An American Elm Gets Potted

by | May 12, 2019 | American Elm, Care, Elms, Potting, Pruning, Styling

Every tree you work on will eventually reach a state where it’s got to go into a bonsai pot. Sometimes we delay doing so, and while that’s okay you don’t want to push any tree too far or you risk decline and, of course, the D word.

This American elm, Ulmus Americana, has grown from a bare trunk to this state in just two years. True to the species, it’s grown like a weed and requires frequent attention. And so, out of self-defense, I decided to put it in a bonsai pot so it won’t annoy me as much (only kidding, but you know you have some trees that demand a lot more attention than others).

While today’s work mostly consisted of trimming back the rampant growth, a little wiring was in order. The lowest left branch has been allowed to grow out, and still needs more in order to thicken, but it also need some movement in it. Hence the wire.

In this photo you can see I’ve started pruning back. Whenever you prune your trees, you have to do a little strategic thinking. You also have to be willing to sacrifice having the tree look good now in order to make it look better later. This is one of the tougher things we have to do as bonsai artists, but we owe it to our trees to make them just as good as we possibly can.

After still more pruning, and I wedged up the pot a little in order to see the potting angle better. The tree was too slanted in the pot.

This is a vintage pot I’ve had now for about 30 years. It was created by the late Richard Robertson of Rockport Pottery. I bought most of my pots from him when I first got into bonsai seriously.

Time to rustle the tree out of its nursery container. Plenty, plenty of roots. This sort of root density is typical of elms (this is two years’ worth). I also rediscovered some nice radial roots I’d forgotten about when I buried them in the pot.

And this is where the tree and I ended up today. Once growth has resumed, I’ll be able to judge how long it’ll take to finish out the work on it. My guess as of now is about two years to showable condition.

By way of stats, the trunk base is 2″ and the tree will finish around 22″ tall.

Let me know what you think of this American elm bonsai.

Potting Up A Water-Elm

by | May 5, 2019 | Care, Elms, Potting, Water Elm

We collected this nice smaller Water-elm in August of 2018. By October the shoots were strong enough for an initial wiring. Doesn’t look like much, does it? But the trunk base is 2″ at the soil, and with the trunk chop at 11″ I should be able to make a nice 16-18″ tall broom-form bonsai out of it. From humble beginnings ….

Fast-forward to today (5/5/19). This tree has grown with very good strength, and that tells me I have a solid root system to work with. This is the basis for all of your bonsai. Without a strong, healthy root system you can’t do a whole lot with any tree, no matter how nice the trunk and branches may be. So always be sure to devote the right amount of time and attention to this vital part of your tree that you only see once every few years.

My first order of business today is to be sure I have the correct front selected. Here’s one view.

Another view.

And another.

Another.

And back to the start. I don’t know about you, but I found with this tree that no matter how I turned it I could see a nice bonsai. Most trees are not amenable to the so-called “360 bonsai” approach, meaning they look good from every angle. It’s why bonsai have a front, sides and a back. But occasionally you’ll run across a specimen that looks good no matter how you turn it. A nice fringe benefit.

This tree had a couple of spots where the bark was unattached. The one on the bottom was my doing – sometimes things happen when you’re potting up a tree. Most elms have bark that easily detaches from the tree, so you always have to be cognizant of this fact when collecting and potting them. And even though you know what to expect, sometimes you get surprised!

I went ahead and removed the detached bark and scraped away a thin layer of wood underneath. Both areas will be treated with lime sulfur once they’re thoroughly dry. The one at the base will also need to be sturdied up with PC Petrifier.

The final step for today, potting and trimming. I left the leader alone, so that it will continue to run and thicken up. This will make the tapering transition look right. I expect that by fall I should be ready to prune the leader back.

Let me know what you think.

A Very Big Water-Elm Gets Styled

by | Apr 19, 2019 | Care, Elms, Pruning, Styling, Water Elm, Wiring

This is one big Water-elm! We collected it in July of 2018, and it recovered nicely last summer and fall. The base on this tree is 4″ in diameter above the root crown, and it’s chopped at 29″. When all is said and done, I’ll have a real “statement” Water-elm bonsai of about 40″ height. But that’s a couple of years away. For now, let’s see what I can make of this starting material.

It’s vital that you spend time studying your future bonsai subjects before you get started on your designs. Often you’ll have more than one potential front, and more than one sensible branch set you can create. If you can’t decide, give yourself more time. But sooner or later, you’ll have to go ahead and take the plunge.

As a general rule we begin the design process in the lower part of the tree. In this case I focused more on the top to begin with. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, most of the regrowth on this Water-elm is concentrated in the top third of the tree. Two, if you look at the bottom two-thirds of the tree in the above photo, you’ll notice that there’s little confusion about how that work is going to go.

It’s all about making decisions in each part of the tree, while keeping in mind the overall design plan. My thought process is noted in the captions.

Now I drop to the lower part of the tree, to tackle an obvious issue and get it out of the way.

Now I’m on to what is probably the critical part of this future bonsai. I don’t have a lot to choose from in terms of branching in the lower part of the tree – but, I have what I need. There are three strategically placed shoots that I’ll be using in my initial design.

Voila! Now I’ve anchored my design with my first branch-second branch-third branch setup. For every informal upright bonsai you make, you’re going to have these three indispensable branches in one configuration or another.

Now I move up the tree, back to where I began the examination and decision making process.

