Goings on in the backyard...

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Figured it's time to throw together a compilation thread for some projects that don't have their own thread. I'll try to periodically add new material but for now, here's what I've been playing around with.


Here's a newer one to the bunch. This little cedrus came with a batch from a local club member after hearing that I had a couple trees stolen. He gifted me a good amount of small starter material to "right some wrongs in the world", which I'm eternally grateful for. Threw on a single piece of wire and cut off a couple shoots, but credit to him where credit is due for getting to this point.


Another tree from that batch, this little yew. I'll have a good few trees to get wired this fall, this one may make the list.


A little boxwood to replace the one stolen. It got a couple pieces of wire and will be getting a repot next spring to start sorting out the roots.


A small break from that batch of trees (new trees are just so exciting), here's a procumbens juniper that I picked up last spring and styled. Thinking back, I should've went ahead and repotted then, but looks like it'll be sitting in it's propped up nursery can for a little while longer. I'll have to update with a newer picture, but this one's only gotten minor work throughout the year.


And I'll finish off with these couple of oaks (because damn, I really gotta get some more pictures), the first a seedling from the free batch, and the second a volunteer pulled up at a job site that's going to be getting a hard chop to hopefully take advantage of that nice subtle movement down at the base.

Got plenty of other projects that will be posted up here once I get pictures, but for now, enjoy.
Cheers

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Figured it's time to throw together a compilation thread for some projects that don't have their own thread. I'll try to periodically add new material but for now, here's what I've been playing around with.

View attachment 513848
Here's a newer one to the bunch. This little cedrus came with a batch from a local club member after hearing that I had a couple trees stolen. He gifted me a good amount of small starter material to "right some wrongs in the world", which I'm eternally grateful for. Threw on a single piece of wire and cut off a couple shoots, but credit to him where credit is due for getting to this point.

View attachment 513849
Another tree from that batch, this little yew. I'll have a good few trees to get wired this fall, this one may make the list.

View attachment 513854
A little boxwood to replace the one stolen. It got a couple pieces of wire and will be getting a repot next spring to start sorting out the roots.

View attachment 513857
A small break from that batch of trees (new trees are just so exciting), here's a procumbens juniper that I picked up last spring and styled. Thinking back, I should've went ahead and repotted then, but looks like it'll be sitting in it's propped up nursery can for a little while longer. I'll have to update with a newer picture, but this one's only gotten minor work throughout the year.
View attachment 513863
View attachment 513864View attachment 513865
And I'll finish off with these couple of oaks (because damn, I really gotta get some more pictures), the first a seedling from the free batch, and the second a volunteer pulled up at a job site that's going to be getting a hard chop to hopefully take advantage of that nice subtle movement down at the base.

Got plenty of other projects that will be posted up here once I get pictures, but for now, enjoy.
Cheers

Very nice of the club member to get you going again. Looks like a nice haul.

Have you improved security since the theft? I know a couple of bigger dogs than myself who could help out.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

going again.

Whoever took the trees for some reason left all my scraggly guys in development alone, so figured I'd get some more to deter em

Only lost a couple small trees out of many, but security and general vigilance has been upped because the house cat didn't do a whole lot. Tis the season to throw up a bunch of motion activated Halloween decorations too eh?

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Whoever took the trees for some reason left all my scraggly guys in development alone, so figured I'd get some more to deter em

Only lost a couple small trees out of many, but security and general vigilance has been upped because the house cat didn't do a whole lot. Tis the season to throw up a bunch of motion activated Halloween decorations too eh?

Add a camera an win 20K on AFV. Glad it wasn't that bad for you.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

newer picture

Did some minor wiring on this one, here it is now.


Here's a Colorado blue spruce I've been fiddling around with. Got some more wire on it recently. The top is mostly sacrificial for now, just want to see a good response next year before jinning it down.


This hinoki has been a fun work in progress. Been going slow and steady on this one.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

My first non tropical tree that I ever got.

This shimpaku has been knocked over and dumped out of its pot a good handful of times since then, starting with dumping on the flooring my car on the way home after first getting it. But it's been happy in it's pond basket since this past spring when it took a tumble off the bench and is starting to finally show signs of some vigor. The plan is to let it run and thicken up for a little while in the basket. The straggler on the bottom is being left for now to thicken things until I decide if i use it in the design. The same goes in the top left, put some movement up there to make for a more interesting jinn if I end up getting rid of it.


Hard to get a good picture of the interior currently, but it's got some good twists and turns that'll make for a nice little tree.

 

[queenofsheba52]

Very sorry some of your trees got stolen. I keep all of mine in my secluded backyard but even that is no deterrent, I know (not that I have anything worth stealing but they give me joy).

Nice pictures in your thread!

