AusBonsai

Trees seem to be waking early this year but spring is a magic time of year as buds swell and new leaves unfold.
Trident maple just opening leaves.
Not all trees start to grow at the same time. These 3 are all trident maples and have spent the winter right next to each other on the bench here. The centre tree is well ahead of the one on the right while the tree on the left is only just starting to open a few buds.

Nearby the buds on this trident have not even started to open.

Just above those 3 tridents my crab apple is well under way with plump flower buds
Crab apple 'Profusion' has very attractive red leaves, especially as they first open

Great time of year and so many lovely trees there too Neil. Ripper time of year ... yep, the deciduous are the glamorous attendees at the spring ball but I must say I quite like it when the Cedrus get spring to life for the party too!



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The deciduous trees are undoubtedly the heroes at this time of year, but I do like the different colours in the new growth of various eucalyptus species that I'm getting at the moment.

My trees are coming out now, here's a small selection.

Root over Rock trident



Quirky 20 year old informal upright. Airlayering will happen in spring to remove the top and restart the bottom since no one purchased it when i had it up for sale.


My old maple i'm restarting has put out flowers this year on one branch. I'll try to grow seeds from it if they make it that far.



Chinese Elm field style is fully out now, sorry for the abysmal photo with so much greenery behind.


Finally a recent addition this prunus americana is leafing out nicely

Japanese Flowing Quince which has been flowering for the past few weeks now.
Rooted cuttings in a small James Tranter pot. I admire the raw un-glazed Black that he uses.

greg27 - which Eucs are they? They all look promising.

Gavin

GavinG wrote: ↑August 29th, 2020, 5:39 pm greg27 - which Eucs are they? They all look promising.

Clockwise from top left: E. kruseana, E. malacoxylon, E. leucoxylon, and E. caesia. All just sticks in pots at this stage, but none have objected to root pruning and all seem to bud back well.

H in all. A novice question.
I can see that the plants here all look awesome with leaves popping up all over. A fair few of line have done this too (though very skinny and small). The question is whether now is a good time to think about reporting and pruning.
Maples, crab apples, black pine etc. or should I still wait a couple of weeks?
Any feedback would be great. There are a couple of ID issues but will post them separately.
Cheers all. P

Paul, get onto all of them now or you will have to wait until next year. Times running out.
Cheers
Kirky

Repot window is far wider than most people believe. I start repotting in mid winter. Most trees don't seem to have any problems here in our relatively mild Aussie winters. Repotting continues through until the leaves start to open up, sometimes even when there are small leaves unfurling. I have occasionally root pruned some small trident maples well into spring with full leaves. Most soon drop all the leaves but soon grow new ones as they recover. Repotting and root pruning when the deciduous trees have leaves is not recommended though. Best to do them before that stage.
Evergreens can be repotted from mid winter through to mid spring. Again I try to do it before they really start growing.
Most natives and some Mediterranean species (olive) tolerate root pruning better in warmer weather, even if the tree is actively growing. I usually start doing natives in October and run through to Christmas. Growers in warmer climates report that many natives can be repotted all year round.
Tropicals manage better when root pruned in warmer months.

There is also a growing body of evidence that many trees can be successfully repotted from mid summer through to autumn. Here in Aus there's no real worry about super cold winters affecting freshly repotted trees so we can usually go a bit later than bonsai growers in the northern hemisphere.

So, Paul, It depends a bit on the species but I agree with Kirky. Now is usually the best time to repot most bonsai.

shibui wrote: ↑August 30th, 2020, 7:17 pm Repotting and root pruning when the deciduous trees have leaves is not recommended though. Best to do them before that stage.

At my place in SA, chinese elms, pomegranite, flowering quince (C. speciosa) and chinese quince never fully lose their leaves. I wait until the new buds start to swell and then repot. Going to give autumn repotting a go for flowering quince next year because the flowers come out so early that I always miss the repot.

Some more Shibui Spring shots
Seiju elm with new shoots opening
Trident maple. Love those new red tips.
A couple of forsythias flowering.
Plums are also just starting to flower. I think this is Prunus 'Elvins'

Those red leaves are superb for a trident. Some of mine have red new growth but nothing as impressive as that. It rivals some Japanese maple cultivars

Gotta love those tridents waking up .

Not even 4 days into spring and I think I can safely say there has been some movement in the candles on my JBP. All the other pines too, but particularly my JBP. All these trees were repotted about 3-4 weeks ago. I don't think it slowed them down too much.