Lets show sticks in a pot.

This is in tribute to the section in IBC-Bonsai prog & Adv Tech...
I guess it is more ok now to show some sticks in a pot in this old section. hehehe. Come on don't be shy...Here is mine please show yours.

Tamarind- living sticks with heavy roots



regards,
jun

Are you taking the mickey? Please explain more.

No Fiona I am serious this time.

I find so many nice sticks planted in a pot. Google for a Chinese lingnan forest penjing...you'll find some stuffs similar to my forest planting...and tell me if they are jokes. look at my Chinese elm forest, they were all sticks in a pot separately, but combining them all is something different.

I wanted to encourage people to post more stuffs, then and see what we can do about those sticks. I believe they can be turned into something nice, rather than hiding them somewhere in their garden behind some huge pots. I'll be posting some more "sticks in a pot" and probably I'll send the message clearly.

regards,
jun

jun wrote:No Fiona I am serious this time. I wanted to encourage people to post more stuffs, then and see what we can do about those sticks. I believe they can be turned into something nice, rather than hiding them somewhere in their garden behind some huge pots. I'll be posting some more "sticks in a pot" and probably I'll send the message clearly. regards, jun

If that's the intention then it has some merit.

But perhaps you could reflect it in the title - maybe something like Why sticks in pots are not always bad. That way the intention is clear and it doesn't sound like a dig at the new forum.

fiona wrote:If that's the intention then it has some merit.

But perhaps you could reflect it in the title - maybe something like Why sticks in pots are not always bad. That way the intention is clear and it doesn't sound like a dig at the new forum.

...like I said in all my comments in PM or in any thread regarding changes in IBC form, I am with you guys all the way...Who knows you might moved this one in the advance techniques too if it works out well as intended. and help more people in the process who can't afford the heavy stuffs, and provide added encouragement.

regards,
jun

I found this little twisted stick in my local "Spar" in 2006...It is a Prunus "Kojou-No-Mai".
It looks qute 12 days every spring...standing 21 cm. tall



Kind regards Yvonne

haha, good one Jun,
here you go - these really were sticks in a pot - you can buy a bundle of 10 trees with no soil in the winter to make hedges - nice price - usually 50p to £1 a tree. These are European beech sticks put in a pot for a year or two. They were moved to a slab with a couple of stumps late last year but this picture is SIP.



cheers Marcus

Marcus: SIP = Sticks in Progress? Every tree starts as a seedling and who knows what they can develop into over time. I am thinking back to a "show" I went to (it was the bonsai section of a very well-known north of England flower show) and the prize for best forest planting went to a set of Sycamore seedlings that were not even as advanced as your forest there. I think personally the only real valid objection one can have to "sticks in pots" is when people then try to pass them off as top quality trees. (or worse, as happened in that case, they were judged as a prize-winner by someone who wanted to curry favour with the seedlings' owner)

Yvonne, there's no way your tree could be considered a stick in a pot now. It's lovely - good work on it. I think this is precisely what Jun is trying to show - that sometimes what might be considered "inferior" material can be worked up into something perfectly good.

I'd be delighted to see other people's pics of how they developed a stick in a pot into a decent tree/group or whatever. THAT to me is a learning point.

Hi Fiona

I thought it was presicely the right place to show this tree, as it only look nice a few days in the spring...for the rest of the year is it a boring stick still, even though I work on the crown every year.

I will be back with a more interesting stick tomorrow, too late now. It may fit the topic better.

Kind regards Yvonne

I had some little sticks in a pot and put them together. Next year I'll put them on a slab.



These little sticks were nearly in the bin . Still not much more than stick in moss now.

Nice "sticks", all! I worked on a juniper - I virtually called it "The stick" btw - that was one of those trees you move it around until it roots and then you move it around again..Noone had really a plan and the desire to do something with it. After many years it had grown so tall that Ernie was going to throw it out and I smuggled it home.
I don't even know what kind of juniper it is. Perhaps some Common juniper mix. Anyway, I had not much to work with in the upper area, everything was too clunky or no good. So I brought one branch up as the tree. It was supposed to be more fun than serious styling.. That was a few years ago. I then transplanted the tree about 3 years ago and let it get bushy again. Last fall I worked on it as a demo tree. Don't know if anyone understood the tree. But fun it was.

Nice to see you back again Smithy!

