Newbies - want to share your trees?

[qwerty Bonsai]

Small goji berry. Think it could be one of the best species for newbies to practice bonsai. Flexible to bend (to practice wiring), tolerates heat, humidity, bad soil.

 

[Lumaca]

With a combination of fear and trepidation, here's my first attempt at wiring a tropical pine!

 

[rawlyn]

Also, quite pleased my hibiscus is popping out some buds after a chop a while ago!

Hi, Clorgan.

Any sign that this one might actually bloom this year? I don’t see any buds in the photo, but my own has surprised me, and I’m now curious just how much late heavy pruning (aka “abuse”) these hibiscus can handle in a season.

The one I posted about in post #283 above got a fairly aggressive trim in mid-July (though I still haven’t gotten around to trying to increase the spread between its two trunks).


I assumed that would mean no flowers at all this year (I even removed all existing flower buds completely during the pruning) but the tree has pushed several new ones. The most mature are pretty visible toward the apex in those photos, and there are a number scattered elsewhere throughout the foliage. (I’ll post an update/progression once the flowers open).

Hopefully, there’s still time for yours to produce as well.

- Mike

 

[Clorgan]

Hi, Clorgan.

Any sign that this one might actually bloom this year? I don’t see any buds in the photo, but my own has surprised me, and I’m now curious just how much late heavy pruning (aka “abuse”) these hibiscus can handle in a season.

The one I posted about in post #283 above got a fairly aggressive trim in mid-July (though I still haven’t gotten around to trying to increase the spread between its two trunks).
View attachment 323042View attachment 323043

I assumed that would mean no flowers at all this year (I even removed all existing flower buds completely during the pruning) but the tree has pushed several new ones. The most mature are pretty visible toward the apex in those photos, and there are a number scattered elsewhere throughout the foliage. (I’ll post an update/progression once the flowers open).

Hopefully, there’s still time for yours to produce as well.

- Mike

Hey Mike! No sign of flowers so far unfortunately - chopped at the end of June so I'm thinking it probably won't this year! First photo is of this one.

I've got two other hibiscus, one is in flower (second and third photos)

You've got a lot of growth on yours in such a short space of time! Looking good! What colour will the flowers be? Looking forward to seeing updates, will let you know if mine wakes up too!

Claire

 

[Clorgan]

Hi, Clorgan.

Any sign that this one might actually bloom this year? I don’t see any buds in the photo, but my own has surprised me, and I’m now curious just how much late heavy pruning (aka “abuse”) these hibiscus can handle in a season.

The one I posted about in post #283 above got a fairly aggressive trim in mid-July (though I still haven’t gotten around to trying to increase the spread between its two trunks).
View attachment 323042View attachment 323043

I assumed that would mean no flowers at all this year (I even removed all existing flower buds completely during the pruning) but the tree has pushed several new ones. The most mature are pretty visible toward the apex in those photos, and there are a number scattered elsewhere throughout the foliage. (I’ll post an update/progression once the flowers open).

Hopefully, there’s still time for yours to produce as well.

- Mike

Looks like you have a much better trunk on yours than mine by the way!

 

[rawlyn]

Hey Mike! No sign of flowers so far unfortunately - chopped at the end of June so I'm thinking it probably won't this year! First photo is of this one.

I've got two other hibiscus, one is in flower (second and third photos)

You've got a lot of growth on yours in such a short space of time! Looking good! What colour will the flowers be? Looking forward to seeing updates, will let you know if mine wakes up too!

Claire

Hi, Claire.

This one flowers pink. (Pic taken late last August)

But consistently lags weeks behind all the ones growing in our yard.


(Pic taken just now)

So, yours could still surprise you.

- Mike

 

[SmallTree]

Picked up a pine tree today for £2 and a pot for £4 while in my garden centre looking for some feed. Still have to trim it more and wire but a nice find for 2 pounds.

 

[Clorgan]

Hi, Claire.

This one flowers pink. (Pic taken late last August)View attachment 323047

But consistently lags weeks behind all the ones growing in our yard.

View attachment 323048
(Pic taken just now)

So, yours could still surprise you.

