Goings on in the backyard...

[IckyGuyBonsai]

azalea

This one got repotted, it filled the shallow container it was in with roots, so gave it a bit more depth.

Also picked up a new lil guy to play around with. Couldn't turn down the tiny leaves and purple flowers. Didn't have much pot wise to choose from, so it got what it got until I have something else on hand. It'll get a cutback after flowering. It'll need some good back budding to get all the leggy growth compacted down, but I've been looking for one of these ones for awhile.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

second barberry

Got this barberry roots hacked back enough to fit it in a mica pot I had. Excited to see this one flushed out after the hard cutback it got in fall. The high root will probably come off eventually, but decided to keep it for now and see if it looks good down the road

Also picked up this funky juniper and got it repotted into a basket. Not sure if it'll end up as a semi or full cascade , but it's got a cool little twist down at the base that I want to take advantage of. It'll get a bit of thinning out eventually, it's real dense and prickly in there at the moment.

 

[queenofsheba52]

Nice material, and nice work! I love azaleas, but it is all about the flowers for me so that is a no-brainer.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Nice material, and nice work! I love azaleas, but it is all about the flowers for me so that is a no-brainer.

I appreciate the kind words! I know I have a bad habit of getting a lot of conifers and evergreens in my garden, so I've been on the lookout for some more color to spruce up the place

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

new lil guy

Didn't skip a beat and putting on quite the show now. It'll get a cutback once it finishes flowering. Gotta love those lil purple blooms

 

[BonsaiPoppie]

This one got repotted, it filled the shallow container it was in with roots, so gave it a bit more depth.
View attachment 532008
Also picked up a new lil guy to play around with. Couldn't turn down the tiny leaves and purple flowers. Didn't have much pot wise to choose from, so it got what it got until I have something else on hand. It'll get a cutback after flowering. It'll need some good back budding to get all the leggy growth compacted down, but I've been looking for one of these ones for awhile.
View attachment 532009View attachment 532010View attachment 532011

looks like you have shredded chicken and corn on your dish.

 

[Carol 83]

Gotta love those lil purple bloom

I do!!!

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

DAS

Got after this guy recently. Ended up having one of the most "kill it or make it bonsai" root balls I've ever encountered so far (makes me nervous to get after a big juniper in a similar situation). Forgot to get many pictures of the process as I spent countless hours poking, prodding and teasing apart the concrete block of a rootball.

But here's a couple before and after shots of the base, before covering up the surface roots with more soil. It had obviously been slip potted all it's life and has probably spent years on end in the gallon nursery pot. There were massive roots running vertically along the sides of the pot and encircling. I was originally going to try and avoid cutting any main roots, but ended up cutting back a couple to at least try to force some usable roots closer in. It's now in a wider, but a bit shallower, cut down nursery pot in straight pumice so we'll see how it recovers from my abuse.

second barberry

Figured I'd also throw in a couple quick pictures of this guy flushing out and blooming. Love how aggressive this spikey lil shrubs are

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Dwarf pagoda holly

Figured after about 3 years on this rock it was time to clean off the moss, and check what's going on down there.

Here it is before getting started on it, the moss was a solid couple inches at this point

Tore off all that moss back down to the base of the tree, and what do ya know there's a small rock down under the roots. I think I threw it under there to help prop up the tree a bit and help hold in the soil. There were some roots growing over it and it was pretty solidly in there, so I left it as is.

After re upping with a top dressing of kanuma, some slight cleanup of some sprouts going the wrong way, and a fresh moss job, this guy is ready to go.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Taking advantage of some days off to get the last of my spring repotting done. More pictures to come, but here's a fun one I got to the other day. It's a hemlock volunteer that was yanked straight out of the ground last year. At the time all I had was a small terracotta pot to cram it in with a bamboo stake propping it up. I didn't have high hopes of it surviving the rough barerooting treatment, but imagine my surprise when I went to take a look at the roots.

The roots had escaped out of the bottom and into the ground, which was probably the only reason the tree survived because that tiny pot dried out QUICK. Even more surprised when I pulled it out and saw it jam-packed full of some pretty healthy looking roots.

It's about time to shuffle everything around, haul cinder blocks, and rebuild my benches to chase the shifting sun, so I'll be trying to snap some pictures of all the freshly repotted things as I shift everything around. Stay tuned!

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

The barberries have been happy, even the one that got a hard root prune this spring. Cut back and cleaned up some interior leaves as they were getting pretty shrubby




Also got my hands on the og Lowe's DAS and decided to give it a little early cutback and wiring

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Figured I'd throw this new acquisition in this thread for now. Finally made a trip out to visit the Pacific Bonsai Museum and made a stop over at bonsai Northwest, and couldn't pass up picking up a tree after getting so much high class inspiration all day. Hard to get good pictures of this bush, but there's a great trunk and good bones hidden under there

Haven't done anything but water and stare at this one as of yet.

The question is, would it be counter productive to start getting rid of some of the gangly weak growth and some minor thinning out around my keeper branches? I'm hoping to get wire on it this fall, followed by an angle change next spring. Soil looks good, so I'm not expecting to do any root work for the time being.

 

[queenofsheba52]

Lookin' good in your back yard! I don't do evergreen tees of any kind but even I can tell that your new tree has a winner of a trunk.

Have fun!

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Made some bold decisions on various trees. Took the top out of the blue spruce


After a club meeting and discussion on this juniper, made a few bigger cuts to get ready for a wiring come fall

Here's a better view at the trunk


Here's a literati ish shore pine I've been toying around with. It needs some needle cleanup and another good wiring , but it's been a fun one


After accidentally leaving this pomegranate out over winter, it finally sprouted back after keeping the dead looking stick watered for months


gave this mugo a bit harder of a prune and wiring. This is the only pine I have that's starting to shape up into something kinda cool. Plenty of back buds to work with