2 Blackthorn yamadori. Collected 7.3.2010

Those of you who saw the video of Tony and myself carrying his monster yamadori Hawthorn recently may also have seen Fiona's question regarding what else I was carrying in my grubby little mitts. Throwing caution to the wind, I've decided to risk the wrath of the bonsai Gods and show you.

Besides, have you ever experienced a Scottish woman who wants answers? It's akin to being attacked by a Rottweiler.

Anyway, without further ado, here are two of the three Blackthorns I collected on Sunday.

This one has potential, I think. Good movement and plenty of branches to work on. It's also budding profusely.

The two main branches were left on as they presented us with an 'either-or' situation, with both having fantastic movement. I have decided to follow Tony's idea of removing the left one (in the lower pic), as the other branch provides better taper


This next one was collected after we dug Lee's massive Blackthorn. I nearly sat on it during a coffee break! It was growing so close to Lee's find that I'm convinced it was a sucker from his tree. I'm really happy, nay excited, with this tree as it's the first one I've found and collected myself that I can see real potential in. This was confirmed by Lee saying that it's as good a tree as I'll ever collect. Praise indeed from Mr Blackthorn himself!
Please look past the dodgy photography. I was on my own and the backdrop was getting blown about all over the place.

very nice i think the second one has a nice start to a nice bonsai also the second is nice

very nice and promising material

good for you

Hi Harleyrider, very nice trees. Congratulation!!

Whether you grow.

Pavel

Harry, has the "nice" button got stuck, on your keyboard?

Great Blackthorns Steve. What were the roots like?

yeah i did not notice that kev

nice of you to tell me

Love the second one Steve. Thats something special

@Kev. The roots on the first tree were what you'd expect from a Blackthorn; ie, sparse. The second one, however, had a suprising amount of feeders, and I'm fairly confi.......no, I won't say it!

Lee told me of a Blackthorn he collected a few years ago. It had very few feeder roots, so few, in fact, that he held out little hope of its survival. After three years rapid growth, he repotted it, only to find that it still had exactly the same amount of roots. Undaunted, he sold it on and two years later, after consistantly putting out new shoots, it still had the same amount of roots. So, it would seem that Blackthorn can survive just fine, despite their inherant lack of support.
Having said that, I'm sure there are numerous tales of them dying, despite an abundance of rootball. Go figure.

@ Will. It's mine, all mine I tell you! Gerroff!

Thanks for everyone's comments. I'll post more pics when they're in leaf/flower, and will keep you updated on their progress.

Kev Bailey wrote:Harry, has the "nice" button got stuck, on your keyboard?

harry dovey wrote:yeah I did not notice that Kev.
Nice of you to tell me

Nice one, Harry!