The Chinese Elm for bonsai
Ulmus Parvifolia

 The Chinese elm is more than likely a very good choice for the beginning bonsai artist as it is very forgiving to a point and pretty easy to train. It can be trained in almost all of the bonsai styles other than up right as the plant is very twisty so to speak and does not lend its self to that style very well.

 I personally would choose and informal style or one of  the cascading styles for this plant. The bonsai you see here is one from my own collection and has been in training for about fifteen years now and is coming alone nicely..

 The Chinese elm is a deciduous plant and can be grown either indoors or out, however it will tend to do much better as do most bonsai left out doors. But pay particular attention to the plant in the winter months and protect it from harsh blasts of wind and or frost or any freezing weather as this would truly kill the plant and it would not take long at all over night in fact. So when old man winter gears up more than the usual then take the plant into a safer location indoors but still store it in a some what cooler place.

 I live in the Great Northwest in the state of Oregon and that would be considered zone 8 on the plant scale map and just for all of you that do not know what that is well here is a link below to the best one around that will help you to understand state by state the growing zone for that area.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/#

 As with any bonsai watering is a very important factor and no one plant is the same they all have different watering habits and you will only learn by study and reading and practise. But the general rule with nearly all bonsai is to water every day in the growing season especially in summer when it begins to heat up as the plants are planted in very little soil and have a very compact root system thus eliminating any water fairly fast.

 Over all I use my fingers to tell me and if I push my finger down firmly into the soil at least half an inch or more and it feels dry then its time to water.. The Chinese and Japanese actually use chop sticks made from the softer wood and they will break one in half and use one of the broke half's to test for watering as the sick will absorb the water and leave a moist spot on the sick at the level where water would have been last and if you pull the stick up and check and it seems dried out then its time to water... I just prefer the finger method my self.

 There are also plant meters that you can purchase from local nursery's that will tell you soil reading and dampness levels.... from around $12.00 dollars and up so look for one if you like....But the best practise is to learn your individual plants by heart and there specific watering needs by species and then you will not have any guess work involved.

 The Chinese elm can take the sun as long as you move it out into the sun gradual and not all at once in other words give it a chance to acclimate and then move it on out.. Air flow should be good too and not real windy but normal.

 These plants will need a lot of trimming as they tend to produce a lot of new growth and fairly fast in early spring right on into the summer months... So do not be afraid to give them a hair cut as with any bonsai and the rule here is leave two leaves and trim the third away.. Chinese elm is very twiggy and will produces tons of little twiggy growth all over the plant so once you have began to develop a some what acceptable limb structure on your plant then you will want to strive for branches where the leaves look and grow into a rounded pad if you will outstretched away from the trunk.

 I managed to take many cuttings from this mother plant about 7 years ago and so now have many in my collection that are in starter pots and have been in training for about five of the 7 years and they are also coming alone nicely and will make wonderful bonsai in the future for me to add to the garden or too sell you can see a picture of Chinese elm at the top of the article.

Thanks for reading.
By: Harold Yearout ©Copyright 2013 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved for more information feel free to contact me: 

Hedge Maple As Bonsai

ACER CAMPESTRE OR HEDGE MAPLE

Hi there all,

 In this article I will try to give you information on what is called the Hedge Maple Or Field Maple.

 This variety of maple is used in many landscape designs and works well in most all public areas like around malls parks center dividers on public streets and the like it is more native to Europe and Asia and many other areas around the globe. In North America thou this maple is known as or called by a more common name Hedge Maple or even Field Maple. Although it is used more commonly in Europe it can still be found here however in nursery's and as I said they are more commonly used in landscape design than for bonsai.

 But as usual I personally will try most any kind of tree or shrub for bonsai simply for not only a learning curve but also to increase my own personal collection. So I was lucky to have picked up some of these little guys at a local nursery and created a grove of them in a bonsai style forest planting or Penjing style if you will.

 Now for all of you that do not know what Penjing is well that is another day or another article but in the mean time if you wish to really know what Penjing is  then Google it...But to make it quick and simple its what is considered multiple plantings or in this case a planting that is more than one tree in the same pot and is often a style of bonsai used more by the Chinese than any other.

