#BonsaiNews: Bonsai is always a 'work in progress'

THIS has got to be one of my greatest faults - I simply do not take 'before' photos and at times, I even forget to take 'after' photos however, at least 'after' can be taken care of later.

Needless to say, I had a lot of time on my hands this weekend and opted to spend it with some of my trees which I rarely ever showcase - I think I have posted maybe two or three times about my own bonsai.

So, here we go:

Saturday was spent mostly among the developing seed which appear to be showing some progress, even some of the apple (green and red) and lemon seeds have started sowing signs of early development.

Later during the afternoon, I opted to go to the nursery where the new bonsai 'expert' (the regular guy quit) and I had a slight miscommunication since he sold my dad two bonsai for my birthday last month and for some reason used the wrong mixture of soil in one - a 10-year-old monkey thorn.

The result saw the tree go into a very deep dormancy (dormancy is normal during winter) which I am struggling to fix even after re-potting the poor guy.

During regular dormancy, this specific species of monkey thorn may lose its foliage however, I had noted some distinct early on dying. Initially, I thought it was normal and opted to move it indoors during the evenings to see if that would help - this tree does not require a lot of watering so I stuck with the every second week since winter had arrived and also since the pot was rather small. (They are also very resistant to frost, something we do not get at all - this species of tree do well during our winters)

My fears were realized when I noted that one of the branches had developed a type of fungal disease - the branch has since been removed and sealed with both adhesive aluminum foil and candle wax.

This (below) is what the tree looked like a day after I got him and it has since been established that he had been re-potted the very day prior in a mixture which contained a form of clay - which is not bad at all, if you live in a completely different climate.

The best part, you do not re-pot this tree during winter! Something I now had no choice to do.

The climate in the part of the country I live in, which is literally a 10 minute drive from the nursery, requires that a completely different mixture be applied as a base for this tree. Clay-like soils, which were used prior, tend to harden greatly around the roots of these species.

Needless to say, you don't want to see how sad this tree looks at the moment especially since the roots prior to re-potting at my hands, were circling the base of the tiny pot it had been planted in - no root pruning had been done in what I calculate must have been 4 - 5 years. He now has a pot at least twice the size of the previous pot and if he survives, some major foliage growth is due in spring.

Bad news aside:

I absolutely love buying the 'shrubs' at nurseries - they make for the best bonsai in the years to come.

One such bonsai, was a young Juniper which I only paid R25 for - that's about $1.98

Although it was completely overgrown, I was more than excited to get it home and cleaned up - a real pity was that this guy also needed a re-potting done since the roots were growing through the bottom of the plastic bag it had been left in (I suppose that's why it was so cheap).

ALSO READ: #BonsaiNews: What's so great about Juniper bonsai? Simply; Everything!

Now, although they grow fast, I love Junipers purely because they are rather durable and, when looked after properly, take on the most amazing shade of green/blue foliage. I was a bit shocked to find onions growing in the soil it was planted in though - need I say more?

Either way, the little guy is looking whole lot better even after removing the majority of foliage - of which most was dead. Now at least, some sunlight can reach the remaining foliage and within the coming years, this tree may make for some lovely shari.

The last showcase, a still rather young Chinese Elm, which looked previously as below, was finally wired and trimmed and has already started showing some lovely foliage growth again.

I don't understand why (this is one of the trees my dad bought for my birthday - from the same guy) the main growing branch was cut back at the top since it would have made for an excellent cascade feature.

As you can see, this Elm had been allowed to grow out of control - something I tried to fix and am somewhat paying for since I accidentally snapped one of the branches I was trying to wire - I never said I was an expert at wiring.

On a side note, one of the younger, more fragile branches could not be wired since it also would have snapped or been damaged if I had made use of the same wire - I instead opted to use one of the sticks I picked up on the beach to give it some lift (lower left branch).

Lastly, is one of my youngest monkey thorns currently still in a plastic bag - for some odd reason, this exact tree, even though it is the same species of monkey thorn as the one mentioned above, has grown and continues to grow thorn at the speed of light.

He should be spending his last winter in the packet and come October, perhaps November, is set to be potted for the the very first time.

Bonus:

Pardon the 'poor' wiring on my avocado tree - the stem has been rather fussy with taking to the bending and through double layering the wiring in some places, I have been able to better allocate the shape I want it to take.

It also just allows the tree some protection from damage since the stem is rather fragile and can easily be broken when bending.

(Background: Marula is doing really well)

Since wiring the avocado some three weeks ago, the tree has started producing a new branch slightly above the second bend which I hope to later start bending toward the more left side later aid in equal weight distribution.

That's a wrap.