Projects from Leo's Backyard

[Leo in N E Illinois]

It's reassuring to see projects that look like my projects, coming out of the yards of experienced people. Sometimes all we see are the best y'all have, then I go look at my yard and see maybe one tree that can compare. Most of my stuff is like these - things I hope will develop into something with time and effort.

But....but .... but.... These are the best I have. LOL. I'm teasing a little, and partly being honest. I have had a health issue or two, and had a bad episode about 11 years ago. During my convalescence I lost my entire collection. I have been doing bonsai, or at least dabbling with it since I was a young teenager, maybe 14 or 15. I lost almost everything while recovering from surgery in 2009. So basically, even though I have been going bonsai a long time, I have an beginner's to intermediate's collection. The good news is my pots didn't die. Eventually, when my projects mature enough, I have a great collection of pots to choose from.

Over my 40+ years, I have essentially started over at least 3 times, the last being in 2009. Life happens. Bonsai is a hobby. Sometimes stuff happens. The good news, is that starting over, my collection is a little more focused. Not so random. But I mostly work with stock that is not too expensive to acquire. Reason is I am afraid of a financial hit should I have another health issue.

 

[BrianBay9]

But....but .... but.... These are the best I have. LOL.

OK, I'm a jerk! Honestly you give such informative responses here that I assumed your back yard looks like the National Bonsai collection.

My excuse is not health related, but transient employment. I've been doing this for over 15 yrs, but I've moved 6 times. Basically starting over every 2-3 years.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I was laughing when I wrote that, good humor, I take no offense.

I've been reading about & studying bonsai for over 40 years, if I remember 10% of what I read, I have tons of "knowledge", and 40 years practice at being a beginner or intermediate level grower. I've tried many, many, techniques, but because of the vagaries of life, and loosing my collection several times, my trees really do look like a beginner's collection. I guess it is a little dishonest, that my collection does not match the persona that my writing creates. But I am being honest about it. I don't deny the assessment of my trees.

So all is good.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Do you have any hemlock in your collection? I see Illinois is not in the range according to a Wikipedia map, but I think it would do fine that close to the lake.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

It would be nice to see how those jacks progress.
I have 150 or so seedlings from this year and two more from earlier.
Are you giving them any special treatment Leo, compared to other pines?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Do you have any hemlock in your collection? I see Illinois is not in the range according to a Wikipedia map, but I think it would do fine that close to the lake.

I have 5 seedling eastern hemlocks, about 6 yrs old each, and one hemlock in from a nursery. Haven't done anything with them yet.

But yes, they are super winter hardy. I have used zero protection for them. No winter damage at all, over 5 years of winters in my yard for these.

@Wires_Guy_wires
So far I have been treating my Jack pines, P. banksiana, pretty much the way we treat nursery sourced mugo pines here. I have been using Vance Wood's calendar for mugo as the calendar for when I work on the jack pines. I am in a very similar climate to Vance Wood, so there is no "translation" I need to make from his recommendations for mugo.

My thinking on this, is Jack pine is a northern, short growing season pine. It is a single flush pine. Mugo is a mountain pine, and mountain habitats in Europe also tend to be short growing season. So far so good.
I also pay attention to techniques used for Scots pine, P. sylvestris. I figure Jack pine & scots pine have pretty similar growing requirements too.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

To my knowledge and humble experience with them, jack pines don't like water as much as sylvestris do.

I might graft a couple together to use that sylvestris trait to my advantage.
Thanks!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Yes, banksiana do tolerate drought well.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

To my knowledge and humble experience with them, jack pines don't like water as much as sylvestris do.

I might graft a couple together to use that sylvestris trait to my advantage.
Thanks!

You know my grafted trees are on sylvestris roots. I get now what you were referring to.