...It's been awhile. Keep on posting again. Very lovely moss and "sticks" composition. I wish I can keep moss like that alive and thriving in our tropical climate.


regards,
jun



Yvonne,
What can I say,,,very feminine and lovely. Few days in a year with lovely flowers is worth the wait.


regards,
jun



Hi Marcus,
is these group part of a new group planting now? can we see how nicely it was transformed in the slab?


regards,
jun

dorothy7774 wrote:Nice "sticks", all! I worked on a juniper - I virtually called it [i]"The stick"

I would call it now "Pole in a pot"

Nice bunjin Dorothy!

A bonsai master told me once- " you don't need a good material to create a good bonsai"...keeps me puzzled for some time, Some masters of many disciplines are really too deep and overly weird for ordinary being like me. But now I am slowly understanding what he meant.

regards,
jun

Jun, you are absolutely forbidden to attempt any pole dancing on Dorothy's tree!!!

Regarding your master's comment, it seems to me that the good artist can turn the proverbial sow's ear into a silk purse. That is what we have got so far in this thread. I just don't like it when people pass off the sow's ear as the "masterpiece".

fiona wrote:Jun, you are absolutely forbidden to attempt any pole dancing on Dorothy's tree!!!

Regarding your master's comment, it seems to me that the good artist can turn the proverbial sow's ear into a silk purse. That is what we have got so far in this thread. I just don't like it when people pass off the sow's ear as the "masterpiece".

We're here for fun Fiona...Most people I think don't care about masterpiece. They can shoved it (their masterpiece) in their............................Pots!

With regards to pole dancing on Dorothy's tree---NO ma'am, I'll pass, Next dancer please. It wont look that sexy I think.

regards,
jun

Another Elm stick-

I see your stick - and up you a water feature!!

Hi Jun - thought i would get involved in this thread as i guess i'm more at home with the sticks in pots than the masterpieces.

Here is another i had , not a lot going for it and nobody wanted it when i tried to get rid of it.

The ultimate stick in a pot, a Ficus natalensis dug in 2009:



The pole in a pot February 2012:



Lennard

Hi gang! I humbly present for your viewing enjoyment, the ultimate stick in a pot! I would like to do a full progression on this, but for now just a quick then and now.

When I got the tree in 9/08



My wife Shelley at 5'2" for sizing. The tree is on a 1' stand.

I guess you would call this a Green Mound on Standard. It is a J.chinensis grafted to the top of a common juniper trunk.

Jumping ahead four years, this is the tree after repotting this spring.


We called this the Green Mountain when we got it, but after trimming it out I've referred to it as, "The Bat". While there is a very nice cascade up on top, dealing with the bat has been a major mystery to be solved. After much discussion, research and debate, still willing to hear any suggestions, I believe I have decided on a course of action. I won't be doing any more work this season, so we have time for discussion.

Some things considered were:
1- approach grafting some of the longer branches to lower on the trunk
2-follow the deadwood from the top down and create a hollow trunk

These would help, but still too much, too straight.

Thought about doing a series of wedge grafts along the trunk, but I can only see very angular movement achieved, jaunt this way, then that.

Nope! The bat has to go! Air Layer at an angle about six inches down the trunk? I read here about cutting small squares into the bark and and airlayer. This trunk is about 4" in diameter from bottom to top. I'm a bit hesitant, but it remains an option. Your input would be greatly appreciated, thanks Rick

PS nice try Lennard, but you have a low live limb there, haha

Nice & funny topic, thank you Jun
Here are 2 sticks from me. Both are mulberry tree.
Pictures were taken in February. Now both sticks have many sprouts!

this is great.

Hi Fiona, glad you've mellowed to juns well meant post - SIP - dont ya just luv it haha stick in Progression would be great, some alas will always be in Pots.

Yes Jun my sticks have evolved a little and are now part of a larger family in the forest we played with in a much earlier thread of yours, - where Robert gave us little clues and direction.
They are on the slab but not woken from the winter yet but here are the before and during pictures - during = sticks and stumps




there have been a few tweaks but no pictures until the leaves break in 2 or 3 weeks

cheers Marcus

fiona wrote:Jun, you are absolutely forbidden to attempt any pole dancing on Dorothy's tree!!!

...

Hahahahahahaha!!!!!! I guess I took precautions when initially being photographed. My son spotted it with a loud "moooom".I'll better censor it..Nice try, Jun..

Put barbed wire round it, Dorothy. That'll stop him pole dancing on it.

fiona wrote:Put barbed wire round it, Dorothy. That'll stop him pole dancing on it.

Suddenly I'm interested....