Hawthorn | Bonsai South

Bonsai Odds & Ends – Some Evening Shots

by Zach Smith | 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.

There’s Design, And Then There’s Re-Design

by Zach Smith | Mar 17, 2019 | Care, Hawthorn, Styling

If you grow bonsai for any length of time, it’s almost a given that you will be compelled to re-design some of them along the way. Stuff just happens to our bonsai. Maybe a storm comes through and something large falls and breaks off a branch. Maybe insects do some damage. Maybe dieback happens. You just never know.

This Mayhaw, Crataegus aestivalus, was collected sometime in the 2011-2012 timeframe and I’ve been working on it since. One of the techniques I had to use in creating the design was thread-grafting that first left-hand branch. The thread-graft took about four years to get established, at which time I removed the entry connection. So my design was established. But there was more to this tree than met the eye.

When I collected the tree, I was able to chop off the main, straight trunkline of the tree to a smaller sub-trunk that provided me with the taper I needed. This is a common way to start off a collected tree. Unfortunately, the surface root feeding this section of trunk did not recover sufficiently from collection and ultimately died. When that happened, the entire part of the trunk fed by that root dies as well. In this 2016 photo you can already see the effects of this event. The entire front section of the trunk, up to the original chop, is dead.

That’s where re-design comes in. I’ve been watching this tree for the past couple of years as the dead wood of the trunk dried out. And now was the time to take action. I first used knob cutters to take out all of the really punky wood – and there was a lot of it! Then I fired up the Dremel, and in relatively short order had found my way down to the more solid interior wood. The work went surprisingly fast. Then I treated the carved area with lime sulfur, which should prevent further attack by nasties.

To finish up the day’s work, I top-dressed with soil and added fertilizer. Though the tree looks good, it does have some health challenges that need to be addressed. I frankly don’t know how well the tree will do; only time will tell. But it certainly makes a fine illustration of the concept of re-design in our bonsai. Sooner or later, you’ll likely be faced with the same need.

Let me know what you think of this specimen. And just so you know the stats, the trunk base is 4″ (that’s about as big as collected hawthorns come), and it’s 28″ from the soil.

New Bonsai Coming – Crape & Hawthorn

by Zach Smith | Mar 9, 2019 | Care, Crape myrtle, Flowering, Hawthorn, Potting, Styling

I lifted this ground-grown Crape myrtle specimen last summer. From a bare trunk it grew shoots very quickly, and I was able to wire the complete structure in the same season.

This is the same tree, nine months later. It’s got a nice structure and the leader is developing well. I will need to cut it back hard after the spring flush, which will thicken the transition point, and by this coming fall this will be a very nice Crape myrtle bonsai. The flowers are purple, and it’s almost certain to bloom this summer (and every summer).

The pot is a custom piece by Byron Myrick.

I expect to post this tree for sale once it has recovered from potting, most likely by the end of March.

I have a bunch of gallon-size Parsley hawthorns I haven’t planted out yet. Why not make a group planting with a few of them?

A nice result. If you have some smaller stock that you’d like to do something with, group plantings are a good answer. You get a nice bonsai right away.

The trunks on the larger two specimens are 1/2″, and the height of the planting is 16″. The pot is a terrific piece by Lary Howard.

This specimen should be posted for sale in mid- to late-April.

A Portrait Of What We Work Toward

by Zach Smith | Dec 1, 2018 | Care, Hawthorn, ZPC

Riverflat Hawthorn #1

Trunk base 3.25″

Height 30″

Collected in Winter 2012, this tree is now seven years in training. In that time, I’ve been able to build the tree’s structure from a collected bare trunk, create the necessary tapering transition in the apex to ensure believability in the tree’s proportions, and achieve very nice ramification and leaf-size reduction. Earlier this year the tree was moved to a larger pot that is better suited to the size of the tree. And now, it has rewarded me with the best fall color in its time as a bonsai.

I couldn’t think of a better way to comment on this tree than to say it’s a perfect example of what I’ve been working toward my whole career in bonsai.

Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear from you.

Starting Over With A Bonsai – You Will, Sooner Or Later

by Zach Smith | Apr 22, 2018 | Care, Hawthorn, Pruning, Styling, Wiring

Last year I was working on this Riverflat hawthorn, Crataegus opaca, for a client who had purchased the tree and was anxiously awaiting delivery. I had collected it in 2015, and began its training that same year. The primary work last year was to pot it into a nice handmade container, and I’d selected this Byron Myrick oval for that purpose.

My plans changed over the winter. Though I’d protected the tree very well through the bitter cold, and despite the fact that Riverhaw is very winter-hardy, the tree clearly had suffered a setback as spring came and my other hawthorns were coming out. At first, I was convinced the tree was completely dead. But then I saw a bud on the trunk, then another and another. When all was said and done, I’d lost the apex of the tree as well as essentially all of the branch structure.

Here’s what winter left me with, as of this morning. Surprisingly enough, the trunk is chock full of shoots, and two of the side branches didn’t completely die.

There will come a time when you have to start over with a bonsai. You won’t always know why, as was the case with this one; but regardless, what you make once you can make again.

You will usually start from the bottom when you style your trees. There was no reason not to take that approach with this one. Here I’ve removed the superfluous low branches, and wired and positioned the first two bottom branches. Easy stuff.

See this stub that has two shoots at its base? Both the stub and the shoot on top, pointing straight up, have to go.

A view from the back of the tree. There are three shoots competing for the task of providing the next foliage mass. There’s a short one smack in the middle of the trunk, and one located near the number one right side branch. Both of these need to go.

Like this.

A little more editing, including pruning the two stubs from the prior design, and the last branch and the new leader are wired and positioned. That’s all that needs to be done for today. Obviously I’ll need to chop the trunk back to the new leader, but that can’t happen now. I need the tree to grow freely for the rest of the 2018 growing season. Hopefully it’ll come through next winter all right. Then in 2019 the next phase of the re-development begins.

Let me know what you think about the new beginning for this Riverflat hawthorn bonsai. Have you ever had to start over?

Hawthorn Gets New Home. Nice!

by Zach Smith | Mar 13, 2018 | Care, Hawthorn, Potting, ZPC

If you’ve spent any time browsing through our site, you’ve seen my awesome Riverflat hawthorn (Crataegus opaca). After several years, this tree is really well developed and frankly is one of my all-time favorites.

One thing I’ve come to realize over the past year is that given the tree’s development, it’s outgrown the pot it’s in. I love the pot, don’t get me wrong. It’s a beautiful Paul Katich piece. But it’s just too small for this tree. I love the spread of the tree, which I think reflects the species well, so I don’t want to take it in too far. So the way to solve the problem is, get a bigger pot.

Byron Myrick is one of my go-to guys for custom pots. Here’s the piece he made for me.

I put a layer of prepared bonsai soil in the bottom of the pot, then pulled the tree and set it in. The size couldn’t be better suited!

Tied down, filled in and watered. I think this Riverflat hawthorn has found its new home!

Note:

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