El Duderino's Garden ... A Deep Dive

[El Duderino]

I'm hitting hard today. Still a lot of trees to get through.

Next up: Picea pungens 'Baby Blue' aka Baby Blue Spruce. I think I remember reading that these are a dwarf variety of Colorado Spruce.

I bought this tree at a landscape nursery just up the road from my house. It was only $25 and I really liked the foliage color and the trunk was a decent size. I have no plans for this tree yet, other than to go through and deal with the whorls, which seem to be at nearly every node of the trunk. I would love to hear feedback or advice from anyone who has worked with this species. I know @Leo in N E Illinois has a good bit of experience with Spruce in general.

Here's the tree; I haven't done any work on this tree, only watered and fertilized it.

7/9/2021



8/14/2021 - A little bit of growth, I think.



This tree is still pretty supple and can likely take some trunk bends. I really just need to settle on a style. Probably a good candidate for a formal upright. But I won't really know until I can get it cleaned up. Thanks for anyone's advice or feedback on this one. I'm still researching timing of hard pruning vs. regular pruning. I'm holding off on doing anything until I can set a solid plan. Thanks for reading!

 

[El Duderino]

Cloudy day here in North Carolina as tropical weather moves into the western part of the state. We are all safe here, just getting whipped by the occasional rain band. But cloudy days are cool days and the lighting for pictures is all but perfect. So, another day, some more trees!

Next up: Hesperocyparis macrocarpa (formerly Cupressus macrocarpa) 'Goldcrest Wilma' aka Lemon Cypress. I believe that 'Goldcrest Wilma' is the dwarf version of 'Goldcrest'. Either way, I bought these little guys for $8/each at the checkout at my local downtown nursery. They had a lovely lemon scent and beautiful light green foliage. Upon researching more when I got home, I learned they are similar to Monterey Cypress in habit. I gather they don't take root work very well but are extremely fast growers (I don't know if this is true of the dwarf cultivar). Would love to hear from anyone on the forum with Monterey Cypress experience or specific Lemon Cypress experience. I really like the trees I've seen in videos by @Eric Schrader.

No idea what I'm going to do with these. Up to this point, I've only fertilized and watered (a common theme if you've been reading along ). I've considered picking up a few more and doing a forest planting. But in my head, I have a vision of these trees alone on a seascape so I'm unsure if a group planting would even work. Would love some feedback on direction. I definitely plan on up-potting to get some more girth in the trunks, probably into a pond basket with more suitable bonsai substrate. Well, enough of my blathering. Here they are in all their glory:

7/8/2021 - the day after I bought them



8/4/2021 - Here they are a couple weeks ago



8/17/2021 - And here they are today. As you can see, there's a decent amount of growth for just over a month.



All feedback is welcome. Appreciate you taking the time to read.

 

[hinmo24t]

those look great, healthy, and good price- im a fan of the colorado spruce as well, though i havent seen a ton of nice ones on here.
better you didnt start hacking that CBS up but rather wait a bit and be decisive.

jealous of people enjoying garden time during workweek, but at least i get a few hrs of sun after work.
i should be working on payroll for wrapping up a checking account balance right now

 

[El Duderino]

those look great, healthy, and good price- im a fan of the colorado spruce as well, though i havent seen a ton of nice ones on here.
better you didnt start hacking that CBS up but rather wait a bit and be decisive.

jealous of people enjoying garden time during workweek, but at least i get a few hrs of sun after work.
i should be working on payroll for wrapping up a checking account balance right now

Thanks! Yeah, it seems waiting is my forte right now when it comes to styling. I guess the positive is I haven't hacked anything to death yet .

I am incredibly fortunate to work from home. My office is on my screened in porch looking out over my garden. That's enabled me to really dig into the hobby and be present (sometimes too present) with my trees, learning and understanding how they grow, how they react to certain weather, etc. I can easily bounce back and forth between emailing prospects, managing ongoing projects, reading bnut, and watering my trees. It's pretty awesome.

