A few trainers

[alpineart]

These are some of the recent batch of trainers that have now been completed .

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These will finish the season in the pots then into the ground for a season or two .

[alpineart]

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[alpineart]

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All of these were collected over the last couple of seasons .Cheers Alpineart

[kcpoole]

Nice mate
You are going to have plenty of great stock in a few years
I wish I had much room to put trees in the ground

Ken

[bodhidharma]

Well done Alpine Future stunners and good to see the neat wiring. I particulary like the Ponderosa, do you have a stock of them as i certainly want one for my personal plaything. When i was in Oklahoma in 2003 i saw them wild and they are a stunning subject.

[alpineart]

Hi kc , nice stock for the future for sure , as to having room i have just sacrificed hundreds of bearded irises just to make some space for a more worthwhile purpose .Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi Bodhi all things improve with age , even me so i'm told .The wiring has done the job thanks to some quality time spent with Noah78 ,i've been inspired to do better for sure .There are a few remaining stands of Poderosa's up here under direct threat of clear felling over the next 12 months or sooner .It will be a sad day they disappear along with all of the Nigra species however i can still collect a few knowing where they are growing .Its hard to find good Bonsai material in Poderosa's but worth the time wandering through the plantations .In the process of locating another 2 wheeled machine to make it all the more enjoyable .Cheers Alpine

[LLK]

Spellings:
Austrian pine: Pinus nigra Austriaca
Corsican pine: Pinus nigra maritima
Ponderosa pine: Pinus ponderosa

What is the "Western shore pine"? Is that another name for the lodgepole pine, i.e. Pinus contorta, or is it one of the Pinus nigra subspecies, called P. nigra salzmannii var. ....? occurring West of the ranges, from S. Italy to N. Africa?

Since you went to the trouble of properly naming your trees in training, I thought I might as well help you finish the job.
Congrats on obtaining those pine species! I'm darn jealous.
I'm sure they'll end up beautifully as bonsai, given a few years.

Lisa

[alpineart]

Hi LLK , i believe it is a Pinus Contorta -western shore pine not Pinus Contorta spp contorta - Shore pine , W S P has a reddish shoot and the S P has the silver shoot . WSP has a much coarser needle with a more pronounced twist grown here in the alps could be the reason for the stiffer needles .The larger specimen tree's were felled and burnt labelled as noxious weeds , the seedling were destroyed soon after i collecting a ute load .I voluteered to assist in the eradication of these introduced pests on the proviso i could salvage a few bonsai .Parks and gardens gave the green light and I.D the tree . Cheers Alpine

[LLK]

Hi Alpine,
Very interesting! It looks like they did the same in the Victorian Alps as they did in the Brindabellas here, i.e. trialled various exotics to see whether they were worth planting for timber or chips on a larger scale. I never knew that. Or is the reason for all those plantations a different one? For decades Canberra bonsai growers collected precious seedlings in the high hills, until in 2003 the firestorm destroyed almost all the plantations. There is just one left. I've still got a Ponderosa and a smallish Scots pine from the early plantations, plus a pine which I found after the fire as a small seedling and which has grown beautifully since. Only no-one knows what it is! The real veterans here have much bigger and better ex-yamadoris, which are priceless. One Jack pine made it to the National Collection, for ex.
I hope you manage to get a lot more of those small "noxious weeds" before they are all felled!
What is Forestry going to put in their place? Bl....dy radiata?

Lisa

[alpineart]

Hi LLK , my collecting will continue til i can't go on .Still got 2 arms , 2 feet and a heart beat so i should be good for another season . Most of the plantation as in the Brindabellas were destroyed by wild fires ,now the Dept' of Sparks and Embers are burning the rest of the self sown area's and the plantation corps are , you guessed it planting Montereys/Radiata's .Its quite funny to say , Radiata pine is classed as a noxiuos weed outside of a plantation , go figure what Rocket Scientist thought of that ? cheers Alpine

[The Hacker]

Hi Alpine,

Just checking out the pines & junipers & came across these little beauties nice work, can you give us some updated photo's, on how there progressing, I'm also heading up your way this weekend for a wedding & if it's ok would like to drop in & have a look at some of your tree's, mayb you could take me out on a pine dig as it looks like you have some good stock growen up there in the hill's.

Regard's

The Hacker

[Brian]

Nah, Alpine wouldn't mix with a guy like you Mr hacker.

[The Hacker]

Very Funny Ha Ha Brian

[alpineart]

Hi The Hacker , i'm have drama's with pics being too big from the new camera , so topics will come to a stand still .I cant be bothered resizing or learning how to so i will have to look for another small mega pixel camera .I have lost a couple due to the accident and sold a few , but i have several growing well . A dig is out of the question until Winter hits but i could arrange a tour of my collection plots , no GPS's allowed .

Cheers Alpine