My new yamadori, all potted up and ready to rock

I've just spent a very pleasant afternoon prepping and potting up the three trees I collected yesterday with Tony. I thought you might like to see them now they're all shiny. Many thanks to my collecting buddy, without his invaluable help at least one of these trees would still be sat at the roadside waiting for a lift.

First up is the smallest of the trio, a shohin Cretaegus that just kind of came off in my hand as I tried to stop myself scree-surfing to almost certain doom!
Excuse some 'cut off' in some of the pics. I'm still trying to work out Photobucket's editing facilities.

Height 7", trunk dia at base 1"





I know the bark isn't up to much, and there's more than a hint of inverse taper, but I'm prepared to overlook this and give the tree a chance. It did save my life, afterall. Or at least the skin of my backside.

Great find Steve. Inverse taper is either part of its character, or if you don't like it, some sympathetic carving will cure the problem. The bark will plate up in time too.

I'm not averse to a little inverse taper actually. Sometimes it doesn't seem to jump out at you, I find. After all, Mother Nature seems to have no issues with it.

As for the bark, I could always wrap it in wet sphagnum moss I suppose.

I have found that once material has put out some root and gained good health, some unchecked growth and rapid expansion of the trunk will start to give you good bark. You cant beat rapid expansion of the trunk.

Good point Will. Hopefully (survival permitting) actually having some soil to grow into will kick this tree into going crazy in the growth dept. A bit of extra girth may even sort out the inverse taper as well.

You can't beat a bit of extra girth. Especially when in conjunction with rapid expansion.

Harleyrider wrote:You can't beat a bit of extra girth. Especially when in conjunction with rapid expansion.

What forum is this again??? Oh yes, bonsai. What was my question? I remember - are these hawthorns grazed on by goats or something? Looks like they have a hard life.

Russell

wow nice little hawthorn~ they look very old~ congrats

@ Russell. You're not a million miles off, my friend. The 2 smaller ones were collected from high on limestone scree slopes where they endure harsh conditions, little soil and the constant attentions of generations of sheep, who as we all know are the finest bonsai artists in the world.