 

[El Duderino]

better you didnt start hacking that CBS up but rather wait a bit and be decisive

Can you elaborate on this thought a little? Obviously, I know it's good to be decisive. But what is it specifically about CBS that requires more deliberation?

 

[hinmo24t]

Can you elaborate on this thought a little? Obviously, I know it's good to be decisive. But what is it specifically about CBS that requires more deliberation?

watching nigel saunders YT videos recently he toured his friend connors bench, with a few CBS, nursery type plant and i think they look like crap.

if you google CBS bonsai there are nice examples, i just cant recall a ton on this website that give the same impression
(im sure they are on here, i just havent seen a ton of them) as those google hits, or a lot of them look the same/nursery hacked up plants

ive wanted one for awhile but thought they looked grafted (yours doesnt) or i wasnt able to envision the tree enough to pull thr trigger.
$50 + around me usually

to make it quality or eye catching or different isnt super easy, but a lot of it is subjective

 

[Eric Schrader]

Hmm. I'm not much of a fan of "Golden" cultivars in general. I'll take a deep green any day.
That said, the key to developing these cypress into the type of bonsai I have made is to first use wire and make the trunk line interesting. Then use more wire to set a branching angle - in my case upward sharply near the trunk, and then flattening as you go outward. Then watch the wire and remove it (happens very fast, especially at the base of the larger branches and along the trunk).
Then grow for a while and repeat wiring.

As a juvenile plant, they will go completely vertical (at least the regular seedlings) so you're trying to spread out the crown, which slows the growth to a more usable pattern.
I pinch strong tips, but not all tips, like a juniper but a bit more. After wiring the first couple times you'll likely get more strong vertical shoots which you have to control.

The wild-type are sensitive to root work, even though they have very vigorous root systems, excessive cutback can cause dieback or even death in young plants and older ones alike.

Study the branching angles in photos from Point Lobos if you want to imitate the look of the natural trees.
I find that if you style them like a juniper, it works fine, but then you may as well be growing a juniper...

 

[El Duderino]

Hmm. I'm not much of a fan of "Golden" cultivars in general. I'll take a deep green any day.
That said, the key to developing these cypress into the type of bonsai I have made is to first use wire and make the trunk line interesting. Then use more wire to set a branching angle - in my case upward sharply near the trunk, and then flattening as you go outward. Then watch the wire and remove it (happens very fast, especially at the base of the larger branches and along the trunk).
Then grow for a while and repeat wiring.

As a juvenile plant, they will go completely vertical (at least the regular seedlings) so you're trying to spread out the crown, which slows the growth to a more usable pattern.
I pinch strong tips, but not all tips, like a juniper but a bit more. After wiring the first couple times you'll likely get more strong vertical shoots which you have to control.

The wild-type are sensitive to root work, even though they have very vigorous root systems, excessive cutback can cause dieback or even death in young plants and older ones alike.

Study the branching angles in photos from Point Lobos if you want to imitate the look of the natural trees.
I find that if you style them like a juniper, it works fine, but then you may as well be growing a juniper...

Thanks so much for the reply and advice, Eric. Your description of the growth habit is spot on so far. I will definitely have a look at the Point Lobos trees (as well as some of your specimens) for design cues. And at least I have three and can get more. Plenty of $8 material to experiment with. Thanks again.

 

[El Duderino]

Today’s entry is new to my garden. I was at Gulley’s Garden Center yesterday. I’d just stopped in to pick up some germination trays/cups. But it’s a really cool downtown nursery under large old trees, a really enjoyable place to stroll around. On my walk I came across a Hinoki, not something they typically carry. It looked a little sad, so I asked the owner if he’d make me a deal on it. He obliged to take half off and I bought it for $25. The label read “Golden Dwarf Hinoki.” Based some searching, I think it’s a Chaemacyparis obtusa ‘nana lutea.’ Would love to know if @Leo in N E Illinois agrees.