 

[Adamski77]

that’s the spirit! So happy to see you didn’t give up…

 

[BonsaiPoppie]

You have some nice trees. I just got some pre-bonsai up in Silverton this last June.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Silverton

Was just up that way a couple months back to check out silver falls State Park.

Thanks for the kind words y'all!

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Was eyeing this azalea earlier and appreciating how far it's come since I ripped a nursery plant in half and planted the two halves.
Here's what it looked like after it first pushed after the original planting a couple years ago.

My initial repot and cutback got rid of all of the flower buds, so this was the first time enjoying it flower this past spring. Here's some pics from just before flowering and at peak blooms

Here's the most recent picture I have of it. This one's due for a repot and a full wiring this next spring, it's pushed some great growth this season.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Couple more from today's day off photoshoot.

Dwarf pagoda holly planted on a neat piece of lace rock. This was one of my first couple repots I ever did on my own and my first rock planting at that. I'm happy with how it's shaping up.

Planted some moss on another chunk of lace rock from that same batch just for funsies. It's sat empty waiting for a tree for too long now.

And here's a cotoneaster I have in full autumn berry. Some changes ahead for this one, something along these lines

I'll be lowering it further in future repots, but I'm wanting to keep the low branch kind of cascading out of the pot.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Here's a DAS I've been wiring up with scrap pieces of wire for a bit, so pardon some of the less than ideal wiring jobs, it got the branches into place for the time being


This one will get a repot next spring since it's actually not looking half bad. I'm surprised how well some inverse taper smoothed out over time. There's still a couple bulges that I may have to add some shari to when I eventually work on some of the jinns. It was well fertilized and back budded extremely well this season so I'm expecting a hard push come spring.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

This one's a cherry of some sort I believe? Another starter from the batch from a club member.

It got some pretty nice fall color this year, bright yellow that turned to a nice orange after the freeze that we got.



And an arborvitae "Danica." This one lost a couple branches when it dried out in the sun earlier this summer, but it'll bounce back

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

For funsies... Here's my first bonsai I ever got. This Portulacaria was traded in at the nursery I worked at, so they gifted it to me in pretty rough shape to see what I could do with it. Here's the earliest pic I have of it, post repot out of it's root bound tiny pot into a bigger one to let it recover.


I gave an amateur try at wiring it, and have been clipping away at it since. This guy is still chugging right along and it's the tree that single handedly dialed in my watering habits, especially for the tropicals over the winter. Here's the most recent picture I have of it

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Here's a seiju elm that I scored for free from a club meeting.

This one started life as a root cutting so it's got some gnarly roots going on. I figured I could slap it over a rock and do something with it and the price was right.

This one's definitely getting repotted next spring

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Been doing some cutback on some things to get em ready for huddling together for winter.

Here's a lil viburnum I got on end of season clearance.

And a couple barberries, also both on clearance, since I guess I can't turn down a markdown on the overpriced nursery stock around here. I was eyeing the second barberry for months before it went on sale, but couldn't bring myself to pay full price for it follow me for more penny pinching bonsai tips

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Brought this DAS in for some clipping the other day. This one is an early days, big box store, hack back survivors that refuses to give up.

Here's an early picture after I cut it back and stuck it on a brick in the backyard.

And here it is as of now.

It's got a weird base, and work to be done up top for sure, but it's been cool watching this guy go.

Here's a couple cutback I'm planning for next year to start building some kind of structure. But this one had a rough recovery from repot so won't get touched much til after it flushes

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Did some holiday cutting work today. I've had hit or miss success with the various cuttings I take, mostly because I stick em and forget em, and they end up drying up. No harm, no foul since it's all headed for compost anyways, so I've been trying out some various different rooting methods, pretty much working with whatever I happen to have on hand at the time. I've had the most success with cuttings off my Tigerbark ficus (surprise,surprise).

Here's one I clipped and just tossed in a lil glass jar of water.

And potted up into an empty pot I had sitting around

Peanut tin with holes punched in the bottom filled with mostly perlite and some regular potting soil mixed in. Definitely held enough water in there that I didn't have to pay attention to it.

Didn't get a picture of them separated and potted up, but they had some nice roots to em


And finally here's a few other tropical cuttings I've struck in the past (peep the cutting that rooted itself in the port pot)


Can never have too many tiny trees

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

seiju elm

This one got wrapped around a rock and thrown in a pot recently. Roots were all at the ends of a few thick roots so figured I'd give it a whirl. Thinking I might go "cosmic" with this kinda ugly duckling root cutting.

I have to pick up supplies to better secure it to the rock as the temporary wires wrapped around will bite in quicker than I'd like. What's everyone's go to solution? I've seen everything from wire used with rubber to protect from biting in, to raffia, to saran wrap that's cut off later. I'm thinking raffia so it'll slowly degrade off on it's own and I don't have to worry about plastic keeping water from getting at the roots, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Repotting season is getting close to full swing around these parts, so stay tuned for some more to come