Friday, July 20, 2012

Pots From San Diego California

Set of rustic handmade pots from, San Diego, CA
Fantastic handmade cascade pots.  When I saw these at a local street market, I purchased them right away, what a great find!
Wild collected Ponderosa Pine at a street vendor in Old Town, San Diego.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Chinzan Azalea

Chinzan Azalea, purchased as pre-bonsai stock from Adams bonsai in 2009.  The results of 3 years of wiring and maintenance.  The first two years the buds were pinched in early spring to promote early shoot growth.  After the first flush of growth was hardened off it was trimmed again.  This resulted in two flushes of growth per year speeding up ramification.  The third year I let the tree bloom and then trimmed the shoots and wired it to it's current form.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Japanese Red Pine and More

Japanese Red Pine grafted onto Black Pine Stock.  I have been working on this tree for about 4 years.  This is the second wiring the tree has received.  I have been working on developing the foliage by bringing down the main branches and separating the tertiary branches into fans to promote healthy growth.  I would still like to add some more movement into the lower branches and fill out the apex.  

Here is a picture of the back side of the same tree.  When I first purchased the tree in 2008.  I re-potted it the following spring.  The needles were yellow and the roots were in pretty rough shape.  After cleaning out the old soil and fertilizing for one growing season the tree recovered nicely and was ready the next spring for its initial wiring.

San Jose Juniper nursery stock.  The lower movement of this nursery stock caught may eye.  I have been working with numerous San Jose specimens and have just began styling many of them this year.  When I purchased the group 4 years ago many were root bound in their nursery containers.  I have found that they recover much quicker when first becoming established in their training pots.  I have made it a priority to first establish them before any wiring is done.  I wired a few right away while they were still in their nursery containers and they have been recovering on the bench for 2 years.  I won't make that mistake again.
Here is the Procumbens juniper I worked on during the Roy Nagatoshi workshop this spring.  I just removed the wire and the branches have set nicely.  It hasn't missed a beat and is growing profusely.