progression

Starting a thread on this one... From Brent at Evergreen Gardenworks in February 2014. As offered: And as it arrived: Potted:

Starting a thread on this maple from @Don Blackmond. I needed something to round out a shohin display, and this was an interesting addition. I bought it in leaf, but here are some shots from before I bought it.

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...

Here is an Arakawa variety of JBP from Telperion farms. I bought it a year ago and have spent the growing season looking at different options. It has fantastic bark, a nice base, good movement and taper...and plenty of well-placed branches to work with. Pretty sure this will be the front when...

This Hachi-Gen was one of about 8 cultivars I worked with. I bought it because it was cutting-grown. It came from Brent Walston's Evergreen Gardenworks. Here is the description from his catalog: Pinus thunbergii 'Hachi Gen' (Cork Bark Black Pine) We obtained this cultivar from Ken Sugimoto...

I couldn't find a thread on this one, so here is a new one. I bought this Chinese Quince in 2006 on eBay, from Sebastapol CA (first photo). It went in the ground in 2007, and stayed there 8 years, unattended, with the exception of several trunk chops. I wish I would have chopped the second...

This trident was dug today. It has been in the ground most of 10 years, and I've been eyeing it for a sumo-shohin. It might be too big for my plan, but we'll see how things go of the next few years. It's going to need a lot of root work to get there. My entry for the big PP contest: :D

I visited Bonsai Northwest in Seattle when my wife and I were visiting her dad in Gig Harbor back in 1997. I bought a corkbark Chinese Elm and pot, and wired it out. This is the earliest photo I can find; from around 1998. I sold it 10-12 years ago, but did start some root cuttings at some...

Some photos are around the forum on this, but no thread, so here's the development of this one since purchased from Don Blackmond in fall 2008. The backdrop here is a standard card table, for a bit of scale:

A new pickup... Yesterday I introduced some Shari, reduced the jins a bit, and repotted it into some fresh soil and an old Bigei pot. This year, I'll pull in the apex a little, get the primary branches twisted up some more, and let it grow!

It has been a couple years since I purchased a bonsai. This one just came from Don Blackmond (highly recommended) at Gregory Beach Bonsai. it has a little history here at BNut, so I thought I'd share: 2009: http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?2754-Juniper 2010...

In 1996 I collected 11 ginkgo fruits (incredibly foul-smelling), and seven of them grew; 4 are still living. This one has been in the ground in Iowa, chopped back annually for the last 14 years, and was dug this spring. My buddy brought it down this weekend, thought I'd share. It's about 18"...

Al...I'd appreciate your thoughts on the next move for this trident in the ground. The horizontal chop is 5" above the soil, and this photo is the approximate front. The goal is true shohin, so it will sit another .75" higher in a pot. Would you cut that short, straight 2nd section and try...

This article on developing a JBP has been mentioned several times over the years. I had a chance to update it again, through this spring. It may be updated again at some point in another year or so, but here is the new link to the updated article. Enjoy...

Anyone see a bonsai in that bush? Comments, criticisms and virts welcome...

This kurume azalea was one of several I collected from the front yard of our first house in 2000. This one really caught my eye, double trunk, decent crawling nebari, and a great double trunk. I dug it in '00 or '01. Ths '02 image is the earliest digital photo I have. Somewhere, I have one...

I posted a sneak-preview of this on a different thread, and decided to start one that will hopefully run for some years to come. This is is a shimpaku from Brent Walston; among his first and largest, and has happily moved South! If it has a good winter, I may start some training this spring...

Looks like the ume may flower this year. I worked on it with Peter in April, let it grow out all spring, then wired it mid-summer. After the leaves fell, the buds just kept swelling; the thing just doesn't go dormant. The flower buds are the swelling buds, flanking the smaller leaf buds...