Tridents - new spring growth

[shibui]

Spring is a great time for those of us with deciduous bonsai. The first of my tridents are just opening fresh new leaves for the coming season. The new red leaves change to green as they mature.
Hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

trident maple small 2012 9 2.JPG

trident maple small twin 2 2012 9.JPG

trident 8 2012 9.JPG

[irish]

Hi.
Thanks.

Regards.
irish.

[Damian Bee]

Mmmmmm slightly larger trident maple. Love that tree shibui, the results from your work on that tree (trunk, roots and branching) are superb.

[FatMingsBonsai]

Love tridents

[kcpoole]

Lovely trees Shibui
The Last one looks quite large but the size can be deceiving. My guess is about 350mm tall?

Ken

[bodhidharma]

Beautiful trees but i am partial to the first one. Love the gentle curvature.

[FatMingsBonsai]

Me too..

Can we have the stats, age and history of the first trident please?

Cheers.

[Jow]

such a great time of year! Your trees are looking really nice with the red spring growth!

Joe.

[GavinG]

All very graceful as they rise from the ground. Budding season is indeed magic. Thanks for posting.

Gavin

[shibui]

Hi all,
Thanks for the encouraging comments.
I thought someone would ask about size but still didn't write down the measurements so just had to go out and check.
First pic. Origins of this one are lost in the mists of time Fat Mings. It is one that has developed in pots for all its life. Never been in the ground or fast grown so no scars and good taper and movement. From seed, probably about 15-20 years ago but I have not kept records to narrow it down any further. 33cm tall, 30cm spread, trunk 3.5 above the base, visible nebari 12 cm wide. Pot is 27x18x3.8cm.

2nd pic. Small twin trunk: From seed about 15 years ago. Started out as a triple trunk but one suddenly died leaving the scar at the front. This one has also been pot grown. height 25 cm, spread 24 cm, large trunk 2.5 cm diam, Visible nebari 9 cm. Pot 15.5 cm round x 4.5cm deep.

3rd pic - larger trident. From seed about 20-23 years ago. This is one of my earlier ground growing attempts that achieved something worth keeping. Height 36cm (good guess KC!) Spread 31cm, trunk diameter 8or9 cm depending where I measure, nebari 19cm. Pot oval 35x29x7.3cm.

The rest of the tridents are budding quickly so will post a few more in coming weeks. Palmatums and chinese elms are just starting to open buds. Magic

[Dario]

Lovely trees shibui and the fresh red leaves are stunning!
I have trident cuttings that are a couple of years old and need many years and much work.
When my buds broke to show new leaves not one of them had that red colour yours display shibui...all are green. The new leaves on my Acer palmatum have the usual lovely green and red colours.
Can I expect my tridents to show this vibrant red of the new leaves in the future, or do not all tridents exhibit this quality?
As you can tell, I am new to growing tridents.
Cheers, Dario.

[shibui]

Dario,
Most of my tridents have this red spring growth but a few produce new shoots with green leaves right from the start. By late spring it is almost impossible to tell them apart.

I have noticed that most of my green ones are very difficult to get good ramification on but at several have produced a wonderful flared base without any help from me. I have been striking a few cuttings to explore the differences further but no definitive answers yet.

[Dario]

Thanks for your reply shibui

I have noticed that most of my green ones are very difficult to get good ramification on but at several have produced a wonderful flared base without any help from me. I have been striking a few cuttings to explore the differences further but no definitive answers yet.

That is very interesting about good ramification being a lot harder to acheive on the green ones.
I have around 10 of the green ones (all cuttings from the same tree) and I was surprised to see that when I lifted them for the first time to do the root work a few weeks ago, they all had better than expected basal flare with no special treatment...although I can't compare that result against the red tridents as I have none of them from cuttings, but still I was surprised!
They all had very good radial roots although I noticed that they had two very thick dominant roots opposite each other in a "T" formation with the trunk that seemed to account for the majority of the basal flare. Hopefully the root work I did to them will even that out for the future.
It will be interesting to see the results you get comparing the two from future cuttings.
Cheers Dario.

[shibui]

The rest of the tridents have leafed out in the last week or so. Here are a few more.

trident 2012 9 5.JPG

trident 2012 9 2.JPG

trident 2012 9 1.JPG

trident 2012 9 4.JPG

And a couple of groups just coming into leaf

trident 2012 9 7.JPG

trident 2012 9 8.JPG

[Andrew F]

To be able to walk thru your collection and pick your brain in person.

Thank you for sharing, you've got a exquisite collection mate.