Proud owner of a Japanese Black Pine

I think every bonsai grower should have a pine.  They seem to be the pinnacle of the art and at the heart of the bonsai’s history.  I had hesitated for a long time on getting a pine, because their care is much different than a decidous tree.  After my recent trip to Bonsai Northshore though, a group of newly grafted japanese black pines caught my eye and I had to have one.  The variety is Koto Buki (Pinus thungbergii ‘Koto Buki’), one of the very few true dwarf varieties of Japanese Black Pine, so the maintenance schedule should be much easier than keeping a standard JBP in bonsai shape.  It is very young, but I think I will enjoy the final product a lot.

Pictures of Evergreen Gardenworks trees

Here’s the pictures of the Evergreen Gardenworks pre-bonsai trees that I purchased.  These will be left alone for 3-5 years while they fatten up a little bit before I try to convert them to bonsai.  The weeping atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica var. Pendulum) should be particularly interesting, since they are very nice full-grown.  You’ll also notice that the Atlas Cedar is not a Blue Atlas, but just the standard form.  I don’t usually like variegated color forms since they don’t give me an impression of an older tree.

Chinese Elm from Schley’s Bonsai

I have wanted to buy a bonsai from a bonsai nursery for a while now to see what kind of quality I would get and to see what the shipping process is like. I started looking for bonsai nurseries in my area to keep shipping costs low, make sure the trees were already adapted to our zone, and to support the local bonsai trade. The closest to me is still about 4 hours away so shipping was my only option. Two really stuck out to me as far as quality and price. Schley’s Bonsai in Florida and Brussell’’s Bonsai in North Mississippi.

There are three different trees that I have considered buying. A hornbeam (Korean or American), a Trident Maple, and a Chinese Elm. After looking around, I decided on a chinese elm from Schley’s would be a good compromise between cost and quality. It also helped that out of the people I contacted, they were the most helpful and sent me pictures of individual bonsai when I requested them.

The chinese elm I finally picked was perfect for a style that I don’t have in my bonsai collection, which is a broom. It has a nice start on some nebari (surface roots), a slightly slanting trunk, and some nice twiggy branching. It was sent in a small 6″ pot. I immediately repotted it without touching the roots in a bigger pot so I could encourage a lot of new growth. In the early spring, I’ll prune some of the out of place branches and cut back some of the growth. Here it is:

Here it is after repotting.

Technorati Tags: bonsai, chinese elm

Nice Kingsville Boxwood on eBay

There’s a nice mame (very small) Kingsville Boxwood bonsai tree on eBay right now. The bid at this point is $53 which would be a good price for a tree of this caliber. Check it out.

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