I think it’s a perfect candidate for literati. I can maybe even air layer a little shohin tree from the top. All I did yesterday was clean up the dead foliage and add some moss to cover the surface roots.



Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this little score. Seems like it has some age on it and lots of branching for some design options. Looking forward to developing this tree over the coming years. Would love to hear any thoughts or feedback. Thanks for reading. Enjoy today and remember tomorrow is Friday .

 

[El Duderino]

Happy Friday, nut jobs! It's another beautiful day in North Carolina. We got a lot of rain last night and tree limb knocked over one of my pond baskets with Barbados Cherry seedlings in it. These were a gift from @JoeR. I should've had them wired into the basket but, alas, I did not. I just carefully turned over the basket and put soil back over the roots in an attempt to disturb them as little as possible. I think they'll make it. So, my first post today, is of these six little cuttings Joe gave me. They are finally pushing out some healthy new growth and I am really looking forward to working with these over the coming years.

Today 8/20, after last night's storm:



And moments later after I got them back into their pond basket:




The other three are doing quite well. Here they are as of this morning:



Welp, that's it for the Barbados Cherry. Thanks for reading. More to follow.

 

[El Duderino]

Next up, Bald Cypress #1. This tree taught me one of my earliest lessons in bonsai: doing root work on a BC when it's in full leaf will nearly kill the tree. Fortunately these trees are tough and resilient. I bought this tree at the end of March from my local Lowe's. Here it is at the store:



I could tell it was pretty severely root bound. But, for $50, it seemed like a good buy to me at the time. It was about a 7-feet tall landscaping tree. Here it is the day I got it home:



After a week or so of my wife asking me, "What are going to do with that tall one? We don't need anymore tall trees," I told her I was going to temporarily put it into the ground. She didn't like that idea, so, I told her I'd plant it in a bag to make it easier to get out next season. She finally concurred. I then dug a hole to fit an 8-gallon fabric grow bag and pulled it out of it's pot. I wish I had pictures of the insane woody roots I found but unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to take any. I proceeded to take a hacksaw to the roots and cut off about half of the root mass. What was left was a beautiful root flare that had me very excited. But, since it was mid April and the tree was chock full of foliage, this turned out to be a bad idea.

Over the next month and a half, the top part of the tree just began to die. All the foliage in the upper half of the tree turned brown and crispy. I was certain I'd killed it. Finally when consulting @JoeR in one of our first conversations, he let me know the mistake I'd made. But he also said he'd be surprised if it were dead. So, I began thinking about drastic measures I could take to save it. Knowing that the roots were too weak to support the amount of foliage on the tree, I decided to chop the hell out of it leaving only the remaining green foliage on the tree. I sealed the wound and leaned into hope:

5/28 after the chop:



That said, this story has (so far at least) a happy ending. The foliage reduction seems to have worked and BC #1 has bounced back. I wouldn't call the growth vigorous yet. I definitely think I'll at least be able to get it into an Anderson flat this coming spring. I'd like to develop this tree into a flat top. But first, I just want it to keep surviving.

New growth on 7/9:



BC #1 as of 8/19 showing steady growth:



While it will be a while before I begin styling this one, I'd love some feedback from folks that know BC like @Zach Smith, @Cajunrider, @Dav4 and others. Thanks for reading! Enjoy your Friday, nutters!

 

[El Duderino]

I'm on a roll so I'm going to keep them coming. Next up: Tsuga diversifolia 'Loowit' aka Loowit Japanese Hemlock. Here is the description from Iseli Nursery, which I found interesting:

"Small, blunt needles look like green grains of rice interspersed with tiny brown buds. Diminutive branches crowded with branchlets form a tight, congested bun. Tsuga diversifolia ‘Loowit’ was selected from seed collected in the high alpine region of Fukushima prefecture, Japan. It was given the Native American name for Mt. St. Helens, Iseli Nursery’s famous volcanic neighbor."

