What I Collected in 2018

[Watto]

The title should really be what I dug this year. What I intend to do is post a photo or two or my "dig trees" for 2018.
I should start by saying that with the current drought it is very difficult to dig trees successfully simply because it is too dry, however I have managed to get a few little gems and as the year progresses I hope to have a few more. Due to the weather there will be no full scale digging program, but we did have a few mm's of rain last weekend and that has given me hope.
I have had my eye on an English elm for some time now and I sneaked out last week (prior to the rain) to investigate but had to abandon the attempt because the ground was just too dry and hard - but I'll be back.
First up is a tree that was dug earlier this year, February or March and it has survived the Goulburn winter without missing a beat. Its a Casuarina somethingorother and was collected as a clump but I think I will separate it and make two or three bonsai from it.
Hopefully some more tomorrow, or the day after.

[boom64]

Hi Watto ,interesting pieces ,great movement. Should be a fun project....
Can relate to the harsh conditions for collecting ,had to resort to some Urban Yamadori to get a fix recently. Cheers John.

[MJL]

Good dig and a good beer. Talking about the big issues ... I currently a fan of Asahi, Sapporo and Furphy. A single malt here or there is a reasonable tonic for the cold winter too.

On your casuarinas - I get the idea of separating the clump but keeping the existing clump has some appeal too; maybe no need to seperate? Just angle away from each other... perhaps.

Muse over another beer.

[Watto]

Urban Yamadori are great John, and I dug one recently. I have a large Trident maple in my backyard that drops seeds everywhere and the occasional one escapes the weeder and then becomes is too big to pull out. This one has been trimmed by hedge trimmer a few times but I needed to get it out before it was too big to handle. Not sure how long its been in the garden but I was surprised (pleasantly) by the nabari.
This might make a nice tree in a couple of years?

[Watto]

If you are digging of course you would get a new wild grown plum!!!!
I was very impressed with the flowering Prunus mume when I was in Japan so when I saw this growing in the scrub I thought it was perfect. It wasn't quite as good as I had thought once I had it out of the ground but I still see a good future for this.It has some subtle movement and if it remains tall and slender it should look good when in flower.
PS - tip when digging plum - very sharp spikes so be careful when swinging the maddock.

[Watto]

There is a little bit of rain happening here at the moment so a couple more possibilities may show up soon. Fingers crossed,

[Watto]

This wild plum is the little brother or maybe little sister of the previous one.
This one might be the back up if the other one fails to deliver?
Both are long and thin and this was deliberate. I'll post an update in about five years.

[melbrackstone]

I learn something new every day. I had no idea plums had spikes!

You've got some wonderful trees to be going on with here Watto! Looking forward to seeing their progressions.

[Watto]

If its Monday it must be time to post another dig tree, or in this case trees.
These are English Oaks (Quercus Robur) which I dug a few weeks ago, The trunks are 3 to 5 cm wide and when I checked them yesterday they all appear fine. It will be interesting to see how they progress.
The deciduous digging season is coming to an end so I will be on the look out for some evergreens now.

[Watto]

Today I'm off on a scouting mission to maybe, perhaps, possibly dig a few pines sometime in the future.
However in the mean time, here is one from yesterday. A number of years ago I made the tragic mistake of putting a Chinese Elm in the garden to "thicken up". If you don't know, these grow quite freely from root cuttings and I now believe I will never get rid of these. Anyway I dig them when I remember and here is the first one. I am probably being a little harsh as they are reasonable stock but you can have too much of a good thing. These have been mostly shaped by the hedge trimmer.

[Watto]

Another day, another Chinese Elm. Same story as the previous Chinese Elm.

[Watto]

Another Chinese Elm and this one had a bigger hair cut than the others. In a year or so a little bit of carving on all of the elms will set the taper in better proportions and then branch development after that.
These are not your typical bonsai stock trees, more like wild ones.

[Watto]

The deciduous dig days are probably over (although I think you could still dig an English elm or two) so its onto the evergreens.
I dug this Himalayan cedar today (it had to come out as it was getting too big for the area it was growing in) and the lower trunk movement looks OK.
Potted up and will live in a shaded area for a month or so then treat it as normal after that. Now I always try to get "dig trees" into the smallest possible pot (or maybe that should be practical pot) as I strongly believe this is better for the prospects of success.
Anyway, hope you like it.
PS - it currently stands about 1.5 metres tall so there is a bit of cutting to be done to get it to a reasonable size.