Newbies - want to share your trees?

[KindZone]

Jumping in with both feet, having my eyes, ears, and mind, all open to this amazing art of bonsai. After watching videos of others creating bonsai, and maintaining them, I have decided to expand my gardening skills. I have a small collection of red maple, and silver maple seedlings/saplings that I am beginning to experiment with. I have also bravely (maybe stupidly?) dove into an existing plant in the garden of the home that I am renting. The juniper had been neglected for years before I moved in a year ago. Here are some photos of what has happened so far in my new adventure.
Edit to add this before and after set of the juniper that I have trimmed back. Still needs shaping, and I think some wire:bending may help as well. There also remains an issue of crossing branches, that I am hesitant to correct. Any and all advice is welcomed. Thanks for taking a look !(KZ)

 

[nnnnnate]

My wife and son gave me these for fathers day. Initially it was just the one on the left but the foot of the figurine was broken so she asked for a replacement figurine and they sent a whole new plant too. I suppose that says more about the quality than anything but it was all based on my wifes good intentions. I'm big into yard work and enjoy gardening so I ended up buying a few "bonsai" tools to use there and I'm pretty sure thats where she came up with the idea to buy these. I dipped my toe into bonsai 5 years ago with a ficus but it didn't take.



I'm all about deciduous trees and have never been particularly fond of conifers. I've got 8 maples that could be considered pre-bonsai but at least half will be niwaki and/or specimen trees in the yard. I want to get air layers and cuttings from them but will leave them be for now. I've got some questions about my shin deshojo but I'll probably start a thread for that. I've got 2 paperbark maples and a bloodgood maple in the ground, then the shin deshojo in a pot on the deck, and an orangeola, orange flame, sango kaku, shishigashira, and an AJ full moon in nursery pots and back-filled with compost in the ground.

Thanks.

 

[Reload0]

I recently got into Bonsai and I am as new as a newbie can get! I really like the process of planning and caring for the trees. I think I am here to stay in the world of Bonsai for good! Here are the two I decided to jump off with. A Salix Boydii and A Jade, super slow and super fast growth so I can see what both look like!

 

[Caryboy]

there"s a group photo and then the latest project.

 

[Clorgan]

there"s a group photo and then the latest project.

Nice! I like the juniper in your group photo! Looks really nicely styled to me. What's on the left? Can't make it out from the photo.

On your latest project, I'd see if you can bend that left trunk so it doesn't cross over the others. I'm sure others will correct me if this isn't good advice (I'm still new here!) so definitely get someone else's opinion too

Great start, got some great material to work with

 

[Caryboy]

thanks, the one in the orange pot is my chinese elm

 

[Lumaca]

I learned that Baobabs do NOT enjoy Tropical Rainstorms, they stayed outside during the last one and the big one looked dead. You can still see where it bent from the wind. A day in the sun revived it. Maybe I should've gone with native plants...

Also, interesting to note that these 2 were planted at the same time, have the same number of leaves, but have wildly differing heights. Nature!



I was telling my friend how the baobab grows so much faster than the pines, but he said "they did start from seeds that were 10 times bigger..."

 

[Kanorin]

I learned that Baobabs do NOT enjoy Tropical Rainstorms, they stayed outside during the last one and the big one looked dead. You can still see where it bent from the wind. A day in the sun revived it.

It's important to learn what things our plants definitely do NOT like. This kind of info is often hard to find in a book or site. Probably because there are a lot of things in this category and many of these are esoteric to ones specific climate.

Maybe I should've gone with native plants...

I am starting to learn this too. Quite a few of my plants are not super thrilled at the 2 months of 95 degrees F (35 C) high temps here - nor about the lack of shade in my yard

 

[sorce]

she asked for a replacement figurine and they sent a whole new plant too.

Nnnnnnno doubt! That's righteous!

Sorce

 

[qwerty Bonsai]

New and learning... Started last year...

Below is a blue princess holly that I got from HD while on sale 50% off last October. Pic1: after initial clean up, Pic2 is what it is now. It was cut down to almost no leaves left - all the leaves in Pic2 are new grow this year.

But my understanging is, blue princess Holly is not a good choice for bonsai?

 

[henrykiser]

there"s a group photo and then the latest project.

Is that yaupon holly? looks good!

 

[henrykiser]

New and learning... Started last year...

Below is a blue princess holly that I got from HD while on sale 50% off last October. Pic1: after initial clean up, Pic2 is what it is now. It was cut down to almost no leaves left - all the leaves in Pic2 are new grow this year.

But my understanging is, blue princess Holly is not a good choice for bonsai?

I like the holly! Leaves are nice and small... do what you want!

 

[henrykiser]

there"s a group photo and then the latest project.

sorry wrong post!

 

[Lumaca]

It's important to learn what things our plants definitely do NOT like. This kind of info is often hard to find in a book or site. Probably because there are a lot of things in this category and many of these are esoteric to ones specific climate.


I am starting to learn this too. Quite a few of my plants are not super thrilled at the 2 months of 95 degrees F (35 C) high temps here - nor about the lack of shade in my yard

Yes, so many variables! Does my high temperature and intense sun warrant more watering? Does the 80% humidity warrant less? Is my growing season just all year long? It's learning as I go !

 

[sorce]

But my understanging is, blue princess Holly is not a good choice for bonsai?

It's never the material, always the practitioner.

@vancehanna has a recent thread on white pine that illustrates exactly how much "GO" one has to have to overcome these poor teachings. That much determination is present in few humans.

Oh, and that's a pretty dope start!

Sorce

 

[Elihatt]

Privet stump

 

[rawlyn]

New and learning... Started last year...

Below is a blue princess holly that I got from HD while on sale 50% off last October. Pic1: after initial clean up, Pic2 is what it is now. It was cut down to almost no leaves left - all the leaves in Pic2 are new grow this year.

But my understanging is, blue princess Holly is not a good choice for bonsai?

Looking good. Please continue to post progressions of this tree.

I've got a couple of this cultivar in my landscape, and have definitely thought about trying to use for bonsai, in part because of the nice, tidy, small leaves. But my spouse would likely object if i just dug one of ours up and had at it, as it looks pretty good where it sits currently (and the two "females" flank the top of some stairs in a terrace, so it would look very weird to remove just one of them). I've also considered doing this just for the "male" - since it's tucked away out of sight anyway - but then i won't get the berries in the bonsai, and I'd also worry that bonsai technique might render the male useless to keep the other two producing berries, so. . .

So, for now I'll probably just keep on eye on yours

- Mike

 

[qwerty Bonsai]

thank you henrykiser，Sorce, Mike.
Mike, I plan to repot it in October, will post a picture then.
I watched quite some videos and read many web pages. But every time sitting down with a pair of cutter in hand and a plant in front of me, often not sure what to do, end up staring at the plant for a while and give up. Lol.

 

[qwerty Bonsai]

I bought this boxwood from hd (actually bought 3, all almost are identical). See pic1&2. Worked on it in April. I split it into two (with brutal force), the bigger one (about 60% of the original tree), I tried to prune it into a broom style, see pic3; for the smaller one，I couldn't find anything in it and kept pruning, until only less than 2 inches left. See pic4. All the leaves in pic4 are new grow after the pruning.

At this point, I'm stuck on both, not sure what I need to do moving forward. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
In pic4, I've already cut back some new shots, looks like on the way to have 3 pads, but even if I get there, still does not look good.

Suggestions are appreciated!

 

[Sethlee]