panda's collection

[pandacular]

posting a thread documenting my collection in a central spot. this thread will contain all my trees, with links to other threads as the trees warrant it. I've only been at this about a year, and my trees reflect that, but I've certainly started seeing some results, or at least responses to my actions--good and bad!

I'll start with my first two trees, which I got in my first bonsai class at Heartwoods Bonsai.

Styrax sp.
This tree was essentially a twig for wiring practice when I got it. Here's the oldest picture I have, as the buds are emerging in spring.

a little later on down the line

big snip of the top

as it is today

when I initially wired this thing, it was a boring silly spiral, but I've been tweaking it over time both to place branches and to make it less predictable. Currently planted in a 1 gallon grow pouch, but I may slip-pot it a bit shallower in the spring in the same bag. other than that, plan to just keep growing it and directly growth minimally.

I posted this too early, so to prevent timing out on edits, I'll add my other trees in follow-ups!

 

[pandacular]

Juniperus chinensis 'Old Gold'
I got this tree the same day as the one above as a take home assignment. I can confidently say that this is my ugliest tree, but we all know that old Walter Pall expression, so it'll stay on my bench for now.
Some of the oldest pics I have of it.

wire gore...

repotted it into a grow bag, but likely way too late (May 5)

I learned a value lesson about over-working a tree, as this thing... kinda just sat there doing nothing for the next 2 or 3 months of what should be the peak growing season. I also thought it was a good idea to pinch this tree, and what's worse, I thought it was done with your fingers instead of scissors. Oh well, it wasn't a waste because I learned a lot.
as it is today, finally putting on new growth, which according to my notes, started in earnest on August 1.

 

[pandacular]

Juniperus procumbens
Another classroom tree! This time for my repotting class this April. potted in a blue green glazed production pot

a few weeks later, I noticed that it was wildly wobbly. I recalled that I had only wired in one half of the root mass. I took drastic measures to wire in the rest by just sorta shoving a wire up through the soil... it was a great success!
this time, I waited for fresh growth before insulting the tree further. By the end of May, it was booming with growth, so I shaped it a bit more

do you see the elephant?




as it today, with some small progressive prunes, particularly around the back, bald head.
The Future
design wise, I'm thinking of this tree as something of a mother-daughter semi cascade. The front low branch that is shaped like a New Zealand silver fern has beautiful structure that will fill out into pads quite nicely. I haven't put any wire on this, but I plan to wire it this fall. I will compress the trunk and give it some 3d movement. I think I can fill in much of the bald spot by raising some wires, but I still have something of a whorl back there. I also have a branch to the right that will likely become a jin.

 

[pandacular]

oh, I forgot to mention on the Old Gold juniper... it's a HORRIBLE cultivar if you're colorblind. Healthy foliage? yellow. overwater? yellow. underwater? believe it or not, straight to yellow. I'll likely give it away at some point for this reason alone, but I still have some to learn from it.

 

[pandacular]

Azara microphylla 'Variegata'
I went it my local nursery looking for material to practice air-layers on, and found this one. I've really enjoyed working with this species! It has some quirks and I have not seen anyone attempt to use it for bonsai, but overall, it's really fun, fast growing, and has a nice growth habit. It's also readily available at nurseries here, and I've seen a number of examples in landscaping, so I think I'll keep trying this plant. I like it a lot better than Buxus as far as small-leafed evergreens go.

as from the nursery, 4/9/23

these images show something of the "two trees" i saw in it. really, only the top part (to be air-layered off) is good material, but I'll keep the bottom to see what happens.

cut the layer--but I think there's much too much green (again, colorblind), and it's a little close together

attempt #1 and #2

in July, I checked for roots...and found none! It had completely bridged; I blame a bad initial cut, as well a poorly secured pot (that second mistake I made again...). there was some start to the layer working, as you can see the callus and the difference in caliper above the layer

cut it again and placed another pot on. I posted a thread about this here.

This tree has been very responsive to pruning. Here is a piece I pruned back substantially (probably about 8 full nodes!) in the apex about two weeks later. Notice that It has put out 4 new shoots!

The biggest downside to this tree that I've observed--and this may be specific to the variegated cultivar--is that fresh buds tend to burn very easily. They turn black and just...drop. I asked a question about that in this thread. I'm still figuring out how to avoid this, but I think fresh buds need to be out of the sun on hot, sunny days. The new shoots also tend to grow in bright pink!! It's very pretty.

as it is today. note that i've now properly wired in the air-layer pot


I have some good evidence that the air-layer is starting to work this time. I have a LOT of growth near the bottom tree's apex (just under the layer) and the main pot is drinking a lot less water. Next month, I'll cut a window in the pot as suggested and demonstrated by @BobbyLane and evaluate whether it can be separated in the fall, but I'd rather avoid that. If I do separate at that time, I will provide bottom heat over the winter.

