development

This is how my fourth Shimpaku looked when acquired in May 2016. (My fence was in progress!) I paid $85 for it in a silent auction and felt good about what I paid. The trunk has a 2.25" diameter above a strong basal flare. I started pruning and found the tree was well overgrown, in sandy loam...

I obtained this tree in 2014 and I'm progression from upright to slanted. It is the Cascade Range subspecies of the Lodgepole Pine. I have a trunk notch started with the intent of folding it over on that line. That styling would turn it into a mashed and contorted mountain tree. This will not...

I have recently acquired 26 Japanese Black Pine seedlings and 15 colanders. The seedlings are from Weyerhaeuser and Forest Farm. The colanders are 10" plastic "wash baskets" from Amazon. Jonas Dupuich is inspiring and I hope to replicate these results...

This is another Japanese maple I've started from seedlings collected in 2012. The form will be clump, but maybe I'll find a way to sumo the tree if the base starts to fuse together really well. I'm intending to add a fifth trunk for balance. April 2013 June 2014 October 2015 January...

I bought this Japanese Black Pine at the 2016 Bonsai Society of Portland Fall Show. It went to the oral auction and I got it for $165. I'll be cataloging its development in this thread. Here it is today with a 12 oz can for scale Close up of the exciting basal flare and lichen I need to...

This will be another stick-in-a-pot grows up sort of thread. I'm currently aiming for some manner of freestyle design, as if this had collapsed multiple times in a sinewy fashion. I plucked Calocedrus decurrens seedlings from a flower bed underneath a large mother tree in 2014. Here they are in...

This is another pre-bonsai gathered in 2012. I think I collected 30 that year. This tree can put on 3–6 feet of growth a year, like its siblings. April 2012 April 2014, repotted into individual 1-gallon nursery cans October 2015, it was repotted this year into a 3-gallon can January...

I’m working on a longer term informal upright Chinese elm. I purchased the tree in early 2012 and its first three years were subpar due to my noob usage (“learning opportunity”) of subpar soil material (too organic), inadequate pot sizing, and poor timing of pruning. Tiny tree, mid-2012...

Today I bought a 3" trunk diameter Dwarf Blue Scots Pine nursery tree. This will be a long term project and it is my first Scots. I suspect this is grafted but I have yet to see an obvious union mark. I did a tiny bit of digging around the trunk and found field soil with some fine feeder...

I obtained this tree for about $10 as a rooted cutting in a 4" nursery pot. The sapling was planted in pumice and scoria. June 2014: After purchase, I slip potted it into an 8" round nursery pot. March 2015: May 2015, showing a lack-of-water mishap: (and/or bad repotting aftercare) 2015...

Five blocks from where I live is a recently-razed double lot slated to become apartments. I've been watching this place for a while and waiting for the right season and weather; today was the right day. After making peace with the woman living next door and promising to not touch her rose...

Just got my first Japanese Black Pine, still pretty new to pines in general. I picked this one up on Muranaka's ebay page. I feel like it has great potential. I've always loved shohin pines and I've done a fair amount of reading on here and Bonsai Tonight. The concepts are just beginning to make...

Calocedrus decurrens is not a common bonsai subject but I'm giving it a go with two volunteer seedlings. It's a native tree, here, so that's part of my enthusiasm for the species. With this particular tree I am attempting to replicate the candelabra form I have seen in photos and out in some of...

I've purchased another native North American nursery specimen: a Pinus contorta contorta 'Spaan’s Dwarf' cultivar. I was feeling like taking a bit of a risk with my wallet and tools; it cost $84.99 for a specimen with 2.5" trunk diameter, 24" height, and healthy roots that fill a ~5 gallon...

I recently dug up this bush from my yard. It was planted by the former homeowner in clay-heavy soil and several winters of ice storms had made a mess of this quince. I think it’s a Chaenomeles japonica because the flowers are red, the leaves are thin, it has large thorns, and the bark is...

April 2012 Collected as a seedling in Portland, OR. May 2013 Basic wire training. April 2014 It continues to be my most productive seedling. I upgraded it from a 1 to 2 gallon pot; to the left is a white birch volunteer. June 2014 One of the growth tips would get a fungal infection...

April 2012 Seedlings collected in Portland, OR. April 2014 This was a larger pot with way too much sand and bark compost. June 2014 Repotted. May 2015 January 2016 I repotted this tree into a 7-gallon grow bag with diatomaceous gravel and pumice. For aesthetic purposes I trimmed...

April 2012 Seedlings collected in Portland, OR June 2014 Potted in pumice, perlite, and composted bark. July 2014 March 2015 The tree received osmocote, humic acid, and granulated azomite. January 2016 I repotted this tree into a 7-gallon grow bag with diatomaceous gravel and pumice...

May 2012 Found discarded at a curb in the city. February 2014 March 2015 The fertilizer is Osmocote 14-14-14. October 2015 December 2015 After a heavy prune back to the first or second internodes. I removed each of the above-soil roots at left and right because they were weak, too...

April 2014 Purchased for $49.99 in a 10-gallon nursery pot. I’m planning to develop this into a formal upright. March 2015 I had wired most branches slightly downward in 2014 and started on some major branch selection. April 2015 The branches make nice foliage pads with prolific...

June 2014 Purchased for $12, labeled as a Green Mound Dwarf Juniper March 2015 Slip potted into a 3-gallon pot with soil at an approximate ratio of 2 parts diatomaceous earth, 1 part medium pine bark, and 1 part pumice. Fed with Osmocote 14-14-14. June 2015 I moved this into a ceramic pot...

April 2014 I collected this seedling from under a mature specimen. I am developing it into a formal upright. May 2015 update June 2015 I repotted with white pumice, red lava rock, and diatomaceous earth as the new media. The tree received ecto mycorrhizal inoculants, humic acid, and azomite...