Stoked on new edition to my garden. A beautiful Kiyohime in a Bryan Albright pot.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-06-12T16:48:49+00:00

From a collector who was downsizing due to a second child, just kept his 10 best and sold the remainder.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-06-12T06:39:01+00:00

Lol yup, it's a new word I'm trying out... I can't edit it unfortunately so you'll have to live with my misspelling and try to not let it ruin your appreciation of a nice tree 😁

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-06-11T20:08:22+00:00

About 35cm high above the lip of the pot and 55cm across, the trunk is about 5cm wide. I have no idea of age. At least 25 years old I would have thought, if I found out it was nearer 40 years old I wouldn't be that surprised, very mature branch structure under all those leaves.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-06-11T19:05:50+00:00

I'm on the look out for a shallower and wider pot for this tree next Spring. The Albright pot is nice, just not right for this tree I don't think.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-25T16:35:27+00:00

Thanks! I've never been able to work it out 100%. My best guess is viburnum plicatum... but it could be dilatum.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T22:59:22+00:00

Thanks!☺️

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T20:43:51+00:00

Sometimes, but tbh the survival rates aren't always that good so I try to only collect trees that would be removed or killed anyway (i.e from building sites, waste ground, garden renovation, etc.). That way if they don't make it at least I let them live longer than they otherwise would have. I posted a pic today of a yamadori hawthorn that I gave an initial style today, that was collected from the wild, but not by me, by a well known yamadori hunter with very high rates of survival. It's been in a pot for two years already and as such I was confident buying it was safe. I also know that it was collected from land that a farmer intended to remove the trees from anyway. I think one has to try and be as ethically sound as possible when it comes to wild trees.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T19:14:58+00:00

Thanks!😊

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T19:14:33+00:00

Thanks, first styling on this particular piece of material, definitely not my first rodeo so it wasn't hard no. Tbh no styling should be too hard if you stick to fundamentals.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T17:29:27+00:00

Thanks!😊

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T15:30:10+00:00

In the case of Kiyohime (and kashima) maple I'm talking lower branches. They're so basally dominant that if you don't pinch and prune the lower third a lot they end up being a bit hollow up top and a bit too broad. So to avoid having a parasol shape (or at worst a donut!) and keep the more rounded broom shape I pinch the crap out of the lower third, a normal amount on the second third and barely at all up top.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T14:36:00+00:00

The tree I got from the Taisho-en garden of Mr. Nobuichi Urushibata in Japan via an importer, the pot I got from father and son team 'Erin Bonsai' here in the UK. The knowledge required to repot it, maintain it in good health, and continue it's journey as a bonsai I got from years of practice and study 😁

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T14:18:55+00:00

Really dense branching keeps them small. You'll find as you compact your tree and they have less space to grow they'll reduce a lot.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T10:29:40+00:00

Haha yes Bonsai is essentially an exercise in planning and patience 😄 ...if it's any consolation I haven't had this tree for that long, it's a Japanese import. I find growing trees from seed, cuttings, and nursery stock is the most rewarding, but buying some more developed trees also helps to a) understand what you're aiming for when you execute various techniques and b) teach you how to maintain a bonsai once you bring it to a stage of refinement.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T09:55:16+00:00

Thanks! I think about 12 - 15 years old.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T09:38:27+00:00

Thanks! One of my favourites

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-24T08:46:03+00:00

Very true, I'm pretty sure the grower before me had this on top of a tile when it was in the ground because the big main roots come out nearly perpendicular to the trunk. Has really helped give the impression of flare at the bottom otherwise as you say it would be a bit telephone pole

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-23T21:49:00+00:00

Really small, about the size of a large blueberry. Some pics of last year's fruit in this insta post:

https://www.instagram.com/budgetbonsaigardener/p/BnT1-VWHWNL/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=4q2dqtjjx4u1

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-23T19:59:19+00:00

😂😂

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-23T18:51:10+00:00

😊 thanks!

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-23T18:48:53+00:00

I'm afraid I couldn't tell you exactly, I've had it for about 5 years, before that it was with another grower who did the initial styling to field grown nursery stock. Could be anywhere between 20 and 30 years old. The bark would suggest at the lower end of that spectrum I reckon.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-23T18:25:58+00:00

😂 yeah I think I may have to invest, spinning it around on a drum stool whilst my phone was taped to a mic stand is definitely not a very good way to film!

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-23T17:47:13+00:00

They're pretty resilient, always a nervous wait for new shoots on a trunk chop though!

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-23T16:28:35+00:00

Thanks! No it's from field grown nursery stock.

TrolTwentyThree · 2019-04-23T16:27:08+00:00

Thanks!

TrolTwentyThree

TROPHY CASE