The Future
I'll likely wait until spring to separate the layer. As you can see, the branch structure of the upper portion is a very neat and even left-right-left thing. I'll probably remove that first heavy branch on the right and the lay the branches flat. The bottom is not really what I'm looking for, but I'll keep it around; it's bursting with roots, so I think giving that a decent first prune would be a good start.

 

[pandacular]

Acer palmatum cv.
This tree was purchased from a local bonsai store, sold simply as "Red maple". While that's technically the truth, it's clear to me that it's not A. rubrum but A. palmatum.

I got this in May, so haven't seen the winter silhouette myself, but I found this old picture of it on the store's site

as i brought it home

i sunburned the shit out of the leaves in it's first location, so I did a partial defoliation end of May. Probably a bit early in development for this, but it was an interesting process watching the second flush come in.

leaves coming in.



as today

(wide angle lens below to capture the spread)

The Future
Once the leaves crisp up this fall, I'll do a pretty substantial chop on all the branches. Each of them have a pretty clear part where they haven't been pruned in many years, so I'll take them in there. virt below

in the spring, it'll go into a mini-Anderson flat. I don't know if these are made by Anderson, but they're similar, just scaled down--the one I have is about 3 inches deep and rectangular, I think 12" x 9".

 

[pandacular]

Juniperus chinensis 'Itoigawa'
I bought this shimpaku from Robert Cho of Asia Pacific Gardening. It was grown and trained as a pre-bonsai, with some seriously radical curves. I haven't done a whole lot to it, just trimmed it back lightly.

as purchased

after a quick cleanup (different camera used)

Some closeups

I posted a thread on here about this tree which received some lovely guidance from Frank Corrigan.

Phasing work on my Shimpaku Juniper

I have a shinpaku juniper (Juniperus chinensis) that I purchased as a pre-bonsai (though I'm thinking penjing!) from Robert Cho at Asia Pacific Gardening. This tree has a really interesting trained trunk line, and tons of foliage, some of which has been trained as well. Here are some pictures of...

www.bonsainut.com

My favorite picture of this tree, with an angle suggested by Frank.

with the cat

I just love the crazy twists and turns of this thing, can't wait (but I will wait!!) to do more work to it. You can see in the picture above that I wired just a few branches, with the primary goal of bringing some lower branching out of the sun. The one branch that I added serious curves has suffered a bit more it, so I will hold off, as I think this tree has the most potential out of any of mine.

The Future
In the spring, I will repot this into an Anderson flat and give it time to recover. Maybe I'll wire it some next fall, but I plan to take my time. Someday, I want to give this thing the full deadwood treatment, but that's a ways off--likely after I practice on my Old Gold and other trees.

 

[pandacular]

Acer palmatum x2
Grouping these two trees which I purchased from @rodeolthr together. One appears to be a species, and the other is a red leafed variety, with sports of pink. These were grown from seed, so no cultivar is given. The green one is about 12" tall and the red one probably 14".

as received


after a bit of branch selection and partial defoliation--note my girlfriend INSISTED that I don't cut any of the pink leaves

the pink leaves have actually been a bit of a problem, as they burn very easily. I think I will try to take some cuttings of these and see if I can root them. I suspect they make work as a very shaded tree, but mixed in with the more hardy red leaves, I don't have much hope for them.

as today, sporting some huge shoots and lots of growth as a response to defoliation


The Future
on the green one, the most recent image is the clear front. I plan to keep this one shohin sized, and hope to find a pot for it before spring. I plan to guy wire down the first two branches as soon as I get some rubber tubing for it (actually, the wires to the right of the last image were tested for this, but I wasn't happy with the pressure on the branches).

the red one needs a lot time on it's primary branching, as well as it's taper. I might cut back the top significantly, but I'm still thinking about it. I have a shohin pot in mind for this tree, but I'm not sure whether it's ready for that, or if I should up pot it into something for development, such as a root pouch.

 

[pandacular]

Taxodium distichum
This bald cypress was collected by @Cajunrider. Potted it into an Anderson flat, and will just leave it there for the next few years.

panda's bald cypress

I purchased this collected bald cypress from @Cajunrider. Potted it in an Anderson to let it sit for a few years (so this thread may be boring for a while!) It looks rather healthy considering the distance it's traveled. Roots were still moist in the box when it arrivedved, bagged up. I'm...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[pandacular]

and that's all of them...for now. feedback and suggestions are welcome.

 

[rollwithak]

Fun start!


