Projects from TJ’s Backyard
- Thread starter Colorado
- Start date
VAFisher
Masterpiece
Looking good. Your literati projects inspired me to do some in ground styling on a dogwood that I plan to dig up and pot next year.
Colorado
Masterpiece
I love to hear that! Looking forward to seeing it. Dogwood has such nice flowers!
VAFisher
Masterpiece
Always been my favorite tree.
Colorado
Masterpiece
Colorado
Masterpiece
Defoliation and wiring work on this Home Depot ginseng ficus:
Colorado
Masterpiece
Mountain Harebell accent plant. Showing the first flower stalk of the year! I love how the moss is settling in. 2nd year in this container. One of my favorite plants in the garden 
Colorado
Masterpiece
Japanese Red Pine, Lynn August container.
Colorado
Masterpiece
Rocky Mountain Douglas Fir. I wired this tree last summer and basically forgot about it until this past weekend. I went on a mountain bike ride near Conifer, Colorado which is quite appropriately named. The trail is called Little Scraggy and it is fantastic. But I digress back to bonsai.
The trail flows through ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forest. I saw many amazing Doug firs which inspired me to do some post-hardening work on this Doug Fir pre-bonsai.
The inspiration:
Before the work:
After:
I’m not happy at all with the apex. But I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it but give it time. I think it needs to be another 10-20% taller with more branches in the apex. The lower branches also need to be chased closer to the trunk. I really should have pinched the new growth this year…but didn’t. This is definitely a long term project!
The trail flows through ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forest. I saw many amazing Doug firs which inspired me to do some post-hardening work on this Doug Fir pre-bonsai.
The inspiration:
Before the work:
After:
I’m not happy at all with the apex. But I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it but give it time. I think it needs to be another 10-20% taller with more branches in the apex. The lower branches also need to be chased closer to the trunk. I really should have pinched the new growth this year…but didn’t. This is definitely a long term project!
Colorado
Masterpiece
I acquired a couple of new trees this weekend. Both were previously in the collection of a fellow club member who is passing on his trees. I feel very honored and lucky to get to care for these trees in their next chapter!
The first is a large apple. We think it’s an apple anyway. Pickup truck for scale!
Once I get this tree revitalized a bit, I will cut back the branches pretty hard.
Any advice or tips for apple species would be greatly appreciated!
The first is a large apple. We think it’s an apple anyway. Pickup truck for scale!
Once I get this tree revitalized a bit, I will cut back the branches pretty hard.
Any advice or tips for apple species would be greatly appreciated!
Colorado
Masterpiece
The second tree is this chunky, gnarly oak stump. We believe this is a grey oak from Cho Bonsai, but not sure.
Not sure what I’m going to do with this one yet
Not sure what I’m going to do with this one yet
VAFisher
Masterpiece
Looking forward to seeing what you do with that apple. That's a beast.
VAFisher
Masterpiece
Hmm. Hard to say based on 2d images. I definitely think something has to be done with one of the 2 thick vertical leaders. I might think about removing one entirely. And I may be less agressive on cutting back some of the other branches. But again tough to design in 2d. Your plan looks pretty solid.
Colorado
Masterpiece
Iris missouriensis, Rocky Mountain Iris
I picked up these native irises from the local farmers market yesterday. I thought they would make a fun accent plant project to work on this weekend!
Yesterday I went for a bike ride in the forest and found this white stone, piece of deadwood, and
moss. I put it all together this morning in this unknown Japanese container. I like how it turned out! The flowers should be beautiful in the spring.
I picked up these native irises from the local farmers market yesterday. I thought they would make a fun accent plant project to work on this weekend!
Yesterday I went for a bike ride in the forest and found this white stone, piece of deadwood, and
moss. I put it all together this morning in this unknown Japanese container. I like how it turned out! The flowers should be beautiful in the spring.
Colorado
Masterpiece
Tiger Bark Ficus! Pruned and repotted. The Sam Miller glazed container was just a little too small horticulturally, as it was drying out too quickly to keep up with.
This tree was repotted about a year ago. It had grown a nice fine root system.
And into this slightly larger Sam Miller unglazed round:
I changed up the front a bit to better highlight the base. Also removed the secondary trunk to simplify the design. Apex still needs a lot of work!
This tree was repotted about a year ago. It had grown a nice fine root system.
And into this slightly larger Sam Miller unglazed round:
I changed up the front a bit to better highlight the base. Also removed the secondary trunk to simplify the design. Apex still needs a lot of work!
Colorado
Masterpiece
Summer maintenance on the Mountain Harebell. I removed the non-vertical flower stalks and tucked a couple pieces of Biogold in there.
Colorado
Masterpiece
Pyracantha update. I removed some heavy branches in the apex to reduce to a single leader. I left a stub to serve as an anchor for a guy wire to elevate the remaining leader, which was coming too far forward.
The branches have exploded with growth and I have pruned it a couple times already this summer. I have it in totally full sun right next to my Ponderosas and it seems to love it. The more heat and sun, the better for this tree, it seems.
The branches have exploded with growth and I have pruned it a couple times already this summer. I have it in totally full sun right next to my Ponderosas and it seems to love it. The more heat and sun, the better for this tree, it seems.
Colorado
Masterpiece
Little clump-style spirea. I dug this out of the garden at our house when we moved in. Actually it is 2 plants that I planted together. My wife wanted roses in that spot instead
Not much by way of quantity for flowers this year, maybe I pruned it too late in the spring. I’ll
Prune it earlier next year. Oh well, I’ll take whatever flowers I can get!
Not much by way of quantity for flowers this year, maybe I pruned it too late in the spring. I’ll
Prune it earlier next year. Oh well, I’ll take whatever flowers I can get!
Colorado
Masterpiece
Colorado Blue Spruce update. Repotted earlier this year, so I’m giving it the remainder of the year to recover and settle into the pot. I am really looking forward to styling spring 2023! Maybe I’ll start a separate thread for this one at that time.
