Oh the weather outside is frightful….
…but inside it’s so delightful
Winter has arrived with the first snowfall of the year. My grewia is inside and has another bloom today. This was a sneak peek of my new inside tropical enclosure that I will post about when I get around to finishing it.
Now that I’ve provided an update on the conifers, I’ll now go through the growing season with my deciduous and tropical trees. Again, nothing even close to being a show tree but fun stuff to play around with.
First I’ll start with my Japanese Maple forest that I purchased in August of last year. It was repotted in March, just as the buds popped, in order to try and induce some vigor into the trees. When I bought it in August 2011, it was in disarray and needed some TLC. I was trying to get some buds to pop low and they did. Now a chop or airlayer is in play in the future. Or, I can keep working them as is. I’ll be cleaning this up at my next class in a few weeks.
As purchased in August 2011
After the repot in March
Leaves unfurling in March
The trees in June of this year
In the end of October
I like the movement in this angle of the largest tree, might need to be repositioned at some point
Next I thought it’d be fun to see how my jade cuttings have progressed this year. I basically had made some cuttings last summer and then this year I put them into a shallow pot for fun. They needed the repot, and have thrived this summer. I have chopped them once this summer and made more cuttings. The pot is silly small now but still fun to see the growth.
In January under the lights
After potting in February, as the leaves were getting shriveled I knew they needed to be repotted or they were goners
As they looked in June, I believe after a cutback
Growing well in July, getting the interest of my chocolate lab!
As they presently look
Comparing this picture to the February picture, you can see how much more the pot is full now
Next up is an update on my Grewia Caffra. I have to say, I love this species. It is easy to grow indoors under lights, and has provided my with beautiful blooms all year. I damaged it while wiring some movement into it this summer but it didn’t skip a beat, and has been cut back a few times. It’s due for another cutback when it is used to being under the lights again.
As it looked when purchased in March of this year
Outside and happy in May
I used electric tape to seal the wound made during wiring
Letting the first branch grow leggy to help thicken it, flowers at the tip
4 blooms at once in September
As it presently looks
An alternative angle
New Japanese Maple addition
This tree needs some TLC, but I just love the bark
Well that pretty much sums up the year so far. There’s still some fall work to be done, but I’m happy with the way things have been going. Looking forward to next year’s update!
I thought it would be fun to provide an end of year update for progression purposes. This has been my first full growing season and I’m quite happy with the way things have gone. I will be splitting this up into two posts, conifer, followed by deciduous and tropical. None of the trees are show-worthy but I like to see photos that show how they’ve progressed this year.
This first tree I’ll show is a little juniper whip that I twisted last year in this post. Is it me, or is it really hard to tell how a juniper has been growing until you look at older pictures?
November 2011, before twisting
A few months after twisting in March
In April, after removal of wire and thinning
Rewired and new photo from October 29th
The next update is an itoigawa shimpaku that I purchased in May of this year, which initial styling was featured here. It again has given me some good growth this year and I’ll probably clean it up this fall or winter. Maybe next year I’ll start refining the deadwood work.
As purchased in May, after my honeymoon
After initial styling in May
As it looks presently, end of October
I might like to work with this front a little more, to show both sharis
The last coniferous update is my JBP that I purchased and styled earlier this year. I decandled this year and it responded really well. It was wired up in August and is currently ready for some fall work. It’s starting to take shape.
As purchased in the end of February
After repotting and thinning in April
After decandling in July, this is after wiring in August
As it presently looks
As a bonus, I’ll add some pictures of my JBP from seed as an update. The ones that I made seedling cuttings out of have grown well this year, and I hope to do another batch next year.
Overall it’s been a fun year, and I can’t wait to see how things have progressed in another year. Tropicals and deciduous to follow!
Tom's Bonsai 