A few of my trees

[Andrew Legg]

Hi All,

Just thought I'd show you a few of my trees. All of them are bought, and some more recently than others. (sorry about the post being in the wrong place, but I could not figure out how to change it once I had realised!

The first is my first tree in my current collection. It is an Acacia that I was given as a gift 4 years ago. At the time, it looked like this:

Acacia BMT Before.jpg

That photo was taken in 2008, and here it is now:

Acacia BMT.jpg

It needs some more ramification, and the bottom branches are there simply to thicken it up a bit.

Next is a very young olive that I have bent into shape. I will be working on it again tonight at our Oyama Kai meeting, so I'll post a update tomorrow. It needs better pad placement and the top needs a lot of work. I have had this one for about 3 years now:

Small Olive.jpg

Next up a small Juniper Grey Owl received as a lucky draw prize when my mother chose a "most popular tree" at the Oyama Bonsai Kai Show about two years ago. Back then, it looked like this:

Juniper Grey Owl Before.jpg

I have repotted it and given the trunk and branches some heavy wiring. I am now working on the pad positioning and developing branch refinement. Next step is to start a better root selection and build them up as well.

Juniper Grey Owl.jpg

Another Juniper, this one a Procumbens Nana bought just shy of a year ago from a local bonsai person who was reducing her collection.

Juniper Before.jpg

I felt it was overly bushy and lacked foliage refinement and so this is where it is today, one year later:

Junpier Proc Nana.jpg

Another JPN, this one recently acquired. I have done nothing to it other than pot it up and feed feed feed. I am planning to use this one in a cascade demo that I am going to be presenting to our club in a few month's time. The tree originally belonged to Ian Saaiman, and then Rudi Adam. The basics are there, but lots of work to do still!

Cascade Juniper.jpg

Now for a Japanese Black Pine. I bought this as an upright tree about a year ago, and finally decided to go with a semi-cascade. I have planted it out sideways and bent some shape into the trunk:

Pine Before.jpg

Recently I did a bit of branch placement, and I am looking forward to getting this one looking good in future. I think it has a bright future with a bit of luck!

Pine After.jpg

Finally, a Trident Maple I bought a few weeks back from the same person as the Juniper. A Lovely tree. It needs work on the roots and I am considering a new branch on the outside of the bend. You know which one! Thoughts? First I will live with it for a while and see whether I want to make these changes or not.

Trident Maple.jpg

Hope you enjoy these trees and the before and afters. I'd be more than happy to take comments/suggestions/criticisms on any of them! I'll post a few more when I get the old camera out again sometime.

Cheers,

Andrew

[rowan]

HI Andrew, You've got some lovely tree there. I can't offer any critisism or advice but I think you have done well. My favourite is the first juniper. With some age and refinement it will look marvolous.
Cheers,
Rowan

[lennard]

Love the trunkline on the Maple- reminds me of an very elegant but old lady.

You are doing a nice job on the Junipers and Pine - wish I could grow them here but they just seem not to like the climate here.

Keep up the good work - and do post some pictures of the workshops and meetings that you attend.

Lennard

[bodhidharma]

Thanks for sharing your collection Andrew and your impeccable honesty. You have done a great job in progressing them for the better. I like the trident and do agree with the branch on the bottom curve. A thread graft perhaps?

[Andrew Legg]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I said I'd post some pics of the olive after working on it, but unfortuinately the lights went off at our meeting last night, so I did not get the chance to do more than get all my tools out and roll up my sleeves before it went dark! Oh well, as we say in South Africa, "More is nog 'n dag" or tomorrow is another day!

Rowan, that first juniper is certainly one of my favourites as well. What I am really excited about is that I bought a lovely Tokoname Grey pot (not sure what the actualy description of the pot is), that looks quite similar to the one this little tree is in, but it is a big pot, about 45 cms wide and 30 odd deep. I have found another lovely Grey Owl to go into it, so together I think they will look lovely. The other tree is also a Rudi Adam tree, and the basics have been done, but there is also a lot of work to do on it. Here is a terrible photo taken with my phone when I was last at his nursery.

IMG00026-20101218-1215.jpg

Thanks Lennard, I'll drop in some photos of the meetings when the lights come back on!

Bodhi, I guess if you are not honest with others, you are not being honest with yourself! No need for me to take credit for other's work. I am in bonsai for my own self enjoyment, not to seek gratification from others. The journey is for me probably more important than the end result. That little olive is a very special tree for me, not because it is a good tree, but because my now 4 year old daughter has helped me mix the soil, prune, pull of old leaves, look for bugs etc etc. This is what makes it a special tree. Other than that, it is completely ordinary. It may have a good future, but for now, it is just another stick in a pot. A very special stick though!

I was thinking of a thread graft, but the tree is throwing no growth at the moment. This could be because it is our hottest month now. Maybe it will sprout out again in a few weeks time. I will have to wait and see, and in the mean time, I think a virt or a couple of drawings are in order. The tree also needs a lot of work on it's base, so I am going to have to learn a lot about grafting on and building a good nebari as well. The nebari is probably the single biggest flaw of this tree. For the branch graft (if I do it), I am guessing I need to use material from this tree to keep the foliage the same. For the root grafting, I could use any trident stock right?

Cheers

Andrew

[bodhidharma]

G'day Andrew, for the thread graft you should use the same tree but if you are having trouble with finding a branch to co-operate you could use a cutting , grow it and use a branch from that. For your Nebari why dont you use the toothpick method? There is lots of info about it on here.

