I enjoyed pottering this morning. Some years ago, I purchased a Chinese Elm from a bonsai sales day - I think it was in 2016. To this day, I don't know why I purchased it - just to walk away with a plant, probably. It had terrible nebari - sort of a split root above the ground - which I may have thought was interesting at the time. It was also a one-sided tree. It didn't cost much - the pot was probably worth more than the tree.
Anyway.. in 2018...I decided to sh!t or get off the potty. I was never going to be happy with the tree. I decided to strip one side of the trunk and lay the tree down to see to if I could create something out of not much. Today, I decided to have look and conduct an Autumn repot. I wish I had a photo of the original tree but it seems not or I just cannot find it.
Anyway here are two pots (in August 2018) after the tree was laid down and some cutting taken too. Look carefully at the first photo - in the middle, a root cutting with no foliage - that makes a re-appreance with roots and leaves later. And the same pots as they were this morning too.
And the photos below are what transpired earlier today. I am happy. No so much with the current layout - rather that I have learned to take something rooted (pardon the pun) and create a root-connected setting that I can now work with, enjoy and potentially make something interesting over time.
Much better than before. Of course, other thoughts welcome and the lesson is ... before you chuck out a tree or dismiss it altogether, make sure there aren't other options. Not much to lose and a lot to learn.
Below is the root cutting from the first photo in this thread.I nearly seperated this cutting to make a single tree... but in the end, I removed that fat root and added back to this setting.
PS - The rocks in the current photo are not part of any design - just holding parts of the tree in place.
PPS - And somewhat buoyed by the success of the root cutting ... why not bang in eight more with the left over root from this tree.
This won't be a group planting ... just an experiment, banged-in a pot before a storm hits Melbourne in about five minutes time!! If they take, I'll seperate them later and figure out what to do. What's to lose?
Chinese elm - from rooted to root-connected
- MJL
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Chinese elm - from rooted to root-connected
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Last edited by MJL on March 29th, 2020, 1:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
- Matt S
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Re: Chinese elm - from rooted to root-connected
Great post Mark. Easy growing species like Chinese Elm offer opportunities to try new things and experiment, and this is a great example. I love rafts too, so this ticks a lot of boxes.
Matt.
Matt.
- MJL
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 2840
- Joined: October 26th, 2014, 8:47 pm
- Favorite Species: Maples, Elms, Cedars and Pines
- Bonsai Age: 7
- Bonsai Club: Waverley Bonsai Group & Yarra Valley Bonsai Society
- Location: Melbourne
- Has thanked: 424 times
- Been thanked: 643 times
Re: Chinese elm - from rooted to root-connected
Cheers Matt,
Something a bit left field. I just noticed this root structure from one of the photos above... if I could construct a tree like this, I'd be happy.
Something a bit left field. I just noticed this root structure from one of the photos above... if I could construct a tree like this, I'd be happy.
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Tending bonsai teaches me patience.