I got this Chinese Elm in about 1990 and it has had a journey with me ever since. The reason I posted this is just to show that trees do live through many years, they change and they are tough to withstand a few years of no real care as long as they get watered.

The photo taken in 1992 shows that I firstly intended to style this tree in a “sort of” broom style.

By 1995 it was on its way but never really going to be a bonsai of any significance, but still I liked it.

It had a period of time where it only got watered and a very occasional trim. In about 2000 it lost the right side branch and so a new style was needed. I decided on informal upright and set about in making a new and different tree from the old stock. A bud shot on the outside of the curve and I thought it might be a good idea to try and have that as the first branch.

I took to fertilizing it a great deal and positioning and wiring that branch and by 2006 it was the dominant branch. I admit I was quite surprised how quickly a branch could be developed with some very simple techniques.

The above photo was taken in May 2006 and was showing its autumn tones. I thought that the lower part of the trunk was a bit thin and so I decided to use a scarifice branch to thicken it up.

The above photo was taken in September 2010 just as the tree was coming into leaf. This photo is from the left side and shows the sacrifice branch which had quite considerable growth from when I decided to grow it.

This photo is also September 2010, after the removal of the sacrifice branch. The one below is October 2010.

The above photo was taken in May 2011 showing glorious autumn colour. This particular tree is fully deciduous unlike some other Chinese Elms in my collection that are semi-deciduous and others evergreen.

It has been in the same pot for quite a few years now (although it has been regularly re-potted) and it is now time to find an appropriate quality pot for it.

Japanese styled pot

 During the winter I bought two possible pots for this tree. The first is a Japanese styled pot with beautiful earthy tones and some unique character. The second one shown below was a pot by Pat Kennedy with again earthy tones but this one had a “crackle” glaze.

Pot by Pat Kennedy

After much consideration I decided on the Pat Kennedy pot because I think that the roughness of the pot accentuates the bark of the tree.

In it’s new pot.

The above photo was taken at night with a flash so there is some shadow, but I like the new look and believe that it has lifted the tree.

This photo was taken on 27 February 2013.

 This tree is continuing to develop and I hope will still improve for many years. Each time a photo is taken you can see where improvements can be made and this is a great journey for each of your bonsai.