Candidates for Root over Rock. (The Rock)

[Jetson1950]

Getting ready for another set of projects for spring and once again I am completely out of my element on the basics of this project. Number one, trying to pick the rocks I should, or shouldn’t use. When I was visiting relatives in Texas last summer, I picked up these rocks on my sisters ranch in the central hill country. They look cool to me, but as to whether they would be acceptable for a root over rock bonsai I am totally ignorant. The trees I plan on using will be Japanese maple seedlings I’ve collected, red maples, Chinese elms and hackberry seedlings I also collected in Texas. Maybe others as well. I’ve got lots of different small stock to work with.

So, what do you think of my candidate rocks? The Texas hill country is an ancient shallow sea so most of the rock is limestone with these kind of unique outcrops. I’ve numbered them to make it easy to comment on the different rocks. The final sizes for these bonsai I plan on being somewhere from big shohin up to 12-15” tall.
If none of them are appropriate, lmk so I can look elsewhere. My favorite is #3. It’s a conglomeration of all kinds of stuff.


Edit. The rock are from 3-5” across and 3-5” tall.

 

[JoeHeller]

Number 3 looks interesting.

 

[Wulfskaar]

2 and 3 are my favorites, but they still seem a bit small. You'll have to keep the tree small so it doesn't eventually cover up the whole rock.

Maybe consider adding 1 or 3 rocks to your forest for a bit more of a natural forest look.

Question: If using multiple rocks in a composition, should rocks also be in odd numbers???

 

[Paradox]

Imo these are all too small for the planned size of the tree

 

[Jetson1950]

Imo these are all too small for the planned size of the tree

I think you are right. I may just make a shogun with a pigmy Japanese maple I have. Or, as said above use two or 3 rocks. As most of my stuff is right now, it’s all practice stuff till I know what I’m doing so I can improve down the road.

 

[MalsRFun in TN]

I think you are right. I may just make a shogun with a pigmy Japanese maple I have. Or, as said above use two or 3 rocks. As most of my stuff is right now, it’s all practice stuff till I know what I’m doing so I can improve down the road.

I took a ROR workshop last March with a local guy who provided rocks and trident maples. I'm pretty certain that he had glued or joined rocks together to create pieces about 6-8" tall. Our trees were shohin size and fit the rocks. This picture is at a terrible angle - the tree had been previously shaped into a really nice curvy trunk and the rock extends into the dirt below - but where the tape begins is the roots of the tree. This picture is from July. Anyway, maybe you could combine your rocks?

 

[rockm]

Rocks are far too small. They’re all pretty boring shapes. Texture is fine. Bigger (like a lot) three times the size what have here. Trees grow. Rocks don’t. You don’t want to have a tree that swallows its rock in three years…

 

[Jetson1950]

I took a ROR workshop last March with a local guy who provided rocks and trident maples. I'm pretty certain that he had glued or joined rocks together to create pieces about 6-8" tall. Our trees were shohin size and fit the rocks. This picture is at a terrible angle - the tree had been previously shaped into a really nice curvy trunk and the rock extends into the dirt below - but where the tape begins is the roots of the tree. This picture is from July. Anyway, maybe you could combine your rocks?
View attachment 625431

Rocks are far too small. They’re all pretty boring shapes. Texture is fine. Bigger (like a lot) three times the size what have here. Trees grow. Rocks don’t. You don’t want to have a tree that swallows its rock in three years…

Good points that I will take to heart. As I said in my initial post, this is virgin territory for me, so I need exactly what everyone is telling me. Cold hard facts. You should have seen the rocks I didn’t show. They were even smaller. . I may attempt to do one with on of the little JM seedlings I have just to get the hang of it, but hold off on anything else till I find rocks I like that are of a better size. At my point in the learning curve attempting something small will allow some learning mistakes and not ruin a good tree.

 

[PaulH]

Those rocks appear too small as others have said. They also seem to be too soft. I prefer hard, dark colored stones for my root over rock trees. Softer stone (sandstone) will not outlast the tree. I think you should also look for stones with a more asymmetrical shape and grooves or channels in which to train the roots.