I do all sorts of things with trees, some good and some bad but all with the best of intentions. The ultimate goal is a great bonsai that really makes you think it’s a real tree. My preference is to speed up the process as much as possible. Here are a few examples of trees that (so far) have survived my good intentions.
You probably remember this Cedar elm, Ulmus crassifolia, from a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to decide which pot worked best, and most of you picked this one. Last weekend I took the plunge and slip-potted it. It doesn’t seem to have minded at all.
Here’s another victim of fall slip-potting, a nice Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). As with the Cedar elm, it didn’t mind a bit. Not even the slightest protest.
Here’s a Crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica (purple flowers), made from a cutting this year. What I like about it is the neat movement in the trunk – which was originally nice movement in a branch I pruned off of another bonsai and rooted. That got me to thinking literati.
I had this neat small pot lying around, so after some quick pruning and wiring and a lot of root-pruning, voila! A very small literati Crape myrtle. I don’t know yet, but I suspect it’ll come through fine.
Zach
Let me know if you put that cedar elm up for sale next spring please, I wouldn’t mind if you kept the pot as I have a real nice Chuck Iker it would look awesome in
Thanks, Gordon. I’ll email you about it.