Saikei Landscape #2

Hello I want to share my latest New Saikei Landscape with the Board and maybe get some Critiquing...

I call this Boxwood and Ying Rock, I started it in December and it is now about 70% complete, will have it 100% by April 2015.

The pot is 18" x 14".....the Landscape is 14" x 8", the Height is 10"...

I designed it for 360 degree viewing, it sits on a 12" Lazy Susan
Front

Back

Looking down

Have you shown us landscape #1?

I like this one a lot. Excellent incorporation of the rocks into the landscape. They look like they have been there for eons. And they match!!! Too many bonsai landscapes feature a hotch potch of mismatched rocks that could never have existed together in nature.

The trees are well placed, also. However, they don't look too healthy. They may be struggling in their new environment. Have they been outside since they were potted here? Boxwood will NOT do well indoors. You might want to use a small syringe to inject some liquid fertilizer around the roots of the boxwoods, especially if any are panted in holes drilled in the rock.

What I'm not that excited about, however, are the round, glazed pots. It is 100% your choice, of course, but a rugged landscape belongs, I think, in either an unglazed brown/gray rectangle/oval pot or on some kind of slab -- tile, stone, or (last choice for me) the very Oriental-like (but very unnatural) snow-white marble.

I'd like to see a photo taken from the perspective of someone who was standing in that environment, rather than hovering drone-like somewhere above it, as in these pictures.

A brief note about landscape #3. It either needs more landscaping around the "mountains" or a much smaller pot. It's a bit of an island in the sandy desert now. The same comments about pot type and color and photography apply.

Nice starts on both landscapes, though.

jim is right on all counts... or i should say, i agree with jim on all counts
(except maybe using fertilizer on stressed trees... )

your location only says midwest but if you have winter, boxwood most likely needs dormancy

still nicely done and look forward to seeing #1.

Jim thank you for your comments on my Saikei...Yes several of the Boxwood are Stressed, indoors, outdoors, transplanted all take its toll...I will be replanting several in the early Spring.

Re the Glazed Ceramic pots, I bought several recently because they had Hairline cracks and cost me $15.00 each for a 19"x14"x2"    I couldn't pass that deal up...

I always have 4 or 5 Landscapes going on at the same time and will experiment with each... always looking for that Special Look...

My #1 Saikei is wintering in my garage presently and you have already seen it on a different Posting...

I like your idea of using a syringe to fertilizer the roots of my stressed Boxwood, will try it...

I'm looking into a much larger Rock Landscape so that I may use Older and Fuller Bonsai into the Landscape Look, a 2015 Project, maybe 36" x 24" or so...

Beer City, thank you for your kind comments...

Bolero wrote:I like your idea of using a syringe to fertilizer the roots of my stressed Boxwood, will try it...

there are conflicting schools of thought in regards to fertilizing stressed trees...

while i do not have the experience to speak with authority on the subject, i would suggest making an informed decision about that.

my caution lies in the fact that i have only lost a couple trees over the 3 years i have been doing this and one was a kingsville boxwood that struggled through a brutal winter and was probably in a state of stress in the spring trying to recover, but which received the same fertilizer regime as all the rest... i'm not saying that was the cause of its demise, but in subsequent reading, i found that the heavy fertilizing may have been a contributor...

jim (and leo) will adamantly disagee with this, but superthrive may be a better (and safer) option.

Thanks for the info, I just bought some Superthrive from Amazon...will let you know if it works.

I don't want to start ANOTHER Stuporthrive discussion, but don't pin your hopes too high.

Kevin is correct that sick plants probably don't need fertilizer. It's not medicine.

But stressed plants -- transplant shock, cold shock, wind burn, etc. -- might profit. I suggest the syringe because you won't want to give 'em a lot. Fertilizer at least has NPK and needed trace elements. Stuporthrive has vitamin B, which trees don't/can't use.

I am NOT going to respond to the folks who think their trees were brought back from the Dead through being doused with it. We have had several "debates" on that. Search for them.