Chinese Elm - 25 years in progress

25 years ago i just started with Bonsai. So everything was interesting.

I bought 1992 this "beautiful" Chinese Elm


I dit not really know how to devolop a Bonsai. Several times a day i went in my garden and counted the leaves on the branches. Because they said if there a six leaves you can cut back to two :-)

This Picture is six years after the tree came in my garden.


12 years after bying the Chinese Elm.


I was working to make the Nebari better. I drilled roots throug the trunk.


15 years after purchase


I liked Chinese elmes more and more. He has forgiven me all wrong so far. I cut him back again very strong.


He had a lot of sun in summer and sometimes it was frosty in the nights. But he always was ok.


21 years old. Now he is looking better and better.


A really good ramification and an nice bark.


I love the colurs in autumn. The leaves of the chinese Elm get this colour if they have in autumn a lot of sun and al Little bit frost.




Now 25 years later.
Chinese Elm, 25 cm high.


What do you think about this pot?

Hope you enjoyed
Herbert

See more trees on my Facebookprofile: Herbert Aigner

My favorite was - 15 years after purchase.
Nice to see so much love. 25 years -
Laters.
Khaimraj

so cool to see it go from mallsai to bonsai !!!

and i think the current pot is pretty much prefect...
i think that the extra wide lip helps to make it look like a really old tree in a city park.

Hi Kevin

i think all of us Oldies had once a Chinese Elm. But step by step they go from the bonsaiboards because it is al tree for beginners.
This kind of trees needs only some more years to make nice Bonsai.

My intention with this combination of pot and tree was like you said - To create a picture of a tree in a landscape ot in a park.

Thank you for your comment.

Herbert

It is fantastic what time does with a tree when it is well cared for. The pot fits the old lady. Don't know if the position in the pot is perfect.

Dirk Hoorelbeke wrote:Don't know if the position in the pot is perfect.

then you can not know that it is imperfect...

sorry, but i could not help pointing out the conundrum you posed

That's exactly the statement i wanted to make. Sitting in front of a pc, looking at 2D images does not give enough insight in the feeling of this tree in the pot. I do feel there is a "tension", and it might be that a different location in the pot might adjust that. It's a great combo and pots with strong horizontal lines tend to cope with some tension.

I love the pot and the combination tree/pot, but I would have planted it to the left instead of to the right.

This story is fantastic and the protagonist is fascinating!
Thank you for sharing!
I do like your choice of pot. However, I would rather agree with Alain that the tree would feel better if put to the left instead...

Thank you very much for showing this to us, I love this one, really great piece of bonsai art.

i personally feel that if the tree was planted off to the left, it would feel far too heavy off to that side...

the foliage is visually heavier on that side of the tree and so i think it looks better being over the pot rather than hanging out over space

but if it were planted off to that side, one could wager that there would be just as many folks saying move it to the right

I'm very curious to know more about what you refer to as "drilled roots through the trunk"?

Can you elaborate on the process you used?
Do you have more pictures of the steps you took?
How were the results?

It is a very nice looking tree.
I like the new pot and the placement within it just fine.

Personally, I'd be nervous about all that lichen though.
I don't have any trees that old, but I've been told lichen can damage trees such as bonsai.
Obviously you're not too concerned about it and admittedly it does add to the age factor of the tree, but I'm not sure I'd have such comfort with it.

Thank you for your comments.
I think it is ok that some people would plant the tree on the left side. You can believe me, i tryed a lot of positions :-). To plant the tree on the left side i had the Feeling that the tree falls out of the pot. Maybe once a new owner of the tree plants the tree on the left Position and he feels that it is good. There are many ways to see and feel trees.

@ bilbo
you're right. The tree had too much lichen the last years. I saw that the tree did not open the buds in spring because they were overgrown from lichen. So last winter i cleaned the bark with water and a tootbrush. I took some hours until he was clean. Now the health of the tree is ok again.

@bilbo
There are many techniques to make a better nebari. Drilling through the stem or a thicker root, airlayering thicker roots, Fusion of roots ....

If more peole want to see, i can make a new thread to Show pics with the different techniques and the results.

But i warn you, my english is very bad :-) Maybe it is better just to post pics.

bye
Herbert

I cannot speak for others, but I would be intensely interested in your methods for rooting.
Not so much air-layering as I'm very familiar with that.
But if you were drilling, fusing, grafting, whipping roots to the trunk, that interests me GREATLY.

many would benefit from such a post Herbert, if you have the time to do so...

after all, there are very few bonsai rock-stars left around here

Make three of us!
Thank you for your offer, Herbert!

Herbert A wrote:Hi Kevin

i think all of us Oldies had once a Chinese Elm. But step by step they go from the bonsaiboards because it is al tree for beginners.
This kind of trees needs only some more years to make nice Bonsai.

My intention with this combination of pot and tree was like you said - To create a picture of a tree in a landscape ot in a park.

Thank you for your comment.

Herbert

If you think elms are for beginners you're just plain wrong.

perhaps not "just plain wrong" as i dont think he inferred that they are only for beginners...
but they are great for beginners... at least in our climate, mike.