BC Collecting Trip #4 For 2020

by | Jan 20, 2020 | Bald Cypress, Care, Collecting, Potting
Today was BC collecting trip #4 for 2020. As usual, we had great luck. This may be my favorite specimen from today’s group. Some BC’s just have that flat-top look, and this is one of them. The base is 4″ and it’s chopped at 30″, which will make a tall and elegant specimen. The flaring root base is outstanding, and the fluting is good too.
It’s easier in this photo to see just how nice this tree is. If someone doesn’t make a flat-top bonsai out of it, I plan to do so myself.
This is the most unusual specimen we got today. It has an interesting root off to the left, what you might call a “flying buttress.” It will work best in a bonsai pot if you can see through the base, so the tree was prepped with that in mind.
You can’t see the flying buttress here, but that’s how we pot ’em.
This is the largest specimen we brought home today, with a trunk base of 4.5″. The photo doesn’t do the fluting justice. It will make a fine upright classic BC bonsai.
Here’s another upright specimen with great fluting up the trunk. The base is 4″. Some of my BC’s from prior years are pushing buds now, and even though we have a couple of cold nights ahead of us I don’t think these trees will hold back much longer. They were collected a good bit farther south than we are, and they do tend to remember where they come from. Let me know what you think of these cypresses.

BC Collecting Trip #3 For 2020

by | Jan 18, 2020 | Bald Cypress, Care, Collecting, Potting
Today was our third Bald cypress collecting trip for 2020. The goal was to bring home somewhat smaller material, mostly in the 3″ +/- trunk size. We were definitely successful.

This is a good example of our haul. The base is terrific, and you can’t argue with the taper and movement of the trunk.

In the pot and buried deep.
This is a very cool specimen. I’m not sure if that secondary trunk can be part of the design, but I’m leaving it for whoever buys the tree (or myself if it ends up hanging around for a while). Regardless, the base is very impressive and I love the turn in the trunk. And of course, you just can’t ask for better taper.
All tucked in.
This one caught my eye. It’s not something you’d make on purpose, but it was out there just growing away and I’m thinking it’s bound to make a unique bonsai. The trunk isn’t huge, just 2.5″ across the base, but it packs a lot of character.
Potted up. Now we wait.
Once again, here’s one that caught my eye. That root you see at the right is not a knee, but it packs so much interest and character I couldn’t not bring it home. There’s a very nice bonsai in this tree.
It still looks great, even buried deep. But once that root gets exposed again in a bonsai pot, this tree will really impress.

Let me know what you think.

BC Collecting Trip #2 For 2020

by | Jan 12, 2020 | Bald Cypress, Collecting, Potting, Pruning
Our second BC collected trip for 2020 happened yesterday. As often happens, the weather did not cooperate. On the plus side, the rain was not Noah-worthy so we plowed through and got the job done. If you’re into big classically styled Bald cypress bonsai, this is the sort of specimen you’re after. Beautiful flaring, buttressed base, great trunk taper, chopped at just the right spot to grow out and finish up around 40″. This one is just about a perfect formal upright, which for the trees I collect is very unusual.
Here it is in the pot, shown from what should be the best front. The root base is buried, of course, to keep the roots from drying out.
Here’s another one the same size (5″ trunk), but more along the lines of what I usually find. This one will make a superb informal upright BC bonsai of the classic pyramidal style.
And in the pot. I love the fluting of the trunks of these trees, don’t you?
Here’s an unusual specimen. The trunk is the same size as the ones above, about 5″ across (that’s measured up the trunk about 5″ above the soil level once it’s potted), but I ended up chopping it lower because the trunk lost taper above what you see as the chop point. That means this tree will ending making a “stouter” bonsai when all is said and done. The two trees above are chopped at 26″; this one at 19″.
Here it is in its training home.
This is the most unusual specimen I brought home this trip. The trunk is not all that thick, but the flare at the base is just massive and in the final potting of the tree I plan to expose most of it. I’m confident it will make quite a statement!
All tucked in and waiting for the weather to warm up. If we get mild enough temperatures, I expect to see budding on these trees in early to mid-February. At that point or soon thereafter we should know who made it and who didn’t. Let me know what you think of our latest haul.

BC Trees With Knees Are The Bee’s Knees

by | Jan 4, 2020 | Bald Cypress, Care, Collecting, Potting
Well, there’s nothing like Bald cypress collecting season, and there’s certainly nothing like a collected Bald cypress featuring a naturally occurring knee. This is a very substantial specimen, as I’m sure you can tell (the tub is 24″ long). Something ran over this tree decades ago, so it just grew the best it could. The trunk has rooted all along its length, so my plan is to attempt to create a raft BC from it. I don’t recall ever seeing one, though I’m sure someone somewhere has done so.

