I hope the weekend has started well. I was just chewing on an early morning coffee, wandering around my small garden and thought it might be interesting to show these clump-style trees.
These English Elms were collected as root suckers a few years back. I noticed that through spring and summer, these popped up like weeds and then they were mown away ... only to re-shoot soon after. Tough little things! So... one sunny morning, I grabbed a trowel, my secateurs, a bucket of water and cut a few out to see what would happen.
Well this happened and I like the progress.
Initially, I applied softwood hormone juice to the newly exposed roots and potted them into plastic pots. They settled into a new way of growing. A year later, I root trimmed and removed unwanted suckers. The following year a bit of styling and into a bonsai pot.
For all intents and purposes, still pre-bonsai for the more experienced growers I am sure. For me, I'm really happy with the progress and continue to tend, I will.
I think it shows too that bonsai stock can come from many sources. If we walk around and appreciate the little things (maybe not our little phones
) we perhaps see things we otherwise may not; sparking thoughts and creative juices that may have been left un-tapped. In this instance, an idea for an interesting experiment is turning into something OK. Cheers,
M
I Iike these MJ. They develop so quickly don't they. Just spent yesterday trimming back a few of these myself. Some branch extensions were at least 20cms long. Peaceful fun in the sun, with the scent of Spring through the air on a long weekend - I love this time of year. 
