Would it really be Black Friday?

 As usual today was the famous so called Black Friday the biggest shopping day after Thanksgiving Turkey day. I of course just like so many others go out looking for bargains and unfounded treasures but seldom find any. More over I would call it Green Friday as all I or anyone else ever does if there serious about shopping on this famous day is spend the green and so why don't they just call it Green Friday.

 I found $387.00 dollars worth of plants today and some will make nice future bonsai with some time and care, then I bought a nice rectangular mat finish pot for a future bonsai, as the price was right and actually more than likely was truly the find of the day since pots in this area have truly accelerated in price, also I found a really nice tiny pair of very small bonsai shears but they will be absolutely great for getting into the really tight spots..

 I purchased first a very nice Spaan's Dwarf Shore Pine. Now since these particular pines grow very compact and with a small tiny short needle structure and somewhat contorted limbs they most often look like a bonsai before you even lend a hand to them anyway.

 The one I purchased is about two and a half feet tall overall height and is nicely balanced and will make a very nice bonsai with some of my wiring and pruning to get a shape that I like started, but the first step will be to get it into some proper bonsai soil as soon as I can because right now its  potted up very loosely in mostly all bark medium and this if left out in the full exposure to the rainy climate we have here will truly have taken its sever toll by spring and I simply do not want to loose this tree.

 It needs to be in a well drained mix that I can make up and that way it will drain very fast and not hold on too all that water retention and drown the roots.

 Then I bought a very nice little shrub most often used in the garden as just that a true shrub, but I plan to bonsai mine as usual and then train it in some sort of bonsai style. The plant is called Beautyberry Or Callicarpa Bodinieri.

 A very lovely shrub with green leaves in spring and a purple looking berry all over the limbs in the fall.. This hopefully will make a nice bonsai if I live long enough too see the results as this shrub has at present a very small caliper trunk and will take a few years to develop a larger trunk for beauty.

 Even if planted and field grown it would still take longer than I wish to wait to see a finished result in trunk size. So I will look now for a lager one with hopefully the larger trunk and then perhaps just plant this one as a simple garden shrub.

 Unless of course in my many travels around the country and to many nursery's I do get lucky and find one that has a really much larger trunk, but doubtful with out really shelling out a lot of the Black Friday or as I called it the green Friday... MONEY MONEY oh that MONEY...You don't suppose they would consider taking one of the many silver dollar plants I have in trade do ya?     Na I didn't think so.

 The second round of little beauty's I found were two hybrid red pines and they are called  Pinus densiflora Jane Kluis. These guys are grafts and will make some cute bonsai for my garden once I have imparted my handy work on them, surgery if you will... and by pruning them and cutting out some of the limbs then wiring and shaping them to get that initial style created then I will have the great start of indeed yet another fine smaller bonsai for a few years as these plants are still very young and only at this time would be considered nursery stock by most, but then again most people are not looking at them with the intent to create bonsai from them.. Most are at best just looking for another garden shrub around there home or patio.

 Since most of us tend to buy a lot of our material from local of traveled nurseries anyway were not out in the wild gathering bonsai stock. However truly not all of us are Yamadori collectors and just in case you do not know what that means... Well its a collected plant from the wild if you truly get lucky and get the material or in the process of trying to get it do not get thrown in jail or a big whopping fat fine so be careful and get permission if you ever plan to get any material like this for use as bonsai.  Always be sure too ask first before you go just go out digging.. Always remember that land belongs to someone..

 The Red Pines that I bought today are about eight years old each I would guess and in one gallon pots and have the same problem as the Shore pine they are planted in a lousy bark and will retain way too much moisture with this type of mix as a potting medium so I need once again to get them into some proper potting mix as soon as I can.

 Then I bought a really nice light weight rock often called feather rock and it will be used this spring for some plantings actually planted on the rock and these plants will grow on that rock in a way that they are actually growing on the rock and not root over the rock style.  I will write an article this coming spring showing just how I do this and what materials I use and where to get the materials and then I will give you some step by step instructions on how too accomplish this type of a planting  and then of course you will be able too see what the finished product can or could look like.

 Last for today of course but certainly not my last every too purchase was a nice little grafted Pinus strobus Tiny Curls also another Jan Kluis. This little contorted curly needle White pine will also eventually with some tender love and care make yet another addition to my garden as a nice looking bonsai.

 Sorry I do not really have time to take pictures of all this material right now but if you look them up under there names on the internet you will be able to see examples of what they could look like as a finished bonsai.

Thanks, for reading,
By: Harold Yearout ©Copyright 2013 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved for more information feel free to contact me: h.yearout@gmail.com







  

Praise is due where praise is needed...Scotch Pine

 Although tomorrow is the big day for Turkey and for a lot of you its a chance to have a day with the family and relax and if your still in the work force then of course you get that chance to stay home too and enjoy.. But for me its just another day in the year and I simply could  not resist the temptation of taking a picture of this pine that I was able to work on today in a workshop with a very nice and most enjoyable small group of other people..

 Please excuse part of my kitchen in the back ground but unfortunately I have all ready put away for the season and winter the table I most often use to take photos of my plants on.

 We had the good fortune to have Ted Matson too help us and impart some of his many years well over 35 I believe in the wonderful world of bonsai creating many bonsai and teaching around the country Ted is probably best known for his very creative work on Shohin and deciduous bonsai and Ted is also very knowledgeable of pines and junipers and many other variates of plants in the plant kingdom. Yes fortunate indeed to have such a wonderful person take time out of there very busy day to teach us for over three hours and for this I say praise is due where praise is needed.. Many thanks to you Ted and all who were there and helped out...

 But trust me when I say I was stumped and simply did not know where to begin with this plant it had been left go for a few years and because of the neglect it had branches that needed complete removal and the rest that remained after a serious look and some real hard needle pulling and or pruning left us with some new desirable branches to wire and get started reviving this plant and turning it back into something that can be most rewarding in the years too come.

 In closing I guess I could not let this go with out showing you a picture of the Scotch Pine that Ted helped me with. I only wish that I had taken a picture before the work so you could have seen the real mess and confusion that I faced with this particular plant. 

There is still a long way to go with this one to turn it into something worth really being proud of but one always needs to just move forward and strive to do what needs to be done and I will for sure you can rest assured on that... At least now with the hard pruning this plant will begin to throw back buds and new buds for more future growth and then give me or the next person in line something nice to work with..

This will be the last post more than likely of the year but if I do something else it will be around or slightly before Christmas..

If not well then here is wishing you all a very Merry holiday and a most wonderful New year....

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









 

Turkey day tomorrow..

So here we are at another thanksgiving and I will be alone as my family is all gone and passed away over the last few years.. But I will most defiantly have my little Cornish hen and some dressing and mashed potatoes and gravy and perhaps some traditional cranberry sauce. Then I will just kick back and try too enjoy the remainder of the day lamenting over some of this past years blessings and good fortune.

I wish to tell all my readers and bonsai lovers alike here is wishing you all a very happy thanksgiving and I hope your able to enjoy and have a nice relaxing day..

Thanks from me to all of you, Harold Yearout