 The Hedge Maple has a nice small leaf structure making it a very good choice for a group planting as there always tend to be several trees in any group planting and thus being planted very close together and all growing in the same pot which of course means that we will need room for the top growth and yet do not want it to look overly crowded. So more often than not I personally will choose a shrub or tree that has smaller leaves and a bit of a slower growth habit if used for a forest panting.

 For this planting I choose an oval non glazed pot 12" inches long by 6" inches wide and 2" inches total depth and there are a total of 14 trees in this planting and so far this season all are doing fine.The bark on hedge maple tends to lean towards a gray almost cork fissured look with age and like I said although grown more for an ornamental look it can also of course be bonsai-ed as I have shown here.

 The Hedge Maple is also a hard wood used a lot in the making of furniture and musical instruments.It is very shade tolerant in its early infancy but will tend to need and want more direct light and sun as it grows larger and it does tend to like full sun but be careful and watch what is happening very closely if you keep it in full sun.Full sun is more for a tree in the ground than in a small bonsai pot that will tend to dry out quickly.

 The Hedge Maple if left in the ground and not in a pot can grow to heights of over 25 feet and will make a lovely shade tree and can also be used in nearly any landscape as a hedge if planted close together in rows along fences or driveways or as dividers on property lines, simply use your own imagination if using the trees this way... But they will cluster together nicely making eventually a very nice tight hedge thus of course where the name was derived Hedge Maple.

 But for this article I chose to make a group planting and add several of these small trees to one small pot and then grow them on as a forest planting... The Chinese create most of there bonsai in this style called Penjing. They also of course go a little further than I tend too and add other items to there planting so as to make a scene and this is also nice and makes a very nice looking planting if you have the time and patients to do so..

 Watering for this plant is normal pretty much every day as in this pactiular instance being planted in a very shallow pot it will tend to dry out much faster necessitating a more rigid watering regime. In the hotter weather as spring evolves into summer and things warm up then you will want to be more vigilante and keep your plant well watered and some what shaded from the direct sun as maple tends to burn rather easy and it would not take more than one good hot afternoon to cook your plant and ruin it for sure.

 For soil I use a nice medium mix I personally use for most all of my bonsai three parts plain regular garden soil simply gathered from my own property and one part sand and one part perlite you could of course purchase all of these products from any garden center. Mix all three parts well and then add to your pot as needed during your planting. If  your pot provides extra holes in the bottom of it for wiring then you should of course take advantage of this and wire the trees or tree into the pot so as to prevent it from toppling in the winter and spring wind storms.

 Living in the Northwest we of course tend to get a lot of rain and a lot of these small storms in early spring and of course all winter long and since I do not remove my plants from their garden locations unless the temperatures get into the teens they winter out doors all season and come wind rain or snow they still manage to survive. But some plants can and will be just by the way you plant them rather top heavy so you should alwasys take this into consideration when planting and wire them into the pot if possible.

 But then again as an avid grower of bonsai I tend to be right on top of things during all seasons watching my plants and tending them nearly every day.

 Pests to maple are few so not to much worry there but never the less keep a sharp eye as always its better safe than sorry.  Maple happens to be one of my favorites in the garden and happens to be one of the easier plants to grow and to manage. I grow all of my maples from seed unless I'm picking up a really very good bargain from the local nursery which I might add is not often. Most maples I have or have had around for any time seem to start producing there own seed after they are about eight to ten years old and I gather the seeds in the fall and stratify them and then sow the seeds in the early spring of course to indeed have more maples either for my self or for resale..

 Well not much more I can tell you at this time about Hedge Maple but as always if I pick up on any other good hints or tips about this little plant then I will add them to this post. So have fun with this one and look for some in your local nursery and make your very own Penjing or forest planting.


Thanks for reading.
By: Harold Yearout ©Copyright 2013 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved for more information feel free to contact me: 

Hi too everyone,

I'm back

All of you that have been on this site or may see this site in the future may or may have not noticed by looking at the dates of my blog posts I have been away for a very long time... Due to some major health issues and family deaths I have not had the time nor the inclination to keep up with the blog...

