Your "Last Tree of the Year" 2016 Thread

[Brian Van Fleet]

Now that it's actually the last day of 2016, let's see the Last Tree of the Year that you bought for bonsai in 2016: what is it, and what are you doing with it in 2017?

To keep it clean, don't include anything purchased for the Red Pot Challenge. @abqjoe: you inspired this thread; go with your most recent last tree of the year.

This was my last purchase for 2016: a crabapple, Malus sargentii from @Brent at Evergreen Gardenworks. Building the shohin display stable, and this has good movement, bark, seasonal interest, and stands just at 7". Next spring, it will go into this carved, blue glazed Koyo pot that has been sitting on the shelves for years just waiting for the right tree!


Happy New Year and Roll Tide!

 

[Starfox]

Snapapple.

First and foremost is to get it into better soil and maybe a different pot, there isn't a great deal of pruning to do but definitely need to thin it out at some point and will likely wire it then too.
Probably wont do repot and prune at the same time. Might need to sort out some summer protection for it as well.

Oh and I want to perhaps carve some of that deadwood too, first time for that so I will try and keep all my fingers. Might just leave it too, no rush.

 

[Adair M]

I purchased this JWP from Julian Adams at the Silhouette Show. To make a future Literati. It's going to take a while for the trunk to bark up.

 

[aml1014]

The last tree I officially purchased was this yamadori ponderosa pine.
Ill allow it to grow this season and in fall of 17 it'll get its first styling.

Aaron

 

[petegreg]

Snapapple.

First and foremost is to get it into better soil and maybe a different pot, there isn't a great deal of pruning to do but definitely need to thin it out at some point and will likely wire it then too.
Probably wont do repot and prune at the same time. Might need to sort out some summer protection for it as well.

Oh and I want to perhaps carve some of that deadwood too, first time for that so I will try and keep all my fingers. Might just leave it too, no rush.

View attachment 127526

I've got frozen apples too. In the spring I cut one surface root off the trunk and left it be. It sprouted three trunks from the root cutting and it's gonna be repotted next spring.

My last this year tree is this mugo. Gonna be half bare rooted and potted next year.
My best wishes for 2017, health, happiness and many successfull projects.

 

[leatherback]

My last purchase. An olive. Will be cut back and repotted. Brought back to live. This was full of scale and fungus. Got it at a dealer who really wanted to get rid of it for a very good price.

 

[Vin]

Purchased December 2016 from Ben Gliffin a Korean Hornbeam. Repot with new positioning in a slightly larger pot. Carve all the deadwood.

 

[Dav4]

Once again, great idea for a thread, Brian!
This one, a collected hackberry, was acquired at the Silhouette show in Kannapolis earlier this month. 2017 goals for this include increasing movement in the branches while increasing ramification, and improving a mediocre nebari.



Of course, this tree was SUPPOSED to be my last of 2016...but it wasn't.....


















The day after purchasing the hackberry, I ended up with these two. Since they all were acquired within 24 hours, I thought they could all be included...and Abqjoe knda set the standard for multiple "last tree" purchases, so...
The first is a trident maple and the second is a palmatum. Both are going to get chopped, have their roots worked aggressively and then placed in wooden boxes to develop.

 

[wireme]

I've got frozen apples too. In the spring I cut one surface root off the trunk and left it be. It sprouted three trunks from the root cutting and it's gonna be repotted next spring.

My last this year tree is this mugo. Gonna be half bare rooted and potted next year.
My best wishes for 2017, health, happiness and many successfull projects.
View attachment 127529

Nice work, I like it.

 

[Walter Pall]

This I finished today. The oriental hornbeam was collected only 21 months ago. I am really happy about this last work in a year that was a good one for me. Happy New Year!

 

[PeaceLoveBonsai]

This quince that my wife bought from @Stickroot as an Xmas present. Very excited about it and trying learn all I can about quince.

 

[wireme]

Only two purchases this year. The fall contest tree was the last but it's been seen enough.

Picked up a willow too, hard to say what I'll do with it until I dig in there a bit. Keep growing it or develop it small is the question I guess.
Check out the cold hardiness of this guy, that's pretty nice.

 

[wireme]

This I finished today. The oriental hornbeam was collected only 21 months ago. I am really happy about this last work in a year that was a good one for me. Happy New Year!

Wow, that's quite something!
I keep reading how deciduous are so much slower to develop than conifers. Then I see how good you and your friends can have trees like this looking after 5 years or so. Or 21 months! Kind of makes me question that general statement.
Happy new year.

 

[fourteener]

Here is my last purchase of 2016. In October I visited Andy Smith and bought this tree.



This is my first design of it. A nice round pot, will dress it up nicely in the spring. I'll see how healthy it seems first though. I might be able to simply slip it into a nice pot with minimal root work.



My last design work of the year was with this Scot pine gathered three years ago. This was your classic railroad gather with a broken top and branches growing randomly.


I always thought of this side as the front, but there is more deadwood to see on the other side.


So I made this the front. I'm not sure what I will do with the root that comes toward the viewer. Next time I repot it I will see how important it is to the tree.

 

[Coach]

I bought a very small Hinoki in November. We have Ash Juniper all over Central Texas and this little guy reminds me of home. I plan to repot in this shallow Japanese oval. Happy New Year

 

[Smoke]

My last purchase was on Dec. 9 and it was this Kiyohime from Ed Clark. I was transfixed on the leaves of a very large one he has sitting in a wooden box on the ground.





So I bought this one and set out to ruin it. No pain no gain.






Hopefully next year will bring it back to the previous image but with much shorter internodes.

 

[Les]

I pick up this double trunk maple earlier this year. I plan on putting it in a mica pot in the spring and check out what to roots look like underneath . I have a few seeding for root grafting if needed.

 

[abqjoe]

My last tree of the year is my Jabba the Maple tree, which I picked up from Don Blackmond. Here it is when I first got it.



Here it is today after trimming it up a little bit and wiring it a little bit too. Come Spring I'll trim the roots and put fresh soil. Good thing today is the last day of the year otherwise I'd probably get yet another last tree of the year lol

 

[milehigh_7]

Not much to look at but the story goes back a long time. In 1999 I saw some pictures of what Pedro Morales did with casuarina equisetifolia and I was in love.

I know casuarina cunninghamiana is not exactly the same but I'm excited to to try It!

 

[fredtruck]

The last tree of the year for me was this Torvesa Flowering Quince. It's a contorted type, with very mean thorns. This is not its final form. It suckers like crazy, and seems to be an aggressive grower. It is full of flower buds right now, with one near the top on the right about to open.