[Andrew Legg]

Hey Bodhi,

The tooth pick method is a definate option. The problem is that there appears to have been one graft done already, the one on the left in the photo. This means you can see the old trunk underneath the gap. Here is a close up of that section:

Trident Roots.jpg

I want to end up with a shape a bit like that drawn in in yellow, but at the moment there are two roots sticking out, and under them you can see the old trunk line. It really does not look good! I'll try to get a better photo tonight once I get home from work. Once I post it, I would look forward to inputs on how best to reconstruct that base!

Cheers

[Andrew Legg]

Well well,

It's that time of year again - photo records of bonsais! Here are a few more little porkers in my collection. All very undevelopped and young, but I think they hold some potential.

First up is a little procumbens nana. One of those buy it now and see what you get later trees! It has been potted now as well,but looks exactly like this:

Juniper.jpg

Then on to a Firethorn. The top of this tree died off and kthis was essentially all that was left. Kinda forced me to look for the tree withing the tree. I'm rather pleased and just hope it survives the recent potting . . . . . so far no wilting!

Pyracantha 00.jpg

Next little piggy is this little olive. Bought basically exactly as you see it, all I have done is potted it into a nice hand made Japanese pot. I think it looks cool and now the decision is whether or not to keep the roots as exposed. I quite like it so for now, it can stay like that.

Little Olive 02.jpg

Finally, another olive. This one I bought as a nursery tree at about 7 feet tall. The people at the nursery almost fainted when I asked them for loppers to "take the top off so it fits in the car". Needless to say, I cut it down to about 10cms. Shoulda seen them It's been in a black nursery bag for a little while now, so this season is it's first into a pot. It will go smaller in time, but for now this is a good temporary home!

Little Olive 01.jpg

Cheers all.

[chiah]

Nice trees and nice work... FWIW I would go for the extra branch on the Trident... thanks for sharing

[Guy]

nice gather--the sweeping S shape on the first juniper looks unnatural to me--the "before' photo with sharper bends and less movement would be my aim

[Andrew Legg]

Hey Guy,

The tree has fallen backwards in its pot, so the s-bends are actually over-pronounced now. I think it looks a bit better when stnading at the correct angle. Needless to say, I'll popo off another piccy once I pot it back up the way it should be.

Anyway, a bit higher up this post there is a photo of a large grey owl juniper - it is a bit of a dodgy pic, but today I potted it into its new home, a nice grey Tokoname pot. To say I'm pleased is an understatement !!! The tree still needs a lot of work, but I now have a partner in crim for the smaller tree and hopefully the old girl has a bright future! Here she is:

Large Grey Owl Sept 2011.jpg

Also saw this wisteria today . . . . base is about 8 to 10 cms across. Can anyone tell me whether you have heard of a variety called Jake? What do you think of it's potential for a nice bonsai?

Wisteria.jpg

[Gerard]

Hi Andrew,
I like the trident as it is, also a good topic for discussion.
By having a new first branch on the left you are fighting the movement to the right. (which I like)
Perhaps a change of potting angle would overcome this but would this exaggerate the thick root on the right?
I think the best method for improving the the roots is to graft seedlings because the improvement is achieved quickly (always use the same species)

untitleddd.png

Thread grafting a new first branch will take a lot more time if you wish to achieve the thickest branch on the tree, not to mention the taper.
My thoughts....the tree is better with the first branch on the right.

[Gerard]

I decided to re arrange the foliage

untitledddd.png

[Andrew Legg]

Interesting options Gerard - I can see I've got some mulling over to do! I have two trident seedlings both about 3 to 4 mm thick which I plan to graft. I repotted the tree about 2 weeks ago just to get an idea for the root system structure. I did not take too much soil off (chicken) as this is one of my best trees, and I need to make sure I don't kill the damn thing 6 months after buying it! What I did find though is that the thick roots coming from the trunk run deep. I chopped them back pretty hard and plan to do so again at the next repotting session. I think I may try a root graft or two on some of my more dodgy trees (learning experience as I ain't done it before) and allow some longer growth from this one to take a few cuttings from it. I will then grow these on for grafts. The big question in my mind is what thickness grafting material should I be using to get a decent ballance between a neat healing scar and decent size roots!

Also did my first airlayering yesterday so I'm feeling very adventurous!!!

I do want to make a comment here to all of you - you are all more than welcome to use any of these images for discussion and crits etc. I shall not feel hurt, but would welcome it.

Cheers,

Andrew

[Andrew Legg]

Well well - time for another update on two of them and a new tree in my collection.

First the Acacia, which I guess is no longer an Acacia but a Vachellia thanks to you Aussies!! It has been a year since the last picture was taken and it is growing and getting more refined by the day! You should like this one Ken!

Acacia January 2012.jpg

Next up is my small olive. It has been growing strongly and I have just cut it back and pulled one branch down to grow at a better angle.

Sumo Mame Olive 2012.jpg

Finally, a new addition, a Lavender Tree, Heteropyxus natalensis (I think I'll stick with Lavender Tree!! This is a little tree that I have done surprisingly little too. I bought it for about $5Aus about 9 months ago, and it came in a black bag from a local commercial non-bonsai nursery. I'm convinced that it will make a good bonsai subject as it took the repot into a fairly small pot in its stride. It did not seem to mind having its roots tampered with too much, and I'm wishing I had not worked on it before the Shohin Compo as it would have made a good entry! Oh well, I'm enjoying it all the same

Lavender Tree January 2012.jpg

So there you go. That's all from me folks!

Cheers,

Andrew