But a new spring is upon us and I have many new plants and a lot of new additions too my garden and a lot of information to give my readers and perhaps new followers and so I will attempt once again too keep everyone who comes here or reads my posts supplied with new information and hopefully one and all will gain something from it and learn and maybe even have some fun along the way as you follow what will hopefully this time be a long and fruitful blog and I truly hope that the articles and posts that I add here for you will not only inspire you but help you to understand this as possibly one of the most rewarding hobbies in the plant kingdom.

http://thelivingbonsai.blogspot.com

Harold Yearout.

A Red Pine Bonsai

The Red Pine as bonsai.


The Red Pine is of course not the best choice for a beginner to this most rewarding hobby but none the less makes a lovely and wonderful addition to any collection if you have the time and patients to create it..

First of all the Red pine like most all pines is very slow growing so do not expect results fast and if your an elder person too the hobby well then you may want to find a specimen plant to deal with if you do wish results right away, otherwise plan on waiting for many years to get a Red Pine to any size that would be acceptable as bonsai and a tree nice enough too have and too view in your collection.

The Red Pine is of course a native tree to North America and can be found in the forests of many states and could be dug from the wild if you are lucky enough to find a nice one that could be suitable for use in bonsai. Or you could grow one from seed but it would take many years. So if you truly wish to start one to add too your collection then I highly recommend that you find one already growing as nursery stock and work from there.

Red pine is a conifer and has a rather tall growth habit it can grow to a height of any where between roughly 65 feet to over 115 feet if left to grow naturally in the ground but is not a large tree around in diameter only usually reaching around three feet at maximum growth. But however for this article were talking about keeping and growing one as a bonsai so were not worried about the tree ever reaching any height like it would in the wild..

The bark of the red pine has a crackled look in most cases and is fissured and if you look down through it at varying heights on the tree you will see some red appearance thus the derived name Red Pine. Branches on Red Pine are very brittle so must be handled with care if wiring in traditional bonsai forms. The Red Pine will produce cones with age and the cones will have a slight purple look too them when first coming out and of course turn brown with age.

Here is a close up of the trunk of my tree and so as you can see as I described the crackled bark and the red look of the bark, in this case near the base of my tree however this red fissured look will occur all up and down the trunk of the entire tree with age and time...


Like most all trees in the pinus family they are very drought tolerant in the wild and can survive for long periods of time with out water. But they will not of course last at all for any duration as bonsai without you as the care giver being very vigilante and observant with its over all care and especially its watering.

It loves full sun so you should then of course try to find a spot in your garden to provide full sun or at least if not full sun then you should give it at least four to five hours a day of natural sun light. The tree will produce new growth early every spring and this growth is traditionally called candles and in some cases others call them by other names. These candles must be pinched out in late June if you wish not to have them grow on to make more heads on your tree with new needles.

In other words if you wish your trees heads or pom poms as I call them to remain the same size and not get lager or more dense then pinch out the new candles and growth every year as it becomes evident on your tree.

The needles of the red Pine like a whole lot of pinus will be rather long, some where between two and three inches in normal growth but as with all bonsai if you continue too grow and nurture your tree over many years the needles will eventually be shorter in length witch of course is the desired effect we all are wanting and looking for in most any pine that we create as a bonsai.

 I have seen as an example a Red Pine that was created and grown by a Japanese family for over ten generations making the tree close to 900 years in age when I viewed it in 2006 in Japan and its needles were less than an eight of an inch long. This tree was absolutely one of the most awesome bonsai I personally have ever had the chance to view. This was of course by private invite only and not in some standard nursery..

This Red Pine has been in my own personal collection now for over 14 years and was originally purchased as nursery stock and then field grown for ten years so I could get trunk caliper and then dug back up and re-potted and then worked as bonsai to get what you now see in the present picture above.  Of course as with any bonsai it will always be evolving and changing in size structure and appearance as with any bonsai they are truly never finished.

You could grow any bonsai your entire life time and it would still never be finished and of course this my own  personal opinion

I truly hope that the small amount of information I have given you here is enough to possibly inspire you to perhaps try your hand at creating and growing your very own Red Pine as a bonsai.

Thanks for reading.
By: Harold Yearout ©Copyright 2013 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved for more information feel free to contact me: