Crataegus Opaca

This is a riverflat hawthorn I collected in 2011. They’re less plentiful than Mayhaw in the collecting spots I frequent, but have their own unique features including a rough bark which makes the species really desirable.

This particular specimen has a truly awesome nebari to go with its fine branch set. The trunk is very graceful. If you look closely you can see the apex in its final development stage. I’m getting good ramification in the body of the tree, which should be completed in another couple of years.

The pot is a custom piece by Paul Katich. The color reflects the foliage color beautifully.

2015 Update

The crown needs to finish filling in, but you can see the great increase in foliar density in just the past year.

I plan to repot this tree in 2016, to get a good look at the root structure.

By the end of this season, though, I should have the entire structure of this bonsai completed.

Planera Aquatica

This tree has the distinction of being one of only two that survived Winter 2014 (the other may have been damaged enough to succumb in 2015).

This is my “root around cypress knee” specimen. When I went to collect it, the roots had entwined themselves around knees from a nearby cypress. Cypress wood is easily sawn, so, I took these with the water-elm. A broom-form style seemed best, so that’s where I’m taking this one.

Here it is after a fall trimming, with nice yellow foliage. The pot is a Byron Myrick rectangle.

Planera Aquatica

Here’s another water-elm I’m particularly fond of. It’s not a large tree, but I think it illustrates very well just how much a small tree can “say.”

This specimen seemed to lend itself to the so-called broom-form style, and I found that keeping it from becoming too rounded worked very well in this case.

Collected in Summer 2009, the styling and development were done in only three years.

The pot is by Byron Myrick.

This bonsai ended up in the collection of a very good client of mine.

Planera Aquatica

This twin-trunk water-elm was a victim of Winter 2014, but it remains one of my favorites in memory. The trunks have such wonderful graceful movement, complementing each other beautifully. Although it seems feminine, I think the Chuck Iker rectangle is suited to it.

I was in the final stage of redevelopment of the apex of the right-hand trunk during 2013. The branching was already fully ramified.

All accomplished in three years.

Crataegus Aestivalus

I collected this specimen in 2011 and it’s been in training ever since. Earlier this year I removed the stock side of the thread-graft I created in order to put the number one left-hand branch in its proper place. All the while I’ve been waiting for the branch to thicken sufficiently, I’ve been diligently training the rest of the tree. I’ve got a good bit of ramification at this point.

I need more twigginess in the crown of the tree, which should happen over the next couple of years.