But check out that knee! That’s what sold me on this specimen. It sits right on the recumbent trunk, and I’m confident that once I get some new trunks going it’ll make for quite a composition.

The small tree to the left may or may not be part of the recumbent trunk. It appeared to have fused at some point, but as I worked on the tree it seemed to want to pull away. Regardless, it’s kind of cool for now and I may leave it even after I get the new trunks going. It’s got a fat root crossing over the main trunk, which I like.

So today I really scored. This specimen has two knees growing right on the trunk near the base. I wasn’t expecting them to be connected, but they are. So for my first time ever, today I collected two BC’s with knees. And that’s the bee’s knees!

The trunk on this one is 5″ 5″ above the soil, with a terrific flare. Very nice tree.
This is one heck of a BC specimen. The trunk is 5.5″ about 5″ above the soil, and that fluting and slight twist to the trunk just do it for me. An outstanding piece of material.

I really love the elegant “feminine” BC specimens I often bring home. I’m thinking a flat-top is in the cards for this one. The base is 4″ 4″ above the soil and it’s chopped at 29″. So the tall slender model is what I have in mind.
And lastly, this is a smaller specimen, with a base of 2.5″. But isn’t the taper and movement just awesome? I’m also thinking flat-top for this one, but it could just as easily be trained in the more traditional informal upright style.

So that’s it for my first BC collecting trip of 2020. Let me know what you think, and stay tuned for more posts over the next few weeks.

Harvesting A Hefty Huckleberry

by | Dec 26, 2019 | Blueberry, Care, Collecting, Potting, Pruning
It’s Huckleberry collecting time, and today I harvested a hefty one. Here it is, right out of the ground with the roots washed off. The trunk base is 2.5″ above the root crown. This is about the trunk size limit for the species, as near as I can tell. I’d estimate the age at 25-35 years.
Those of you who have followed my work for any length of time know I’m a firm believer in chopping roots hard. Why? It’s all about the bonsai pot. If you can’t get the roots you’ve chopped into a bonsai pot, with some room to spare for the new roots that are going to sprout from the cut ends, you’ve just handed yourself a big future headache! Yes, I’ve been guilty of this in the past, and more than once. But I do learn, even if it’s sometimes a slow process. So these roots are cut back enough to comfortably fit the bonsai pot this tree will go into. Is the tree at risk? Absolutely not! When you collect deciduous and broadleaf evergreen trees, you’re removing not only most of the root but also most of the branching as well. This balances the tree perfectly, so when new roots and shoots get going there’s no undue stress. The tree “wants” to live, and it does what it has to in order to live. (Note: Boxwoods are a special case among the broadleaf evergreens, in that you have to leave foliage on the branches or you risk losing them; you can thin the branching, just don’t cut back to a bare trunk or branches.)
Here I’ve reduced the trunk to its proper line. I’ve also turned the tree. Is this a better front? It does have something going for it.
This is the better front. If you compare this photo to the one above, you can see the trunk has a little curve in it from this angle and that’s definitely better. There’s also a good rootage presentation from this angle as well.

And here’s the tree potted up. The trunk is chopped at 15-16″, which should produce a finished height of about 24″ or so. I love the color and character of the trunk, and I’m confident this Huckleberry is going to be a fine bonsai in three or four years.

Let me know what you think of this specimen.

More Collecting, A Couple More Examples

by | Dec 15, 2019 | Care, Collecting, Elms, Potting, Privet
Here’s a quick update for today – a balmy Deep South winter day, high 75, meaning the weather wasn’t miserable for lifting trees. This triple-trunk Chinese privet, Ligustrum sinense, is actually a connected root specimen. The trunks are nice, with great taper, and the one on the right has beautiful movement. The small trunk in front is also pretty gnarly, but I’m not sure I can keep it considering its position and the fact that this needs to be the front of the future bonsai. But that can be decided later on. For a sense of scale the largest trunk is 1.5″, the next 1″ and the smallest 3/4″. Height of the tallest is 5″ at the chop. This one has a lot in a small package.
I’ve had this Zelkova, Zelkova serrata, in the ground for a few years now. Last year I chopped the trunk to build taper. The trunk base has reached just over 1″, so I decided to go ahead and get another specimen going for the 2020 inventory. I’ve got others still in the ground that I’ll continue to grow out.
Potted up and trimmed a little more. The tree is chopped at 10.5″, but that’s just until it buds in spring. I’ll re-chop to a leader that’s in the right spot relative to the transition point. For now, I want to protect the leader from dieback. For those of you who haven’t worked with Zelkovas, I can highly recommend the species. They grow very quickly, as many elms do, and this allows you to create a showable bonsai in just two or three years. This one already has some branching I should be able to use to create a design. But I’ll wait till spring to wire it, to give the roots a chance to firm up.