But I treat my seedling jack pines the same as my sylvestris and mugo. Even though the jack pines tolerate drought, they don't mind water if the potting media is porous, mostly inert mineral media.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

When I treat them the same, my jack pines go yellow. I know they're supposed to be a couple shades lighter, and that's fine. But my scots pines and mugos are in the same soil and keep their color.
I'll be watering them less and see how it goes. I know from a local nursery that they don't do well here unless they're grafted onto nigra or sylvestris rootstock, but I'm trying to keep them on their own roots.
It's going to be a fun experiment.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Ah, I only own a single Pinus sylvestris, and have not had it that long. I wager most would consider my treatment of my mugo and sylvestris is to grow them dry, with less water than they would normally desire. I do not water every day, sometimes not for several days in a row. So yes, do keep your jack pines somewhat on the dry side.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Lycium barbarum - Goji Berry
Inspired by @JudyB 's lovely shohin Goji, I picked this up as a $7, quart seedling sometime in 2017. Tossed it in a gallon nursery pot, threw it on the ground near the farmhouse on the farm and forgot about it. Rain only, no fertilizer. When I picked it up last week, it had rooted into the ground, and was growing crazy. I thought I'd repot and divide it before it got away from me entirely. I will have to watch for root suckers, it may have already become a permanent resident of the farm landscape. I decided to do a quick repot and prune before mowing the lawn today.



Roots, notice the multiple suckers that have become "trunks". Also the white shoots of more suckers coming.



Hard to see, as I mostly buried the trunk, but this first one has the largest diameter "trunk", maybe about the diameter of a pencil.



and here are the 3 pots I made up, I threw out the rest, one only needs so many Goji berries. Judging by how quick this grew, I am sure I will have more in the not too distant future. They will go back to the farm to continue to "trunk up" for another couple years.



The middle pot and the left most pot, notice I exposed the buried root to serve as an addition to the trunk. I should probably put wire on these before I plop them back on the farm.

By the way, the spines on these goji berries are quite sharp. I did not notice them right away. Ouch.

 

[JudyB]

Yes thorny little suckers. I think that some goji's are made by using the multiple suckers and winding them together.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Thanks Judy, that actually makes sense. Ill have to start doing that.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

R. satsuki 'Meguriai' or maybe it should be written 'Meguri-ai'. This is another whip from David Kreutz, one year older than the whip I put in the azalea contest. Flowers are snow white and more coral-orange-ish pink markings than the no name whip. So they are definitely different clones. It is taller than the other whip, so it is at least 40 inches tall. I plan to air layer off the top. So the white has a slight greenish throat, and the random stripes and sectors are more an orange-ish pink rather than the purple pink of the other clone. I like it a lot.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

A particularly nice flower on my azalea 'Meguriai'.


I almost lost my 'Yata no sai' azalea a couple years ago. Carelessness on my part. It is coming back. First flowers in a couple years. Color is uniform, the sun glare is creating the yellow spot.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Took a couple "just before sunset" pictures.
satsuki 'Yata no sai' - in these pics, the darker red speckles in the throat are more visible.


next, the no-name satsuki cultivar from Brussel's

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

And now, a few pics of 'Waka Ebisu' or 'Wakaebisu'
I don't know what I did, but this year the flowers are huge compared to previous years. Maybe I should not have shared my blueberry special with it. Looks great and colors are good.
This is another azalea I almost lost at the same time I messed up with 'Yata no Sai', this one I had to grow an entire new root system 3 years ago, due to bad potting media choices. It finally starting to pick up. I might be able to "throw a style on 'er" next spring. I might wire it later this summer.

 

[dresdraconius]

It's reassuring to see projects that look like my projects, coming out of the yards of experienced people. Sometimes all we see are the best y'all have, then I go look at my yard and see maybe one tree that can compare. Most of my stuff is like these - things I hope will develop into something with time and effort.

Completely agree with what you said!

 

[GreatLakesBrad]

Thuja is looking great!! Cones? Cool. I like the Jack pine very much as well.