I bought this tiny tree off $0.99 Bonsai Auctions on Facebook (as I'm apparently want to do). I really liked its compact look and have wanted a hemlock for some time. My hesitation was always thinking my zone was too warm. But the seller was growing it in zone 8a, so I took a shot. As you'll see from the photos, it's grown next to none since I've had it. Not sure if this is because of the slow growth habit, the fact that it's quite rootbound, the heat, or some combination of all three. Maybe it's fine. Time will tell. Curious to know if anyone else has worked with this specific cultivar. I know Tsuga/hemlock differ widely across different species. Anyway, here's the tree over the past few months:

From Facebook listing:



7/1 after a week or so in my garden:



8/4 after another month-plus in the garden:



Interested to hear from anyone who knows anything about these trees. I know @MrFancyPlants has a couple canadensis and @River's Edge has quite a bit of hemlock experience. Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks for stopping by my garden.

 

[Cajunrider]

Next up, Bald Cypress #1. This tree taught me one of my earliest lessons in bonsai: doing root work on a BC when it's in full leaf will nearly kill the tree. Fortunately these trees are tough and resilient. I bought this tree at the end of March from my local Lowe's. Here it is at the store:

View attachment 392740

I could tell it was pretty severely root bound. But, for $50, it seemed like a good buy to me at the time. It was about a 7-feet tall landscaping tree. Here it is the day I got it home:

View attachment 392741

After a week or so of my wife asking me, "What are going to do with that tall one? We don't need anymore tall trees," I told her I was going to temporarily put it into the ground. She didn't like that idea, so, I told her I'd plant it in a bag to make it easier to get out next season. She finally concurred. I then dug a hole to fit an 8-gallon fabric grow bag and pulled it out of it's pot. I wish I had pictures of the insane woody roots I found but unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to take any. I proceeded to take a hacksaw to the roots and cut off about half of the root mass. What was left was a beautiful root flare that had me very excited. But, since it was mid April and the tree was chock full of foliage, this turned out to be a bad idea.

Over the next month and a half, the top part of the tree just began to die. All the foliage in the upper half of the tree turned brown and crispy. I was certain I'd killed it. Finally when consulting @JoeR in one of our first conversations, he let me know the mistake I'd made. But he also said he'd be surprised if it were dead. So, I began thinking about drastic measures I could take to save it. Knowing that the roots were too weak to support the amount of foliage on the tree, I decided to chop the hell out of it leaving only the remaining green foliage on the tree. I sealed the wound and leaned into hope:

5/28 after the chop:

View attachment 392744View attachment 392745View attachment 392746

That said, this story has (so far at least) a happy ending. The foliage reduction seems to have worked and BC #1 has bounced back. I wouldn't call the growth vigorous yet. I definitely think I'll at least be able to get it into an Anderson flat this coming spring. I'd like to develop this tree into a flat top. But first, I just want it to keep surviving.

New growth on 7/9:

View attachment 392753View attachment 392754

BC #1 as of 8/19 showing steady growth:

View attachment 392755View attachment 392756View attachment 392757

While it will be a while before I begin styling this one, I'd love some feedback from folks that know BC like @Zach Smith, @Cajunrider, @Dav4 and others. Thanks for reading! Enjoy your Friday, nutters!

Right now you need to baby that BC and keep it growing. The next 2 months is critical for your BC to gather enough energy in the roots for a healthy spring growth next year.

