Update on Scotts Pine

Here is an update on this pine. The original post can be seen here... http://jasonsbonsai.blogspot.com/2008/03/scots-pine.html

Just this past Sunday I had my friends Tony and Randy over  to work on trees in the garage. This happened to be one of the trees that I grabbed to work on. Glad I did, it really turned out pretty good for a second styling from a huge bush in 2 years time. It can only get better in the near future. I changed the front a bit this time around and will work on getting it into another pot this spring possibly.

After needle and bud reduction. Started to wire the lower limbs.

Old front

New Front! I am very pleased with the progress of this tree in such a short period of time. In person it is much larger and much better. 2d pictures just don't really do justice to most trees.

And one for the Haters!!!! On some of the forums there are some post's regarding the Ichiban tool. I would say that 99.9% of the people talk smack about it and those same people are the same folks who have never seen one in person and if they have then for sure haven't tried it. I applaud Marco for thinking outside the box and making a tool that actually works. I will admit though that I did trade for mine so I didn't have to fork out the cash ($350) to buy it. But I will say that it is a great tool and will help to improve your game. I am glad to have one and once I get use to it and figure it all out it will be excellent. To learn more go here http://www.marcoinvernizzi.com/ichiban/en/index.html

Engleman Spruce

Here is an Engleman Spruce that I collected a few years ago. It has grown very well and was ready for some abuse :) Pictures don't seem to do this tree any justice at all! In person it is much better.
Pictures are as follows.....
Before
After
Back
Front

Walter Pall Workshops

 Not too long ago we were lucky to have Walter back in town for a few days. Besides a good bonsai artist he is a great guy and fun to be around. We had a 1 day workshop that was quite a good time and many brought some pretty good trees. Here is a glimpse into the day. I didn't get many pictures, I was busy working on my tree!

You can also view Walter pictures on his blog. http://walter-pall-travelogues.blogspot.com/2009/12/bonsai-in-oregon-2009-1-workshop.html

Happy Holidays!

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
May all your Bonsai wishes and dreams come true in 2010!!

Walter Pall workshops

Walter Pall will be here in early December. I am organizing workshops with him for Saturday the 5th and possibly Sunday the 6th. Cost is $90 for full day or $50 for 1/2 day and will be a bring your own tree event. This is a great chance to work with Walter as he only comes around once a year now.

If interested please send me an email, jgamby713 AT yahoo DOT com (replace AT with @ and DOT with . )

Thank you!

Pine Update

Here is a pine that I have been working on for 3 years now. It has come a very long way in a short period of time. Many of the "Big Names" in bonsai that have seen this in person have all really loved this tree, a few even bowed, lol!!

Here it is in the middle of August 2009. I needle pruned the bottom 1/2 of the tree at the end of that day.
Front before any work

Right Side before any work

After needle prunning and no wire. This is the beg. of Sept now. It sat on the bench for a few weeks before I got back to it.

Partially wired and I changed the front by a few degrees.

Partially wired, back

Partially wired left

Back finished!

Front finished with the sun shining

Front finished

From the patio. I will move this to a taller pole in the garden soon.

Trunk detail

New Koi

Check out some new fishies on my sub blog...
Link to the right.

July Updates

Well it has been a while since I have updated the blog. So here are some random shots from some trees that are in development and all at various stages. The pictures were all taken over the past few months.


Here is a big field grown crab apple with a lower hollow trunk. Has potential to be a great tree and has come a long ways in a short period of time.


Linden coming along well.

Fat little field grown trident in the making.

Shohin Japanese Maple. This was dug out of a drainage ditch by a friend and given to me about 7 years ago. It has been forgoten about for a long time.... has some potential. It has sentimental value to me. This is the first season I have given it any attention.

Below is a monster collected Hawthorn out of Idaho where they grow wild. When I got this tree it was a big tree, very tall, multiple trunk lines, and in very heavy native black soil. Last year I made some large cuts and started to put together a plan. Now the plan is coming around and about 2 months ago I wired, thinned and gave it a very rough styling. Next year this tree will change quite a bit again. Right now it looks funny.

Some Photos from this morning

In between rain storms I took a couple pics...

Ponderosa Pine

Monster Ponderosa in raw form. This will be a stunning tree soon.

European Hornbeam looking good.

Little Lead Linden just leafing out.

Monster RMJ waking up from winter. Root work soon on this one.

Vine Maple waking up from winter....these maples have wonder flowers....

Koi

Check out our koi in my sub blog, Jasons cool stuff

http://jasonsbonsai-coolstuff.blogspot.com/

Spring photos and yard photos will be added soon.

Updates

Super fat Japanese Maple, seen in last years post on the blog. I have cut it back very hard to induce more back budding as I rebuild the tree.

Crab is flowered out! Smells very nice! What a show.

Linden is coming along nicely. A few more years will give us some good ramification.. I am happy with this tree.

Back view

New Graphics

Recently I had a friend of mine, Jason Treadway make me a nice banner for the blog and also an Avatar for the bonsai forums that I tend to visit. I had an idea of what I wanted then found it was already done by someone else so I kinda let the project idle a bit. Then I get an email from Jason with these graphics done. He did it all on his own and after a very minor tweak this is what we have. Pretty creative, Mt Hood, my big juniper and mug shot! Nice work Jason!

Here is the good part......he will do this for anyone else too and he wants to trade for trees!! It is a win/win! So, contact Jason Treadway via email at: jtreadway[AT]sentinelusa.com for more details.

Banner at the top of the page and new avatar below.

Collected Vine Maple

I collected this tree a few years ago in the Cascades right before winter. It has since responded well. Many looked right past this ancient tree as it sat on my benches. I guess the trunk was to straight and all the branches were growing straight up or perhaps they didn't see what I was hoping to achieve.

In the wild this tree was growing a very steep hillside and was actually a full cascade. I had to plant it upright to save space and to make sure I had the roots buried in soil. Plus I always saw this tree in it..... even as we dug it off the side of the mt.

This tree has some very cool features to make it a good bonsai. The trunk is very rugged and has many "muscles" throughout, the leaves in fall turn into fire and puts on a wonderful display, the base is huge! Most is buriedi n this grow pot, but the base is a monster, about the diameter of a basketball and very barked up for a maple. I recently read on a forum that native maples can't make good bonsai, leaves are to large and they aren't any good......Wow, glad I am not that lame!
Before any work.....
Front- This is a big tree......

Back

I had an image in my head as to what I wanted to do and what I saw in this tree. It was very fun to work on this tree.

Some progress photos along my journey.

Look at how old this little shoot is....Those are less than 2 inches and have 10+ rings per shoot. Every branch is that way, the longer ones have 40+ rings in 6 inches! This is a gnarly old maple.

Gotta bend this big thick branch...

All business~ Got my Hackin' at the Hilton Bonsai apron, iPod and cold ice-t..... :)

Adding wire while staning on a ladder!

Getting closer..

Apex detail

Fall Color

Finished back

Finished Front

Please view video for 3D images. If for some reason the blooger player doesn't work for you it can also be found on youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5fTbsDVYxE&feature=channel_page

For some reason the video is a bit elongated and kinda adds a little distortion to the tree.

This was by far the funnest time I had working on a tree. I think it was because there was such a transformation. I wired every single little shoot, branch and twig, wow that was a ton of wire! More wire then I have used on any tree before, even my big RMJ. Please keep in mind this is the 1st styling, it can only get better from here~ a nice pot, ramafication...the sky is the limit for this very old, rugged and natural looking vine maple. Thanks for looking.