Crataegus Bonsai » black pine

Spruce On Nylon Board

crataegus — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 19:11:20 +0000

The day after my Seasonal students left I was so intrigued by what we had done with the Mountain Hemlock from last week’s post that I put this Engelmann spruce on a plastic slab as well. While the first day with five students it had taken all day to figure out, I did this one by myself in only two hours. Knowing what the heck you’re doing works marvels.

I also include a couple shotgun shots around my yard in this post—

Engelmann spruce on nylon board.

Closeup of the root mass over the nylon board. I hope the moss will eventually grow over the edge and it will be essentially invisible, floating a bit.

Some of the range of styles and trees I enjoy having around. Traditional, powerful black pine next to the ethereal feeling native vine maple. There's a wisteria to the left bursting with flowers (I took 2/3 of them off, it was nuts this year.) The boxwood to the right you might remember from International Bonsai many years back.

The companion plant bench... just beginning to grow. A couple are flowering already, such as cow pie and the indomitable miner's lettuce. If anyone knows what 'cow pie' really is let me know. From Japan, big leaf, white flower. The majority of these companions are Northwest natives.

This narcissus was blooming three months ago, potted in one of the first bonsai pots I ever made. The drainage holes are 1/4" wide. I had a lot to learn. Last year the flowers were 10" high, this year they were 6"--- plants reduce fast in a pot! Bit too flamboyant to display with a tree but fun on its own.

Black Pine Grafted Ponderosa: STYLED

crataegus — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:15:30 +0000

This small pine goes way back to when I was a potter, trying to sell them at my first convention in the mid 90′s in Harrisburg, PA. I met Andy Smith there, and we traded a pot for a tree. He collected the yamadori pine in South Dakota.

For years I grew it as a cascading ponderosa, and grew increasingly disappointed with the look of it. About 8 years ago I put 10 black pine grafts on it. This was when I lived in Arizona. 9 took, 1 died the second year, so I ended up with 8 grafts. Definitely overkill. Then I left for Japan. When I came back I had a strong little tree that my friend Gary Wood had kept for me in Alabama. I ended up keeping only two of the grafts, so all the foliage it now has is from just two scions.

This winter I began looking at it again and thinking it was time for a rather major review. This is what I came up with. I don’t think it is in any way a ‘special’ tree of importance, but I’ve been casting about for things to do with small ponderosa that give us more latitude and creativity, and grafting seems one option. This has been my experimental tree… and I’m grafting more these days as a result of the fun I had with it.

The original pine 'as a ponderosa' back in about 1999.

All black pine now, growing with wild abandon on styling day.

After styling in February 2011, with new inclination but before potting (two months later.)

Repotted, 12" high. I did not cut the candles last year, but will this year. I have found that candle cutting is the same on grafted black/ponderosa trees as black pine on its own roots. Cutting the candles will shorten the needles by about half. Incidentally, this pine has a rather serious pigeon breast from this front... it just did not have that many options. I think a pigeon breast is simply a different feeling than a definite 'Don't!' Those with dissenting opinions please comment...!

Two Old Pines

crataegus — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:41:33 +0000

These two imported black pines have been through a number of hands in the United States, most notably Boon Manakitivipart, who established the basic branch framework of them. A client owns them.

The refinement work shown here is typical of that applied to very established conifers. Both trees’ key branches needed shortening, having slowly grown too long over years of proper maintenance, and they were shortened several inches. Otherwise the adjustments from the before and after photos are very subtle. The foliage pads are wired and set so as to create small groups—modular sections of larger groups—and wired straight out to suggest the strong personality of black pines. White pines and junipers look better with more lift to the tips of shoots.

The first bonsai is a huge two-person tree, over one meter tall, and the second bonsai, a root over rock pine, is very old but moderate sized.