Last post

As you can see, not much updating here. I have found a "bonsai album" where I can put my pictures and write down notes on my trees. So that is what I have done this summer.

Bonsai album here.

So now I save my notes in this album, and will probably not post anything more in this blog. Blogging was interesting, but mostly in the beginning!

Och alla svenskspråkiga som då och då skickar mig bonsaifrågor på epost, ni kan i stället söka upp Svenska bonsaisällskapet på facebook och ställa frågor där - ni kommer att få massor av svar, och snabbt!

Anna

I have started

I have started repotting my outdoor trees!

 

It is time to get them out of the ground.

 

I am very happy to get this aspen tree in a bonsai pot for the first time. I have had it for long, always only in a plastic bowl or something similar. I think this pot was not too bad for the tree.

 

In the bonsai society we were making pots earlier this spring, and these are my creations. (One is missing in the picture.) I wanted to try different shapes and styles, all the time aware I can't make anything "professional"...

This one was painted with  manganese dioxid. I made the surface rough, then painted with the oxide and washed away most of it before the pot was burnt again. I thought the dark colour would stay only or mostly in the crevices, like a pattern, but the result is more evenly dark coloured. Darker than it looks in the picture.

This one is made in the same way, and see: I have put my small willow in it!

 

I don't know any more which side is the front...?  Here are three suggestions...

 

Green leaves and flowers

Time for the bird cherry (prunus padus) to flower. The flowers only last for a short time, a few days or so. It's a pity the scent can not be included in the photo!

And the sallow - no spectacular flowers, but a wonderful rounded shape.

Annual yamadori with the society

Yesterday was the day for the annual yamadori with the bonsai society. This year we had this fantastic weather! And this fantastic landscape!

We went to a rocky area, mostly looking for pines, as we always do - but finding a little of this and a little of that!

I love these great big old pines.

We collected all together more than 20 trees: pine, spruce, birch, aspen and juniper are represented here.

My own findings (after putting them in soil here at home today!!!): first a pine with a low branch - probably I will save only that branch and cut away the top of the tree.

A super-tiny little pine.

Finally an aspen with two trunks. Perhaps I will keep both trunks and use this as a twin-trunk, or perhaps I will just keep the left one, which is more interesting than the right one.

Putting these three in pots is the only out-door potting I have done so far this year. I really must start lifting my other bonsai from the ground and repotting soon, for the spring is coming so quickly!

PS. TV-programmet "Träden berättar" var ju inte riktigt så spännande som jag önskade att det kunde ha varit... tyckte jag. Jodå jag gillade berättelserna om de två platanerna, men innehållet skulle egentligen bara ha räckt till en kvarts kortfilm... Det kändes löjligt när man fick höra samma historia berättas om igen av en ny person, och det hände flera gånger i filmen!  

 

Träden berättar

Ikväll ska jag se Träden berättar på Kunskapskanalen. Har ingen aning om det är något bra, det vet man ju inte förrän man har sett. Det ska vara en hel serie med fem avsnitt, jag hoppas på något intressant!

Only changing the point of view

I have been looking at my variegated ficus, hating how straight and boring it is. See the picture below from one year ago. Why should I make a tree like that?  But now I have decided I must change it, I will change the front. In the picture above you see the new front. I have cut the tree shorter and it is much more natural and alive. Now I like it again! Next time I repot it, it will also be put in the right place in the pot.

The last days have been warm and sunny, so the spring has really exploded! The snow has melted away from my outdoor trees, and the great thing is they look good! Not like last year when I had a bad spring-surprise in some brown dead pines.

The wild nature is still very grey,  but close to the house some flowers pop up and brighten up the colours!

And on our lake the last pieces of ice are floating around - will they be completely gone tomorrrow?

Large pine

A large pine of unknown age, I love it. The people that live here say it has always been there!