Cougar Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Wow! Really an extraordinary little tree! I used to try transplanting and growing my own. I'd piece in moss for a nice green carpet over the topsoil. A little universe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 I've grown/am growing several trees myself. This was a bit of a case of wanting 1 really good specimen in my collection. Moss is great and can look just like a freshly cut lawn. Not suitable on all species though. These need plenty of air getting into the soil so we use very fast drain g soil with porous particles. As the water flows through and out the bottom it saturates the porous particles but drains out of the gaps between them and draws the air through. Moss would hinder that. Sometimes people add a sheet of moss just for an exhibition and then remove it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flight959 Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Wow! Very nice mate! You about later?... I might pop over with the boys! Regards S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 A different species of Japanese maple with moss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Little Chinese elm Shohin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Wow! Very nice mate! You about later?... I might pop over with the boys! Regards S Yes mate, be home about 6.30. Let me know, be nice to see you all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinch Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Very nice! Like Retired, I think my first exposure to Bonsai trees (capital B?) was "The Karate Kid". Not a flora guy at all, but I like Bonsai trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 This was a bit of a case of wanting 1 really good specimen in my collection. That elm is a "really good" specimen! You've totally outdone yourself with your new one, which is beyond primo! Quite a setup you've got there, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Thanks, and since you asked, no capital B. Bonsai (except if the first word in a sentence :) ) actually has it's origins in China, not Japan as is commonly believed. The word bonsai is a Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word pensai. This corruption occurred because bon, to the Japanese, means pot and sai means planting. Bonsai therefore means pot plant when directly translated. Also, in anglophone areas we tend to call all miniature trees bonsai but this really refers to a tray or low sided pot,a bon. There are lots of different Japanese terms to describe different types of miniature trees, style and planting. I used the term Shohin above, for example. I believe a capital s there is correct because I think it refers to a person or character. Memory is shady on that though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinch Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Ah! I think you're right about Shohin. I think that's where I got the capital letter thing from :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 That elm is a "really good" specimen! You've totally outdone yourself with your new one, which is beyond primo! Quite a setup you've got there, too! Again, thanks. The Chinese elm is pretty much all my own work. The irrigation system I put together myself for under £100. It's only for the height of summer really where, bacause of the tiny pots, the trees need watering up to 3 times a day and I'm a working man. It has revolutionised this growing season for me. The Japanese masters say "summer's for growing, winters for showing". This means that you can't hide bad branch structure on diciduous trees because they should generally be "shown" with no leaves, in the winter. Evergreens are a different beast, of course, we can hide undesirable branch structure with foliage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Since this got far more interest than I expected, here's a collected (Yamadori) from the wild lonicera (bushy honeysuckle). Estimated at 80 to 100 years old. Very much a work in progress, need to grow long branches every year so they can thicken up, then cut them back short so they divide, rinse and repeat. Very cool trunk though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 And here's an English oak grown from seed. 6 years old, should be 6' high, less than 6". Years of careful pruning of new leaves to force it to back bud and create more branches. Bit of a breakthrough this year. I'll wire those into shape before next spring and it will start to really show it's character... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 ...here's a collected (Yamadori) from the wild lonicera (bushy honeysuckle)... Very cool trunk though... Wow, I'll say. Um, how much did your new unbelievably cool Japanese maple run you, if you don't mind my asking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 I was surprised how many of you were interested in this. In case anyone would consider a start in the hoby, this Catoneaster was under a tenner at the garden centre. A new pot (£5) and 1 styling prune which took about an hour done last weekend. Stands about 4 inches high. A couple of years developing branches with astute pruning and it will be a great tree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 I was surprised how many of you were interested in this. In case anyone would consider a start in the hoby, this Catoneaster was under a tenner at the garden centre. A new pot (£5) and 1 styling prune which took about an hour done last weekend. Why, that's a good idea! A tenner being £10 ($13.30), I take it? Google images for "cotoneaste bonsai" show quite a range of variations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 ...here's an English oak grown from seed. 6 years old... OK, apologies in advance if this is a complete numpty's question, Farns, but (and I'm being serious) would the 'seed' you mention be an acorn or am I missing something? Going forward with this thought; could, therefore, any acorn be so planted and, if looked after with appropriate due care, would it be able to grow in this fashion? Pip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 OK, apologies in advance if this is a complete numpty's question, Farns, but (and I'm being serious) would the 'seed' you