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This trident was dug today. It has been in the ground most of 10 years, and I've been eyeing it for a sumo-shohin. It might be too big for my plan, but we'll see how things go of the next few years. It's going to need a lot of root work to get there. My entry for the big PP contest: :D

I visited Bonsai Northwest in Seattle when my wife and I were visiting her dad in Gig Harbor back in 1997. I bought a corkbark Chinese Elm and pot, and wired it out. This is the earliest photo I can find; from around 1998. I sold it 10-12 years ago, but did start some root cuttings at some...

Some photos are around the forum on this, but no thread, so here's the development of this one since purchased from Don Blackmond in fall 2008. The backdrop here is a standard card table, for a bit of scale:

A new pickup... Yesterday I introduced some Shari, reduced the jins a bit, and repotted it into some fresh soil and an old Bigei pot. This year, I'll pull in the apex a little, get the primary branches twisted up some more, and let it grow!

It has been a couple years since I purchased a bonsai. This one just came from Don Blackmond (highly recommended) at Gregory Beach Bonsai. it has a little history here at BNut, so I thought I'd share: 2009: http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?2754-Juniper 2010...

In 1996 I collected 11 ginkgo fruits (incredibly foul-smelling), and seven of them grew; 4 are still living. This one has been in the ground in Iowa, chopped back annually for the last 14 years, and was dug this spring. My buddy brought it down this weekend, thought I'd share. It's about 18"...

Photos of this one have been around, but apparently, no development thread. I dug it in Pass Christian, MS in May, '05, just a few months before Katrina wiped out the area. My MIL's house was 6 back from the beach, and the first 3 were destroyed. Hers made it, somehow, with no damage, but...

Al...I'd appreciate your thoughts on the next move for this trident in the ground. The horizontal chop is 5" above the soil, and this photo is the approximate front. The goal is true shohin, so it will sit another .75" higher in a pot. Would you cut that short, straight 2nd section and try...

This article on developing a JBP has been mentioned several times over the years. I had a chance to update it again, through this spring. It may be updated again at some point in another year or so, but here is the new link to the updated article. Enjoy...

I purchased this Ezo (picea jezoensis) from Brent a couple years ago in a 5-gal can. In the fall of '11, Peter Warren and I negotiated a front and agreed it would be a formal upright, then chose some primary branches. As purchased:

Anyone see a bonsai in that bush? Comments, criticisms and virts welcome...

This kurume azalea was one of several I collected from the front yard of our first house in 2000. This one really caught my eye, double trunk, decent crawling nebari, and a great double trunk. I dug it in '00 or '01. Ths '02 image is the earliest digital photo I have. Somewhere, I have one...

I purchased this red pine in '08 from Brussel's. The trunk was good, and I chose this as the front that showed the best trunk line: In '09 I repotted it, and put some movement into the upper portion of the trunk: It grew nicely that year: But all the growth was at the tips of the...

I posted a sneak-preview of this on a different thread, and decided to start one that will hopefully run for some years to come. This is is a shimpaku from Brent Walston; among his first and largest, and has happily moved South! If it has a good winter, I may start some training this spring...

Looks like the ume may flower this year. I worked on it with Peter in April, let it grow out all spring, then wired it mid-summer. After the leaves fell, the buds just kept swelling; the thing just doesn't go dormant. The flower buds are the swelling buds, flanking the smaller leaf buds...

Since you asked...and since I keep decent records... Littlehip Hawthorn, Crataegus spathulata 1999, winter, a few months after moving to Birmingham, I went into a nearby woods to scout some collecting sites. I found this hawthorn growing in an area that appeared to be a seldom-used dirt...

Continued from the Announcements Forum so we can see updates over time... Here are a few shots of the JBP he started down the road to bonsai last weekend. The basic structure is there, we just need to thicken and add movement to the straight section of apex, and hold back some of the growth...

I started a couple small ROR tridents on some nice dark stones I collected up in WA about 12 years ago. They've been sitting on my benches for years, never quite suiseki, but too nice to just toss aside (obviously, since they've moved with me half-a-dozen times). Last year I decided to strap...

Here is a stock plant I bought in fall '08, worked down the roots pretty hard in spring '09, and stuck it into a big wooden box and forgot about it for a couple years, except to layer a couple branches out of it. Yesterday I noticed it was pushing growth pretty hard, so I decided to repot...

So here is a project I've been working on since '06 and I'd say I'm at about the halfway point. This is a Zelkova that belonged to a friend, given to him from another friend, who styled it with Ben Oki in the 80s or 90s. Neither of them were satisfied with how the tree looked, but since it had...

So I got this shimpaku for Christmas in 2008. It came from Brent at Evergreen...good things always come from Brent. Since I hadn't spent much time with junipers, I decided to save it for a workshop and try to learn a little about their training in the process and so I brought it to a Kathy...

Looking over this J. Maple and considering removing the lower-right branch...it started as a sacrifice and I got used to looking at it. It's pretty thin, but I do like the full look it brings when the tree is in leaf. So...what do you think; keep it or cut it? I'll also post a photo of...

Al, I love this idea! I've been working on trees for quite a few years, and have never once had a trident maple in a bonsai pot. I've always figured that they were so easy to grow, that I wouldn't have one unless it was a damn good one. I have several trident maples in the ground, and so...

David, New Thread...Glad your Zuisho is looking good. Mine is growing pretty well this year, candles were about 4"-5" long and are fully open now. A small, second flush is pushing. Somehow, it seems that last year I had less foliage growth, but the trunk about doubled in thickness. This...