Here are a few shots of fall color…and an inadvertent study of blue pots.
A little fall color
Author: Brian VF
I have been studying bonsai since 1994, in an ever-increasing obsessive fashion. In our last 5 years prior to moving from Iowa to Alabama pursuing a career in the foodservice industry, my bonsai collection was limited to a few varieties that could survive brutal winters outside, or winters under dim light in the dank basement of our humble duplex...my wife puts up with a lot. Including the trailer hitch I put on our brown 1983 Chrysler New Yorker to pull a U-Haul full of trees to Nashville for a 3-month stop along the career path that led us to Alabama. 12 years later, we no longer have the New Yorker; and not a single one of those trees remain on my bench, having given the last holdout to a new club member this summer. I prefer collecting native trees and buying the classical species used in Japan, feeding organic, and reading everything I can get my hands on.
A year in the life of a Ginkgo
Last year, I tried this Ino Shukuho pot for the ginkgo. It was significantly undersized, but I though I could make it work.
Here is is in winter 2021.
Clearly the tree had a weak growing season. Really the only difference was the too-small pot used last year. It will be interesting to see if next year is stronger. I will not repot it in 2023 and hope for a strong recovery.
After leaf drop, I cleaned up the tree, lightly pruning the few extension shoots.
Zuisho Japanese White Pine Progression pt. 2
After growing out a 2-year old graft for the last 15 years, it was time to start thinking about training, and make some decisions on direction.
It was tricky to finally jump in. The lowest whorl consists of 3 branches. Eventually one would need to go. My original plan was to go with the Zuisho’s tendency to produce a long low branch. Some of the old bonsai magazines show this, and it was always intriguing.
I took it to Bjorn’s in November 2021 and we decided to keep all 3 branches for now. The right branch would become that long character branch, the left branch would become almost a second trunk, and the back branch stays for now, to add depth.
While the trunk isn’t as fat as I want it to ultimately end up, it is clearly thickening in a pot, so our work won’t stop that progress. Additionally, the branches are beginning to fatten up, so we decided it was time to begin setting some branches while it was still relatively easy.
A shot mid-way up wiring out the tree. Here the right branch is wired out and the left branch is set to become a second trunk.
Work finished for the year.
Nebari Bonsai 