Please allow for ingorance of the Pink Big Duck

A christmas present from my 10 year old nephew, bought at vacation in Spain one week ago. My best one this year, but i guess it was deserved. He got the Karate Kid Extended Version Triology on DVD from me :)

After soaking the seeds for 24 hours in lukewarm water only 3 out of 5 did remain at the bottom of the glass, so quite a small amount of seeds was sown. But who knows. The package did not say a word about what specied it is, other than "indoor bonsai".

Christmas Tree: Spanish Fir sowing

This old garden tree of the species Abies Pinsapo has three or four trunk lines, which supports for the reaping of a christmas year every year. My car was parked under it during the last days heavy snowfall and i noticed a lot of seeds on the ground. Eager to "bonsai" I collected them, used some regular peet in a couple of pots and placed them in the garden of my girlfriends family.

Spanish fir detail:

Spanish fir as Christmas tree

An image from my "garden" on the first day of snow

Mames by Harry Harrington

Not my trees this time. I just want to post this link to a series of pictures on Bonsai4me.com by Harry Harrington. http://www.bonsai4me.com/gallery%20mame.htm, theres a lot of great ideas here

Look at this amazing Juniperus Chinensis

Christmas Tree

My girlfriend just came home with a Chamaecyparis Th.. It will be used as Christmas decoration outside for now...

More info later on, but here are the speices guide from bonsai4me:

http://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Chamaecyparis.html

And a picture from the web showing the same species:

A new seed sowing round

This time I am aiming for natural scarification / stratification.
6 pots of carpinus betulus
6 pots of larix kaempferi
6 pots of carpinus koreana
6 pots of  acer buergeranium
3 pots of betulus japonica

The master

The candidates

Acer, Larix and Carpinus seedlings

Of all the 32 pots with seeds, 13 seedlings has made it. This is a quite satisfying result considering my non-scientific approach to seed germination regarding the different species. The three species that made it through were:

1. Acer Buergeranum * 3 (Trident maple)
2. Larix Kaempferi * 1 [maybe 2] (Japanese Larch)
3. Carpinus Koreana * 7

The rest of the seeds, 50 % of the original packages, will be sown in pots outside in a few days. I am aiming for natural scarification / stratification.

Red Trident Clump

Fagus in fall

Some details from the treasure beech. The colors are just incredible. The images does not represent this very well, but the weather and my digital camera could not provide better...

Our speciality, mis (spells)

Mame projects

40 days ago i cut off 20 or so tips from bushes and trees around in the neighbourhood. Now they have been standing in a glass of water but only one species has produced roots. I think it is some sort of cotoneaster but Im not sure.

Three of my new mame pots.

A rock to stabilize the stick.

A miniplant with flowers that was picked up from IKEA a while ago.

9 new mame pots

My new mame pots are ready, fresh out of the kiln at walsall studio ceramics. I am looking so forward to seeing them in real life. Take a look at their goods at http://www.walsall-studio-ceramics.co.uk/ .

The akward Larix 2

No backbudding still, but vigourous as hell. All moss removed because of the fungi outbreak. The trunk is very uninteresting and the branches are way to high. I think I will use this tree to experiment driftwood style, uro, several shins and maybe a yari at the apex. Need some tools and some lime sulphur before I head on. It will be great. :) One of the lowest branches can be grown downwards like a new trunkline. Yes, yes, YEEEEES!!!! 

Tree aid

These two trees was taken from a huge construction site nearby http://aftenbladet.no/lokalt/article589507.ece.

The Oak has a nebari of around 8 - 10 cm and height appr. 40 cm, but I think its to late to save it. There were a few green leaves when i found it but not much left of the rootball. I consider it first aid on doomed trees.

It has been standing in a bucket of water for two weeks but all the leaves are brown now. Several branches has died, but there still are a few green ones from this year. If it lives I will have my first oak in the collection. We will see what happens in the spring. Fingers crossed.

This larch were found upside down only a few feets away from the Oak, many dead branches and brown needles. It has received the same treatment as the oak. Soaking it in a bucket of water has left the tip of many shoots green, so better hopes for this one. Measurements will follow next summer.

Taxus with my suiseki

The suiseki standing beside this taxus represents well my approach to learning bonsai. I would say my skills in bonsai are the same as my skills with suiseki. This is a tree I am looking after for Øyvind.

My beeches

Here are some images from my future fagus forest. Considering the controlled yamadori this spring, all trees has survived, and are producing a lot of shots. The way forward will be a lot of trunkchopping as they respond very good to that kind of treatment.

A lot of new shoots everywhere. The ones like ths will be kept as new branches.

Not a pretty sight now, I admit.

I found a use for the good old atropurpureum "pot" as well, genious as I am.

Completely trunkchopped this spring, here are the result. Four new shoots.

I must wire this before its too late. That means tonight.

Trident Maple Clump

One more of Øyvinds maples, three one year old seedlings planted clump style, originally bought from Jan Olav, the pot is also Jan Olavs design.

Life runs so fast, but with bonsai we get a glimpse of eternity through its static nature of energy.

Here are some new pictures of my only pine. It is currently inhouse due to some potential dangerous fungus. (see death fungus) The progress has been according to plan, but no backbudding still. Recently it has dropped some new yellow needles, but I am not quite sure if this is normal for this species this time a year. I will repot this one mid spring next year. Its allways next year, next year, and it will be interesting to see if it wll produce more density next summer.

Atropupureum multiple trunks

This is also one of Øyvinds trees which I am taking care of at he moment. Nothing to do than but to wait and pinch in the spring on this one, looking forward already.