This could be fun……

 

[pandacular]

I've thought about that for sure. Ultimately, I like the shape of the primary branches. The other solution to that straight section is to change the planting angle, which I've been playing with, but haven't photographed.

Sadly, the original owner of this tree passed away. I suspect they were unable to maintain it towards the end of their life, hence the very leggy pieces. In that respect, I'd like to honor the work that they had put in place, which is one of the reasons I'm leaning against the chop.

 

[Michael P]

oh, I forgot to mention on the Old Gold juniper... it's a HORRIBLE cultivar if you're colorblind. Healthy foliage? yellow. overwater? yellow. underwater? believe it or not, straight to yellow. I'll likely give it away at some point for this reason alone, but I still have some to learn from it.

Agreed, it should be named 'Old Mold'.

 

[rollwithak]

I've thought about that for sure. Ultimately, I like the shape of the primary branches. The other solution to that straight section is to change the planting angle, which I've been playing with, but haven't photographed.

Sadly, the original owner of this tree passed away. I suspect they were unable to maintain it towards the end of their life, hence the very leggy pieces. In that respect, I'd like to honor the work that they had put in place, which is one of the reasons I'm leaning against the chop.

That’s the best part, you get to do whatever makes your heart happy! Look forward to see progress!

 

[pandacular]

Thread 'panda’s Pinus parviflora ‘Aoi’'
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/panda’s-pinus-parviflora-‘aoi’.62255/

 

[pandacular]

I haven't update this in a while but I've added quite a few trees...

First, a pair of Pinus ponderosa that we given to me by a study group member to help thin out his seed grown trees. Good practice material, and I like their basic shapes. I plan to continue growing them out with the sacrificial leaders for some time.


Thuja occidentalis 'IslPrim'
I really like this cultivar for how much it looks like Hinoki cypress, but with a much greater capacity to backbud and grow densely. When I got it, it was so dense, that there were roots growing in a few places up the trunk!

After thinning, then after wiring the bottom branches.

My plan is to air layer the top, and promote one of the first two unwired branches to the new leader.

I also picked up a few trees from @Dysfunctional Vet
Alnus rubra
Nice chunky trunk on this ~16" tree, collected locally.


Rhododendron sp. (Dwarf)
The goal for this tree in the coming years will be to drive the foliage back to create some more density in the inside. The level of budding on interior branches is very promising! I might give this tree some wire this winter, but the roots were somewhat loose in the pot, so that will depend on whether my janky wire I placed over the roots seem to stabilize them.


Loooove that bark! And the root spread could be really great in a few years.


Dasiphora sp. (?)
I am really unsure about the genus of this tree, but Dasiphora seems to be a match. When I got it (as pictured) it was VEEERY dense. I cut it back significantly last week, but forgot to take pictures.



In addition to all of these, I picked up a few elms from Evergreen Garden Works, a 'Catlin' and a 'Seiju'. The plan with those is to just grow them out for a long while and see what happens! They will likely be repotted into root pouches in the spring, then buried in my pumice grow beds.

 

[pandacular]

Two more that I forgot! Both from @JEads at Left Coast Bonsai.

Tsuga mertensiana
I had been on the lookout for a collected mountain hemlock for some time, glad to get this at a very reasonable price. This one has been wired on the bottom half, I’ll get around to the top soon.

It has a significant flaw (or is it interest??) in that the two low branches emerge from very each other and then cross. Really, this doesn’t both me much, and currently this is hidden by the first (err…second?) branch. Before adding the guy wire, the branches were actually touching and beginning to swell around one another.

I did toy with the idea of attempting to graft them together, but I don’t have a problem with it at the moment. The elephant trunk jin will be shortened in the future.


Chaenomeles japonica ‘Chojubai’
Plan is to keep it shohin.

 

[pandacular]

And finally, a few updates.

The maple in post #6 got a hard cutback and wire. I like this potting angle much better, and will likely plant it like this, on a board in a flat in the spring.


The green maple in post #8 got some guy wires that I mentioned, and it makes it look vastly better!

And the green helmet Dasiphora sp. (?) got a little less helmety.

 

[Kievnstavick]

I also bought a Chojubai from John Eads. I still need to update my threads with the of my trees and acquisitions. I need to finish cleaning out my garage and setting up my photo area.

Sifting substrate is so much more enticing though haha

 

[pandacular]

Speaking of fun with substrates, here’s the pumice beds I mentioned. My garden is on my 3 story townhouse roof, so I had the pleasure of hauling 10 cubic feet of pumice up 3 flights of stairs! The image with the trees is in shows them half heeled in; I’ll fill in the gaps once I finish my upcoming work on the trees.