeed

ginkgo autumn.jpg

Atro weeper in the garden getting some strong colour now

atro autumn.jpg

atro autumn 2.jpg

Japanese Maple "Sagara Nishiki' getting it's first colour

sagara nishiki autumn.jpg

A Prunus serrulata (Cherry Blossom) i grew from seed 2 years ago, it didn't flower last year so i've let it run wild to get as many flower buds as possible. Less interested in the autumn colour as i am finding out the flower colour

cherry autumn.jpg