 

[hinmo24t]

I'm on a roll so I'm going to keep them coming. Next up: Tsuga diversifolia 'Loowit' aka Loowit Japanese Hemlock. Here is the description from Iseli Nursery, which I found interesting:



I bought this tiny tree off $0.99 Bonsai Auctions on Facebook (as I'm apparently want to do). I really liked its compact look and have wanted a hemlock for some time. My hesitation was always thinking my zone was too warm. But the seller was growing it in zone 8a, so I took a shot. As you'll see from the photos, it's grown next to none since I've had it. Not sure if this is because of the slow growth habit, the fact that it's quite rootbound, the heat, or some combination of all three. Maybe it's fine. Time will tell. Curious to know if anyone else has worked with this specific cultivar. I know Tsuga/hemlock differ widely across different species. Anyway, here's the tree over the past few months:

From Facebook listing:

View attachment 392763

7/1 after a week or so in my garden:

View attachment 392765View attachment 392766View attachment 392767

8/4 after another month-plus in the garden:

View attachment 392768View attachment 392769

Interested to hear from anyone who knows anything about these trees. I know @MrFancyPlants has a couple canadensis and @River's Edge has quite a bit of hemlock experience. Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks for stopping by my garden.

cool one there. it isnt a yew?

 

[El Duderino]

cool one there. it isnt a yew?

Doesn’t appear to be. It matches the description from Iseli Nursery pretty exactly and the seller is from the PNW. I’m not saying it’s impossible but I’m pretty sure it’s a hemlock.

 

[hinmo24t]

Doesn’t appear to be. It matches the description from Iseli Nursery pretty exactly and the seller is from the PNW. I’m not saying it’s impossible but I’m pretty sure it’s a hemlock.

i could see that as well. jealous, nice find there. id rather a hemlock over a yew

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Today’s entry is new to my garden. I was at Gulley’s Garden Center yesterday. I’d just stopped in to pick up some germination trays/cups. But it’s a really cool downtown nursery under large old trees, a really enjoyable place to stroll around. On my walk I came across a Hinoki, not something they typically carry. It looked a little sad, so I asked the owner if he’d make me a deal on it. He obliged to take half off and I bought it for $25. The label read “Golden Dwarf Hinoki.” Based some searching, I think it’s a Chaemacyparis obtusa ‘nana lutea.’ Would love to know if @Leo in N E Illinois agrees.

I think it’s a perfect candidate for literati. I can maybe even air layer a little shohin tree from the top. All I did yesterday was clean up the dead foliage and add some moss to cover the surface roots.

View attachment 392569View attachment 392570View attachment 392571View attachment 392572View attachment 392573View attachment 392574

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this little score. Seems like it has some age on it and lots of branching for some design options. Looking forward to developing this tree over the coming years. Would love to hear any thoughts or feedback. Thanks for reading. Enjoy today and remember tomorrow is Friday .

Nice score. This is 'Golden Dwarf' the single quotes means it is a asexually propagated clone of a single plant. The 'Nana Lutea' is a different clone, from a different seed. They are all Chamaecyparis obtusa, but they are two different clones, different cultivars. The good news the 'Golden Dwarf' has a growth rate that is moderate, which makes it easier to use for bonsai. If it were 'Nana Lutea' the growth rate would be so slow that you would get frustrated with the lack of growth. The 'Nana' cultivars are notorious for being slow growing.

There are hundreds of named cultivars of Hinoki. There are at least 50 cultivars with yellow foliage, many with names that include lutea, or aurea, or other latinized descriptors meaning yellow or gold.

Just about all cultivars of Hinoki make pretty decent bonsai. The biggest issues is the lack of back budding.

Hinoki air layer reasonably well. It is August, an air layer put on in May would be ready to separate normally by October. If you put an air layer on now, in August, it will be ready to separate sometime next summer, maybe July. You DO NOT use a calendar to decide when to separate an air layer from the understock. You open the plastic and look to see if roots have developed. No matter how long it takes, don't separate until roots have formed. I'm in the colder zone 5b. It is not unusual for air layers to take 2 years here, even in species noted for taking only a few months. I have had Japanese black pine air layers take 3 years. But pines are notorious for being difficult to air layer.

