A Group of Winged Elms on a Rock

[justinw]

What a great idea... and it came out very nice. Looking forward to its progress once it leafs out a bit more.

 

[MACH5]

thanks Speed Racer...how's chim-chim?

Good stones to plant on are really hard to find...to me they are much harder to find than good pots...and thus more valuable to me!

I encourage to check out the fish stores...not big box stores but local mom&pops...Lace Rock is available all across the nation through their wholesalers but the box and by the pallet...you really want to find somebody that brings in the pallets...typically larger stones and better for our purpose.

I did see Rodney Clemons use hydraulic cement to connect 3 smaller lace rocks to do one planting...it worked in the demo...I am not sure what the long term success was??

Racer X

Ok thanks for the info Racer X! I will try the fish shops and see


Chim chim is doing well. When we're not racing he spends his time giving unsolicited advice on bonsai. That darn chimp!!

On another note..I have tried J. Maples a couple of times on stones with only limited success...If you can, give them plenty of soil/muck on the rock... and definitely maintain the planting over a water basin to help keep it from drying out. Please share when you get there!!

John

Yes thanks John! I suspected Japanese maples would need room to do well on a rock. I am currently experimenting with one rock planting where I have drilled 5 1" holes in different places around the rock and all the way thru to the bottom of it. The rock is made out of some sort of cement and fiberglass mix and very workable. The idea is that roots will go all the way down these channels until they find the opening at the bottom where they will spread out and grow in the shallow pot where the rock sits on. All this in theory but we'll see how it all works out. Too soon to tell.

Thanks again for the very helpful info!