Cotoneaster

I bought this Cotoneaster at the Ginkgo 07. It was dirt cheap, 7 or 10 Euros, I can't really remember. It's a evergreen variety so it doesn't get the nice fall colours.
Here it is as I bought it. I was curios about the roots.
The roots were OK. Not so many thick ones. Cotoneaster can take heavy root pruning so I cut back pretty good.
It fitted in a deep pot, but I couldn't get it quite in the right position. It should have been more to the right.
Other side. I'm not sure what is the front or back. The tree was roughly styled some weeks later and left to grow freely the rest of the year. Sorry, no pics.
This is how it look now. It is developing very well. Next year it going into a different pot.
Other side. It's been the shadow side the last weeks. You can see the new growth is reaching for the sun. Both sides looks fine as a front I think.
Rough virtual of possible future development. Maybe the pot is to feminine and should be greener? Suggestions and victuals are very welcome.

Bending the trunk of a Pinus sylvestris #2

I need to do one more bend to make the tree compact and ready for 'normal' shaping, but decided to wait untill the tree shows good growth after the two first severe bends. Even if it looked very dramatic to bend the trunk so much the tree has shown no signs of stress. It has kept growing like nothing ever happened and I will do the next bending later this summer. I will report when it is done. Here are some photos from the workshop.A big thanks to Peter Warren for a brilliant demo and workshop!!

Bending the trunk of a Pinus sylvestris

This is one of my collected Pinus sylvestris.
This spring we had a visit from Peter Warren, he led a workshop in Oslo in May. I brought this pine and wanted to bend the trunk dramaticly. Peter started by drilling a hole in the trunk in the point where the trunk was to be bent and then we fastend a metal rod to the trunk for leverage during the bending. We used a clamp for the bending. It was surprisingly easy to bend the trunk. It was bent more than 90 degrees in one point and a little less in another point.

Big hornbeam doing good

I bought this hornbeam at the Ginkgo Bonsai Center in 2007. The first picture is how it looked then. Last spring it was pruned back pretty hard and potted in the largest container I had available.
This year it is really thriving and growing well. It is a big tree, about 90 cm including the pott.
This is how it looked when I bought it.
I'm very happy about this tree and it is nice to work with some decent starter material. I prune back the new growth asap.

1000 kg pumice in my driveway

When I came from home work yesterday a pallet with 1000 kg pumice was greeting me. Rune has come to conclude that moler and crushed leca is soooooooo last year. Pumice is what's rocking this year. So he talked me into getting a pallet of pumice and it arrived just after repotting season is over. How nice.
Since it was standing in my driveway it had to be moved. I stashed it away in 30 min and got a free work out. Rune was of course nowhere to be seen...
Pumice for pines. Not sure if I am going to use it pure or mix it with moler and/or leca or something else. Particles are from 2-8 mm.
Anyway, substrate is the way to go.

PS. 20 liter bag is for sale for NOK 200,-. Pick up only, no shipping.

Nice videos from Kaizen Bonsai

Graham Potter at Kaizen Bonsai has published two very good and informational bonsai videos.
One shows his work restoring this old Japanese juniper bonsai tree and the other hows some basic bonsai carving techniques on a giant hornbeam. Enjoy!





Graham uses the Terrier™. The Ultimate Wood Carving Tool For Bonsai. Get it here!

New pot for Cork Bark Elm

I got this cork bark elm late last summer. It's a nice tree but the pot was outrageously ugly!
One month ago I cut it back hard and repotted it in pure moler, 3-5 mm particles.
This is what the tree looked like when I got it last year. Ugly pot!
One month ago, just after repotting.
As of last night. It is growing and budding out like crazy. The picture was taken half past nine in the evening (pm, 21.30). We got long, bright days now. Today sun rise was 04.11 and sunset will be at 22.18 (10.18 pm)