A Special Yamadori Trip

Hi Folks,
I wanted to share with you a very special day I had last week…….where my profession (work day), my joy of Bonsai and love of mother nature all came together.

I know, I know….you’ll give me a hard time about “cheating” and I missed out on the wonderful experience it would be to pack them out on my back lol….but what’s a guy gonna do when it all falls into place.

Around this time of year we spend 3-4 full days in a helicopter exploring our Tree Farm License (large area of public forest land) looking for any tree/forest health issues, patches of wind-throw/slides, ensuring our ecosystems are functioning as planned…etc.
Well after 3-4 hours of reading maps, writing, taking photos, recording info., vertigo usually sets in on one of the crew so we ask the pilot to head to a location for lunch to clear our heads.
Luckily for me it was at 5500’ and a sub-alpine area with stunning views and vista’s. After a quick bite to eat…. I explored the area and had 3 small mountain hemlock wrapped and ready to go (using only a small trowel and pruners). The rooting mass and zone on them is very shallow as the soil mantles are very thin so they came away with almost all of the roots.
They aren’t show stoppers but I’ve always been drawn to trees with curves which are fun to work with….definitely not classic bonsai (#1 branch on first curve on one side, second branch etc), or yamadori but what a special day.
Photo includes a shot of the Alpine lake, our transport/pilot, the 3 specimens and the most interesting (with a nice natural dead top).
Cheers
Graham

Lucky you!!!

Love the view...and the new trees too! Thanks for sharing!

What an amazing job you have! I hope I get to do cool stuff like that when I finish school.

The trees look great! What sort of after care will you have to do?

Very cool, thanks for sharing the trip!

some of the various chatlines I'm on for suiseki and they helocopter in to haul away their stones. So perfect for you to do the same.

thanks for sharing...

Quick Batman to the yamadoricopter!

Looks like you found some nice material. I need to put collecting via helicopter on my bucket list.

Very cool the first picture is amazing! Tree's look pretty good, I'm sure you'll make them great.

I get a fair bit of Heliboarding in over the winter and have always had the dream of a Heli Hiking for bonsai. Talked the operation who I go with, CMH and the are ok with it, I have permission from forestry, now I just need to justify the cost...one day! Who's in??

Hi Graham,
The pic with the three trees... The one in the middle. Can you post a close up of it. It looks like it might make a very nice bunjin or windswept.

Rob

Simply wonderful

First photo I muttered a bad word and a small amount of negative energy your way. Must be nice.

Third photo I muttered another bad word or two.

Fourth photo I just looked at for awhile. THEN muttered a bad word.

Nice trip, great images, good haul. Clearly I'm jealous.

Thanks

Thank you all for you comments….a very lucky endeavor indeed. I’ll have to plan a little further ahead for next years trip …..as there were ones that had 6” bases, all twisted/stunted from years of bearing heavy snow loads and only 3”tall – (they would require more time to prepare).

Gergwebber – after care = removed the plastic wrap, then teased a thin layer of the organics (forest floor=duff, humus) from the bottom and just placed them into a shallow depression (which is lined with a soil mix) then covered with 2” of more soil….(heavy on the organics for insulation purposes) – leave them alone in 2014 and depending how they’ve recovered = into a grow box in the spring of 2015 or 2016.

Rob/October – Good eye, my associate I was with spotted it and said “how about this little one”? she said that it had “graceful elegance” so I immediately thought of literati….its small but perhaps with a little creativity it might work. I did take a photo of each
Cheers
Graham

Another Lucky Day.

Hi Folks,
Another lucky couple of days, hopefully the trees will survive.
I collected a number of small mountain hemlock (for a future forest - not photos yet), this large one (5" base and 4' tall), the low shrubby one and a common juniper (not a big one - no photos).
The scenery was spectacular with drop offs that were hundreds of feet - hang gliding anyone?
Cheers Graham

Hi Folks, an update,
All the trees (but one) that I collected in the fall of 2013 grew exceptionally well during 2014 (well watered and fertilized ).........so much so that I went against my routine of leaving them alone for two years and re-potted two of them up this spring. Very little disturbance of the roots and into a soil mixture with lots of pumice. Time permitting this weekend I'll do some minor wiring/styling. To me both are like sticks in pots .....especially the thin one but both have a literati/bunjin feel to them. The skinny one has a somewhat windswept look or a real lean towards the light.
Cheers Graham

Sounds like you have a really nice job.
Beautiful views, nice trees

Hi folks,
Here is this little one after the first styling.......maybe I'll nickname it Pino Grigio? I'll try and get a better photo soon.
Cheers Graham

Another photo where I've tightened the pads a little.
Cheers Graham

Spring update.....little guy has flushed out nicely....in a couple weeks the buds will be set so that's trimming time

Update.....the spring flush has started to harden off (buds setting up).... ....de-wired and trimmed.....

I gotta say, every time I see posts about Yamadori from you guys in BC, it kills me! I love your trees, those mountain hemlock are awesome! I know one day I will move back out that way.

One advantage of our cool, moist springs..... great for repotting. I had this sandstone landscape for a while and tried it with this tree.
First photo- after surviving the winter in the raised veggie garden. Buds were swelling so I knew that it was healthy and active.
Second photo- Sandstone landscape, three tie-downs per side
Third photo- a great amount of active roots
Fourth photo- completed just in time as it started to rain (again)..... not sure yet But I think this is the back.
Cheers G.

Nice windswept look! It could be straight out of a group of seven painting, or maybe Emily Carr since your in the west.