Collected Hawthorn History

[Brian Van Fleet]

A leafless shot, ready for some pruning.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Pruned...

 

[M. Frary]

I've been looking at a couple more to collect. I only have 2 species of deciduous trees. Elm and Hawthorn. The 2 best deciduous trees for my colder climate.
I've been using this thread and @Dav4 hawthorn thread as a guideline for mine.
Great tree Brian.

 

[ohiogrown]

Awesome! This is great for people like me that have not been doing this long and are kinda learning as we go. I collected a few trees last year and this gives me some direction on what needs to happen. Thank you!

 

[cmeg1]

Wow this tree seems to be coming along nicely!
Great colors too last Autumn

 

[ConorDash]

Pruned...
View attachment 172402

Indeed, what a stunning tree.

 

[Giga]

Pruned...
View attachment 172402

This is a great tree but the one aspect that keeps drawing my eye is the dead wood. Have you ever though about hollowing out the core of this section? in nature it would start to rot and hollow out.

or something like that

 

[Waldo Street Pottery]

This is a great tree but the one aspect that keeps drawing my eye is the dead wood. Have you ever though about hollowing out the core of this section? in nature it would start to rot and hollow out.

View attachment 174658 or something like that

I might agree that this could help one of my favorite bonsai be even better. Stain might even work. Or, at least an American pot

I love, love, LOVE this tree!

 

[jriddell88]

I would let it go naturally why in such a hurry all the time ?? @Giga , which I assume is what Brian is doing , why force the hand of man or even worse , power tools ,on such a natural looking tree

 

[Giga]

I would let it go naturally why in such a hurry all the time ?? @Giga , which I assume is what Brian is doing , why force the hand of man or even worse , power tools ,on such a natural looking tree

To bring the tree to it's greatest potential, that's why in bonsai, we use tools, wire, raffia , grinding tools. Its all part of the process

 

[jriddell88]

i believe in this case I would let nature take its course , and then come back and polish around the edges, you will achieve a much more natural finish in the end which I think this tree deserves, the picture in post #162 and picture in post #167 looks to have changed? did you dig some of it out or is it the lighting ?

agree to disagree
at any rate it is a beauty

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Took some photos over the weekend. The thread graft hasn’t been separated yet, but it is still alive and growing. The front left root died back, and will need to be hollowed out a bit. I’ve been struggling to find just the perfect pot for this tree, because the traditional dimensions for the width needed tend to be about .5” too shallow. May have to talk to Eli!

 

[ohiogrown]

Took some photos over the weekend. The thread graft hasn’t been separated yet, but it is still alive and growing. The front left root died back, and will need to be hollowed out a bit. I’ve been struggling to find just the perfect pot for this tree, because the traditional dimensions for the width needed tend to be about .5” too shallow. May have to talk to Eli!
View attachment 198269

I love this tree! Do hawthorn like direct sun?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I love this tree! Do hawthorn like direct sun?

Thanks, yes, this one stays in full sun.

 

[JudyB]

Always a treat to see this beautiful guy.

 

[Paulpash]

Thanks, yes, this one stays in full sun.
View attachment 198392

The rebuild seems to be going well, Brian. Wasn't it necessary to really grow out some areas to thicken them up?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

The rebuild seems to be going well, Brian. Wasn't it necessary to really grow out some areas to thicken them up?

Yes, it’s been a slow go. The challenge is the compromise between keeping the good areas refined and healthy; while growing out the replacement branches without letting them take over. A lot of that big grow-out work happened in 2015-2016. They were left to run 15-18” each year before being trimmed back.

Branches traced in red were pruned away in 12/14, and replaced them with the branches you see in green; one of which is a thread graft that is still not ready to separate. The left image was taken 3/14, 6 months before it was shown at the US National Bonsai Exhibition. The right image was 4 years later.

Looking back, it was not a bad move to prune it, but should have done it a little earlier in the tree’s development. It probably has another 3 years before it will be ready to exhibit again on a national level, making this an 8-year makeover.

 

[Paulpash]

Much better movement and variation - I think it's well worth it. I'm growing branch structures on a few Hawthorn so it's good to see a quality end product. Have you read the Kaizen article on Hawthorn flowering?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Fall color coming on. I almost like the background colors as much as the subject in this shot.

 

[JudyB]

Beautiful! hope it gets more color before you get a freeze.