mention be an acorn or am I missing something? Going forward with this thought; could, therefore, any acorn be so planted and, if looked after with appropriate due care, would it be able to grow in this fashion? Pip. Very hard not to be sarcy here, old been, so I'll try very hard. Yes, oak seeds are known as acorns. Yes. Bonsai trees are exactly the same as large trees genetically. It's just the way they're grown. I can see where we're going here. Put an acorn in a normal plastic plant pot of compost and you have started. That said, I wouldn't, I started with an oak and it really took 3 years before I had real enthusiasm because they're so slow to develop as bonsais. Also, those first couple of years require a fair amount of skill, not a good starting point. I would suggest starting with a small Chinese elm which has had the process started. These grow slow enough not to take you by surprise but not so slowly you lose interest. Prices start at around £50 including an entry level bonsai pot. Alternatively buy a small cantoneaster from a garden centre and go from there as above. Catoneaster are very hard to kill. Jade/money trees are also great for learning what we call "clip and grow". This simply means you style and shape over time just by pruning. Thsee grow very fast so younget a good insight into how this works very rapidly. They are impossible to kill except by over watering. A small partially developed money tree will be around £30. A good friend gave me the oak after a squirel very kindly planted it in a pot for him (what are the chances?), but quite soon after he gave me the Chinese elm you see, that got me interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Very hard not to be sarcy here, old been, so I'll try very hard.... It just seemed odd that you chose to use the phrase 'grown from seed'. I suppose your version is eighteen letters shorter that 'which I grew, here at home, from an acorn' so it probably saved you some time in the typing dept. In any case; 'Old Bean' would have been more appropriate in this context........so to you too, Old Fruit! Pip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 It just seemed odd that you chose to use the phrase 'grown from seed'. I suppose your version is eighteen letters shorter that 'which I grew, here at home, from an acorn' so it probably saved you some time in the typing dept. In any case; 'Old Bean' would have been more appropriate in this context........so to you too, Old Fruit! Pip. I guess it's a horticultural thing. "Grown from seed" is the general expression, as apposed to buying or collecting a sapling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Oddly enough I did have a Japanese Maple bonsai around about the turn of the millenium which I picked up (already established) from The Secret Garden Centre just up the road from here. It was doing very well for the first three years or so but, then, fairly rapidly (over the course of about one month) it 'dropped dead' - inasmuch as a tree can do such a thing. No idea what I did wrong. My apparent complete lack of expertise put me off the prospect of trying again. Pip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
american cheez Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 cool tree! Beautiful! We are lucky to live not too far from Longwood Gardens, I've always enjoyed the bonsai collection. Good luck with it, I hope it is still thriving long after all of us are gone! rct i used to live in wilmington, been to longwood gardens many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 i also have a japanese import, i acquired 10 yrs ago as of tomorrow: A flowering Japanese Strapless! Hope you've taken good care of that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Oddly enough I did have a Japanese Maple bonsai around about the turn of the millenium which I picked up (already established) from The Secret Garden Centre just up the road from here. It was doing very well for the first three years or so but, then, fairly rapidly (over the course of about one month) it 'dropped dead' - inasmuch as a tree can do such a thing. No idea what I did wrong. My apparent complete lack of expertise put me off the prospect of trying again. Pip. Hard to autopsy after the event but... A. Garden centres generally sell what they call bonsai trees in entirely the wrong soil. B. This is because they're not really bonsai trees but saplings in pots, as they grow they die. Had they been put in the ground they would't. Had they been put in very fast draining bonsai soil they wouldn't but the combination of small pot and soggy soil never works. C. A Japanese maple is a tricky tree to turn into a bonsai. Not really for beginners, even if A and B are not the case. D. Trees in pots will need watering 2 or 3 times a day on the really hot days. E. You can't leave a growing bonsai in the same pot for 3 years. It will need repotting every year when it's really growing and every other year once it's become stable. Only fully mature trees can be left any longer. F. Garden centre bonsais tend to be crap altogether. It's a different world and they just have no clue. If you'd like to try again you could either a company me to Knockholt where there is a terrific, if somewhat small, bonsai nursery I'm well in with and buy a decent starter tree somewhere from £30-£100 depending on your preferences. Or we could just go to a garden centre and find a suitable plant and do it right. Lastly,we could go to bexley and get you a half decent tree bit expect to spend well into the £200 region. You could, of course,spend £50k+ if you really wanted to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Thanks for the various insights, Farns. I'd doubt the fault lay with the Garden Centre as it seems to have a very good reputation amongs our green-fingered friends. No; the fault was mine. Clearly my use of the word 'apparent' in the previous post was wholly inappropriate.... TBH I don't really have the time to dedicate myself to yet another hobby and certainly not one which requires such skills as you have clearly mastered. I'd like to go along to Knockholt with you sometime, though. There's a really nice pub.... Pip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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