AusBonsai

Hi.
I've been wanting a new bonsai for a week now and I was thinking about a forest setup. Any suggestions on what plants would be best suited to it and should i lie the plant down or get multiple ones of different sizes?

Any help would be great thanks
Ell

Group plantings are one way to make a very nice bonsai out of relatively undeveloped trees. You can use any species you like in a group planting but beginners should probably still stick with easy to care for trees. Trident maples make excellent forests. Chinese elms are not so common but can make a nice group as well. More recently some nice Swamp cypress groups starting to appear. Junipers are sometimes used in groups with only a few trees but it can be harder to make them fit together well.
Also worth thinking about some native species for group plantings - callistemon is relatively easy ( I think Pup recently posted some pics with a group of callistemon included) Melaleucas would also work.

Lying a single tree down and training branches as trunks is usually referred to as 'Raft' style. I find it hard to make it really good because you are limited where you can position branches/ trunks.

I believe that Bonsai North West featured group style at a recent meeting and I have had several requests for trident seedlings so people can try putting their own group together as a result.

I have seen many popular Trident Maple Forest's, of which they are all very successful!

A couple of years ago I bought a forest-sized bonsai pot after the urge to create a forest hit me....
I went to see Ray Nesci who put me straight onto Trident Maples. He helped me to create a vision of what I wanted and then I selected 7 trees of various ages.
After reading copious amounts of information on the subject I then planted it.
I am very pleased with mine so far and it does get a lot of comments from friends who love it.
Good luck with yours.

Any pics jimbo?

I have some pics showing the various stages. Hope you enjoy.
The first is the drawing showing placement of the trees.

Then a pic of the chosen trees. Note the one dominant tree.

Then I prepared the pot.. I also wired in some 1/2 inch mesh to assist with tying in the trees.

Then placement of trees.


Final result with the retaining wall and path.
Finally in leaf. Still styling and branch placement etc to go. This was last year so I'm now looking to get these things started.

Jimbo

One more pic closeup.

Love the idea of where you're going with this! Keep it up


Cheers
EZ
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Jimbomelville wrote:One more pic closeup.

I would kill to be able to get my hands on stock like this. Living in south west of WA doesn't help... Awesome job Jim.

I went and got the plant for my forest bonsai today.

I watched a YouTube video with this plant in a forest setup. And the guy said this was perfect for forest plantings as you can start with 1 plant and the cuttings root really well so you can just cut and plant to build your forest. And it doesn't need much water. I will get a pot later as they are way over priced at the place I went to.

Sorry for the sideways photos I am yet to learn how to make them the right way

Jimbomelville wrote:A couple of years ago I bought a forest-sized bonsai pot after the urge to create a forest hit me....
I went to see Ray Nesci who put me straight onto Trident Maples. He helped me to create a vision of what I wanted and then I selected 7 trees of various ages.
After reading copious amounts of information on the subject I then planted it.
I am very pleased with mine so far and it does get a lot of comments from friends who love it.
Good luck with yours.

Thanks Jim. where did you get your pot from? I don't want to spend a fortune on a pot. I was thinking on using a seed tray as a video I watched the guy used the same thing and made a wood frame for the outside of it.

I was trying to find Ha Pottery in Kemps Creek, Western Sydney.
As I was driving along Elizabeth Drive I noticed a heap of Pots in a fenced off area near a service station.
It wasn't Ha Pottery but we had a look around anyway.
This was the only bonsai pot they had. It had $55 on it but she let me have it for $40.

elljuu wrote:Sorry for the sideways photos I am yet to learn how to make them the right way

You have to open them in image edititing Software on a PC to correct the EXIF rotational data. ( Gimp, Photoshop, etc)
Either that or turn the camera off from using it ( disable rotation I think)
or simplest way is to take all photos in Landscape insteead

http://keyj.emphy.de/exif-orientation-rant/

Ken

Thanks Ken

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