When you’re working with collected trees, you’re going to be doing carving at some point. Not only is this essential to the design, it’s actually quite rewarding. Trees in the wild respond to natural events that cost them limbs by producing callus tissue to heal wounds. We reproduce this healing process when we work on our bonsai by way of carving and caring for places where branches are removed (or trunks are chopped in order to create or enhance taper).

Here’s another example of a challenge you’ll be confronted with sooner or later. I have a little gaggle of tender shoots that may or may not end up as part of my design. I don’t need to do anything with them right now. There’s going to be time for that down the road.

I’m closing in on the final design elements. What’s always true with just about every tree you work on is, with (typically) more branches spaced closer together near the apex of your tree, deciding what goes and what stays and making all that into a nice design is your biggest challenge.

Another view of the tree, and another couple of observations about this particular specimen. You can see what is going to need carving next year, and how I was able to select and wire out two more branches to fit the design that’s taking shape.

Not much to go. Here you can see another phenomenon that you’ll face many times, namely, branches that arise very near to the new leader you’ve selected. The problem with leaving these and trying to make use of them is that with the leader emerging as it does from the trunk, a branch you make here can end up emerging from inside a curve. These are almost always a no-no, as they’re not horticulturally sound and rarely survive in nature.

With the smaller shoots gone, now I can see this branch better and I’m confident it will play a part in the design.

The last step was to wire the remainder of the branches and the leader, and position them.

Now you can see the complete initial design. There are three energy issues I need to manage as this specimen resumes growth: letting the lower three branches run to thicken; letting the leader run to thicken; and keeping the branches in the upper part of the tree pinched and pruned back so they don’t dominate the lower branches.

I’d love to hear what you think of this work. Leave me a comment below.

Bonsai Odds & Ends – Some Evening Shots

by | Apr 14, 2019 | Care, Chinese Elm, Elms, Hawthorn, Hornbeam

I took a few minutes this evening to do some quick trimming on a couple of trees, including this Chinese elm. Most of you are familiar with this specimen. It continues to fill out and get nicer.

I liked the lighting as the sun was going down, so took the opportunity to snap a few photos.

I recently potted this American hornbeam that I acquired from a fellow collector. As the tree put on its first flush of growth I wired it out and positioned the branches. American hornbeam grows all year long, so this specimen will make great progress in 2019. The trunk is 3″ across, and the tree stands about 20″ from the soil. The pot is a lovely custom round by Lary Howard.

This Parsley hawthorn group was featured in a recent blog. After I created the composition, I set it aside in a nice shady location and just waited. Today I noticed new growth on all the trees, so it appears the work was successful. Soon I’ll be able to do some more detailed work on the branch structure of each tree.

And that’s how I spent my Sunday evening. I hope yours was as pleasant.

A Water-Elm Gets Styled

by | Apr 13, 2019 | Care, Elms, Pruning, Styling, Water Elm

I love designing bonsai, and I especially love working with species that grow quickly and can be brought to a high degree of development in just a year or two.

This Water-elm, Planera aquatica, came home in August of 2018. It recovered quickly, and this spring it has really exploded with growth. Today I decided to go ahead and do the initial styling on the tree. What I know from decades of experience with the species is, by this coming fall the entire branch structure will be well-developed and well-ramified. It’s just the nature of Water-elms.

I started at the bottom, which is almost always best. The lowest right-hand branch is just a very slight shoot at present, emerging from what was originally a pretty long upright branch. I had thought of keeping it, but as I studied the tree more I felt it just isn’t going to add enough to the design to leave as-is. So once that slight shoot gets some strength, I’ll cut back the rest.

I also had a nice branch in back that I was able to wire and position to give some good depth to the tree. This is something you always want in the lower part of your informal upright specimens. It gives stability to the tree.

Working my way up the tree, more branches get wired and positioned. You want some space between your branches, of course, and this space should diminish as you move higher in the tree.

Time to chop that trunk! I made an angled cut, which will help produce a continuously tapering trunk once the leader has thickened sufficiently.

And finally, I selected a wired a few of the branches in the apex. I’ll allow the leader to continue running, in order to thicken the base. By summer or early fall I should be able to cut the leader back most of the way. By that time, the transition should appear very smooth.

I’m planning to slip-pot this tree sometime around June, unless it sells as-is first. I’ve posted it to our Water-elm Bonsai page.

 

 

 

 

If You Don’t Have An American Elm Bonsai, You Should

by | Apr 6, 2019 | American Elm, Care, Elms, Styling

I collected this American elm, Ulmus Americana, in May of 2018. It’s not a bad piece of material. The trunk base is 2″ in diameter, and I chopped it at 16″. It didn’t take long for buds to show up all over the trunk.

Within two months I was wiring like crazy. American elm is a very vigorous species. One of the best features is leaf-size reduction – from 5″ in the wild to less than 1/2″ in a bonsai pot. You can’t ask for much more than that!

One more good thing about American elm: it ranges all the way from Canada down to Florida, and west to Texas. So winter hardiness is not an issue.

What about Dutch elm disease? I’ve grown quite a few American elm bonsai through the years, and I’ve never had a problem with it nor have I heard of anyone else who did. There appears to be a relationship between the height and age of specimens in the wild and susceptibility to DED.

Here is today’s shot. In less than one year, I have a complete and nice set of branches on this elm. I’ll be pruning back hard in about a month or so, and that will encourage back-budding and ramification. I may even go ahead and slip-pot into a bonsai container.

Let me know what you think. Do you grow American elm?