Recent content by Brian Van Fleet

Good luck on your search, mine came from Maplestone Ornamentals. Took close to 20 years and help from a fellow BNutter to finally find this one, but they’re are a beautiful cultivar. My “parent tree” is in the ground, and it is growing well. I gifted one layer to a friend whose husband loves...

+1. 20 years ago, they, maybe through one of their employees sold trees on eBay. My Chinese quince came from there, along with this Japanese Red Pine. This tree didn’t live, and neither did the replacement they sent (both had about zero roots). The quince is in that green bag pot in the...

Lots of rain here, then a cold front blew in and the temps dropped to 19 last night. It’s sunny and 30 today and supposed to stay cold for a week. Trees are loaded into the garage.

Very nice. I am really glad you kept the trunk and chose this front. It is on the way to becoming a specimen tree. Great job.

Finally had a chance to find and label some cuttings. I also realized I’ll be 60 when this contest ends.😬 These are all cuttings I’ve struck over the last few years and have been ignored, waiting to find a spot to plant them in the ground to fatten up. #1, Kiyozuro Itoigawa, the only cutting...

Usually looking at the tree will show you what needs to happen. If it’s taking water slowly, pushing up out of the pot, or needs nebari refinement, it needs to be repotted. If it’s getting too strong in an area, it’s time to prune, and if wires are biting in, it’s time to unwire. Certain...

It’s been a few years since this one has had any attention. It got bushy and trimmed back several times, but finally the wires from several years ago had to be removed I was hoping to avoid a complete rewire, but as I got going it became pretty obvious every branch needed to be rewired. My...

Moving everything to the garage on Sunday for a few days while it gets down to the low teens here.

Nice!

It happens all the time here, even on years-long threads featuring a single tree, so unless the OP objects to others sharing their Tofu collection on this thread it’s all good. Here is my largest Tofu, 9 3/4”:

Conifers should sit on a bench right in the middle of that yard and get as much sun as you can give them. I would be surprised if you need shade cloth for anything in your climate, maybe just watch the pot temperatures and mist the foliage of your J maples on the hottest days.

Yes, early fall is a good time to wire JWP. Candle pinching for JWP: as they extend, and just before you can see the needle tips poke through the sheath, break big ones down to the “average” size of the other candles. You can also remove candles that emerge in excess of 2 per tip, so that...

Any month you can spell without a J.

You made a good call to grab the one on the right too. It’s a better tree.

These are special for sure. That Tachatori-yu glaze is impressive. @Dav4 and I each have a tofu with that color scheme, but not quite the run. Did Matt O source those for you? Several years ago while he was in Japan, he texted me a few photos of one and asked me to check it against the book...