Hope this helps. Go ahead and start your air layer now, you can separate when ever there are enough roots to support the top.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I'm on a roll so I'm going to keep them coming. Next up: Tsuga diversifolia 'Loowit' aka Loowit Japanese Hemlock. Here is the description from Iseli Nursery, which I found interesting:



I bought this tiny tree off $0.99 Bonsai Auctions on Facebook (as I'm apparently want to do). I really liked its compact look and have wanted a hemlock for some time. My hesitation was always thinking my zone was too warm. But the seller was growing it in zone 8a, so I took a shot. As you'll see from the photos, it's grown next to none since I've had it. Not sure if this is because of the slow growth habit, the fact that it's quite rootbound, the heat, or some combination of all three. Maybe it's fine. Time will tell. Curious to know if anyone else has worked with this specific cultivar. I know Tsuga/hemlock differ widely across different species. Anyway, here's the tree over the past few months:

From Facebook listing:

View attachment 392763

7/1 after a week or so in my garden:

View attachment 392765View attachment 392766View attachment 392767

8/4 after another month-plus in the garden:

View attachment 392768View attachment 392769

Interested to hear from anyone who knows anything about these trees. I know @MrFancyPlants has a couple canadensis and @River's Edge has quite a bit of hemlock experience. Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks for stopping by my garden.

Looks like a dwarf cultivar, so be prepared to wait for slow development. Fortunately, yours is pleasing as is and with minimal stying, makes a nice shohin. The care instructions I found were on the moist/acidic side, so In-line with how I care for my canadensis. I use a “boonish” mix of thirds akdama, pumice and lava. But then I add some extra organic component (~5%) of spaghnum and vermi compost. I also use the high nitrogen agriform tablets to hasten development, but not sure what that would do with the dwarfs compact nature. Cool tree, let me know how it goes.

 

[Colorado]

I'm hitting hard today. Still a lot of trees to get through.

Next up: Picea pungens 'Baby Blue' aka Baby Blue Spruce. I think I remember reading that these are a dwarf variety of Colorado Spruce.

I bought this tree at a landscape nursery just up the road from my house. It was only $25 and I really liked the foliage color and the trunk was a decent size. I have no plans for this tree yet, other than to go through and deal with the whorls, which seem to be at nearly every node of the trunk. I would love to hear feedback or advice from anyone who has worked with this species. I know @Leo in N E Illinois has a good bit of experience with Spruce in general.

Here's the tree; I haven't done any work on this tree, only watered and fertilized it.

7/9/2021

View attachment 392007View attachment 392008View attachment 392009

8/14/2021 - A little bit of growth, I think.

View attachment 392010View attachment 392011View attachment 392012View attachment 392013

This tree is still pretty supple and can likely take some trunk bends. I really just need to settle on a style. Probably a good candidate for a formal upright. But I won't really know until I can get it cleaned up. Thanks for anyone's advice or feedback on this one. I'm still researching timing of hard pruning vs. regular pruning. I'm holding off on doing anything until I can set a solid plan. Thanks for reading!

I love blue spruce. For me, there is no question that early spring is the best time for hard pruning blue spruce. When the needles are just starting to become visible as the sheath of the bud starts to be pushed off of the earliest buds. This of course means some of the other buds will not be showing needles yet. The remainder of the tree after the hard prune should explode with new backbudding of healthy. This is about right:


I also find this the best time to repot blue spruce. But never both in the same year.

I would highly recommend getting the roots into proper substrate first. And then doing the chop the following year if all goes well and it grows strong after the repot.

 

[El Duderino]

Looks like a dwarf cultivar, so be prepared to wait for slow development. Fortunately, yours is pleasing as is and with minimal stying, makes a nice shohin. The care instructions I found were on the moist/acidic side, so In-line with how I care for my canadensis. I use a “boonish” mix of thirds akdama, pumice and lava. But then I add some extra organic component (~5%) of spaghnum and vermi compost. I also use the high nitrogen agriform tablets to hasten development, but not sure what that would do with the dwarfs compact nature. Cool tree, let me know how it goes.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that the tree’s shape is great as is. I will get it into some better substrate this spring and fertilize with Osmocote +. Will definitely keep you posted.