- Mike

Fingers crossed! I'll post here if it does. You've got plenty of hibiscus material there! Perhaps being potted delays flowering?

 

[sorce]

Morton Bay Ficus, my only tree in a pot. I think the pot is too large for it but I wanted to test my soil mix in a ceramic pot.

I reckon the pot could be wider.

But that's not why I'm here....you can't test your soil mix with a ficus.....

It's like seeing if kerosene will amplify a fire.

Plus, it's never a test of your soil, always a test of your attention to detail when it comes to watering.

Sorce

 

[SmallTree]

Had my first go at putting wire on a tree. It was a lot harder than it looks on YouTube. Wanted to ask does anything look like it needs fixing and i put one of the cuttings in soil for my son but have no idea if it will grow or just die ?

 

[rawlyn]

Looks like you have a much better trunk on yours than mine by the way!

Hi, Claire.

Kind of you to say, but not so sure about that. I actually like the trunk yours has quite a lot. I'm especially jealous of all the roots it has to work with.
We'll see what I find next time we repot, but when I've poked around the base of mine with my finger, I haven't felt any sign of any future nebari at all.

- Mike

 

[qwerty Bonsai]

Had my first go at putting wire on a tree. It was a lot harder than it looks on YouTube. Wanted to ask does anything look like it needs fixing and i put one of the cuttings in soil for my son but have no idea if it will grow or just die ?
View attachment 323112

congrats！looks reasonable to me. but feels like the wiring has not completed yet.

 

[dtreesj]

Got time for thyme?

Wiring is pretty nasty but the branches were so clumped together that I figured I better make space sooner rather than later.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Wanted to share this lil’ guy.. and this lil’ tale.

So my youngest son yanked out a 12” Ulmus (with practically NO feeders ) right around the start of june.. and presented it to me, proudly.

I said, “Well, I’m not sure if it’ll make it, but we shall try.”, so i pruned it a touch, and “potted ‘er up“.

This elms foliage went crispy over the next five days.. so I assumed it to be “a goner”.. until it surprised us about 5ish days before my birthday (6/25) with new buds.. excitedly I pruned down to those two new buds, and observed...

Now here we are, 2 months(ish) later and I decided to measure the new growth.


Golly, Elms are wonderful.

 

[Clorgan]

Wanted to share this lil’ guy.. and this lil’ tale.

So my youngest son yanked out a 12” Ulmus (with practically NO feeders ) right around the start of june.. and presented it to me, proudly.

I said, “Well, I’m not sure if it’ll make it, but we shall try.”, so i pruned it a touch, and “potted ‘er up“.

This elms foliage went crispy over the next five days.. so I assumed it to be “a goner”.. until it surprised us about 5ish days before my birthday (6/25) with new buds.. excitedly I pruned down to those two new buds, and observed...

Now here we are, 2 months(ish) later and I decided to measure the new growth.

View attachment 324385View attachment 324387View attachment 324386
Golly, Elms are wonderful.

Lovely tale! I bet your young lad is chuffed

 

[HorseloverFat]

Lovely tale! I bet your young lad is chuffed

He has a certain, “told-you-so”edness about this tree.

 

[Clorgan]

He has a certain, “told-you-so”edness about this tree.

Haha oh I can imagine! Let him be smug, he was right after all

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Picked up a pine tree today for £2 and a pot for £4 while in my garden centre looking for some feed. Still have to trim it more and wire but a nice find for 2 pounds.
View attachment 323049View attachment 323050View attachment 323051

You should not prune for at least 6 months after repotting. The buds at tips of branches secrete the auxins needed to get roots to grow.

Prune a pine after repotting and there is a chance that the tree will die.

 

[SmallTree]

Picked up a display for my bonsai, cant really see the top two because of the backgroun.

 

[Clorgan]

View attachment 324502
Picked up a display for my bonsai, cant really see the top two because of the backgroun.

Nice! I have that shelf, survived a recent storm we had (quite a mild storm but I was still pretty impressed!)

I've got it wired to my fence though, not sure if you've got any means of securing it? Not sure it'd hold up in really strong winds without being secured