I’ve been hustling today to finish getting my greenhouse up and heated, so all those tropicals I just had to make this year will survive. It looks like a light freeze is headed our way tonight.
And this is turn means the weather has broken, so it’s just a matter of time till the leaves are off the trees. I don’t know if I’ll get any color this year, it’s not common here in the Deep South, but by year-end most everything should be bare.
I’ve had a good and fun year with elms, and truth be told they’re probably my favorite species to grow as bonsai with the exception of Bald cypress. Here’s an American elm, Ulmus americana, that I lifted in May of this year. Here’s its story. It’s been growing on its own as a volunteer on my property for probably eight or ten years, in a not-so-good spot. It just so happened to be growing in a partly-recumbent manner, and was perhaps ten feet long (tall). The trunk was 1.5″ across, so not a bad start for something. So it seemed clear to me that the something should be a raft-style bonsai. The recumbent section had some roots already, so I just chopped it to size and potted it up.
The photo above is dated 6/17/17. In just a few weeks the recumbent trunk had grown plenty of shoots. Those shoots would to be the trunks of my raft-style bonsai. And given how fast American elm grows, I was going to have to apply some wire before long.
Sure enough, on July 21st it was time to put some wire on. There were five trunks for sure, so they got wired and shaped. And back on the bench it went.
On October 1st, this thing had grown so fast I had to remove the wire from two of the trunks in order to keep it from biting in. I’d also gotten another couple of trunks to add to the raft, making a total of seven. I was really getting somewhere.
And here we are today. The growth is over for 2017, but you just can’t argue with the results of five months’ work. And you can’t help but dream of next year. I’ve got a lot of American elms I’m growing to size, so hopefully next year by summer I’ll have more to offer.
Just to close out this post, I’ll make mention of another favorite elm of mine, Cedar elm, which I’ve written about a lot this year. While all of my other elms are done growing, the Cedar elms continue to plug away. This is true even for specimens in the ground.
This one was looking pretty awful at the end of summer, with ugly leaves many of which had dried up; then the temperatures moderated a bit, and it decided to put on some fresh new growth. It could grow most of the way through November, if we don’t get a killing frost.
Zach,
Just love your Elms and what you do with them. The raft style you are working on will be something to see next season. I do like elms but my favorite trees are Ponderosa Pines and all Oaks.
Right now I am working on a second year old raft made up of several Italian Plum trunks they are about 15 inches tall this year. Top pruning in the spring along with some wiring.
Thanks for all the information you give us Bonsai addicts.
Thank you, Bob. I’ve never heard of Italian plum, sounds interesting.