As promised, the one which deserves it's own post.

It's a Shimpaku Juniper, and let me tell you the pictures don't do justice to the first bend. It drops and runs almost flat before the apex picks up, and the live vein runs through the deadwood the whole length of it.

2nd picture for a closeup, as someone relatively new and exploring this was a stunning piece of art, the meticulous effort into making that bend and one can tell it wasn't done in a night - it would have been multiple attempts of bending it little by little as to not break the trunk. I stood there for a while soaking in the bend, the wiring, and the shape of the tree.

Just beautiful.

Its worst than I thought its literally a colony of ants in this pot. Is this something you would consider acceptable in a recently purchased nursery tree? What’s the best way to remove the ants and their nest while protecting the roots? The tree is already stressed from being in a box for 5 days getting shipped here. I was told by the nursery to use 3 in 1 but that does not seem to kill on contact. I initially had it inside but thankful that I decided to move it outside.

First and foremost, I hope I’m not breaking any rules. I’m trying my best.

Also a disclaimer: I tried to post this yesterday on Bonsai Nut but I feel the site is a bit buggy since my post appears and disappears from my profile, while also not having been approved yet. I suppose I’m too new there to not be considered a threat.

Hi everyone, happy to be a newcomer to this really cool hobby. I started with Bonsai this year around April (northern hemisphere) and have now gathered many different trees and have many different projects going on. I’ve definitely made many mistakes and have probably caused a tree or two to found themselves in a state which isn’t compatible with life. Most of them do look promising, so I hope I can at some point share something I can be proud of.

But to the point of this post: Yesterday I found a specimen of a particular cultivar of Ginkgo, called Colonnare Maris. I had seen this particular tree many times this year already at the garden section of a hardware store. With me being a noob and not wanting to spend much on a tree I might irreparably harm, I decided to let it be. Yesterday however, I saw that it was 50% off and it also looked so beautiful in yellow that I finally took it home.

By now I’ve seen plenty of different styles of Bonsai, and due to the nature of this specific cultivar, I was very excited to try training this tree into a Kabudachi. Frankly it already looks like many trunks fused together at the base, so I figured this would be a great new project for me to start.

I now turn to you more knowledgeable people for some enlightenment as to how I might choose to proceed next.

My plan is to make sure that the tree is strong and healthy when spring arrives, since I plan on doing some air layering on it. I honestly cannot bring myself to cut and discard ginkgo branches as though they didn’t need ages to get to this size.

Also, I want to get the tree into a smaller pot than the one it’s in right now at some point. I’m not a huge guy and while I can move it around a bit, I would rather not have to do it if it weighs half of me.

My thinking was that I could use some guy wire through winter to start shaping the multiple trunks to point outwards (already have the wire in place), all while keeping the tree in its current pot in a wind-protected area of the garden, but my partner made a good point about maybe putting it in the ground to protect the roots in winter. That would thwart my idea of the guy wire, though, since I have no other anchors but the rim of the pot itself. He then suggested I put the whole pot in the ground, which sounds feasible to me, although I would probably drill a couple more drainage holes to be safe.

Is there anything that would deem the plan less than optimal? I would then repot as early as possible in the spring (maybe late winter?) so that the tree has enough time to grow and harden leaves before I start air layering.

As for the main tree itself, I would keep it relatively compact after the air layers have been removed and wouldn’t do any drastic wiring or pruning during the growing season in order not to stress it too much.

Does my plan sound sensible or do you think I should operate differently? I’m open to suggestions and ideas.

Thanks a lot 

PS: cat pictures as payment. Hope they are enough :)

I was really nervous about what to expect going to my first bonsai club meeting but I had a really good experience. I got to talk to other people and someone wired my tree while showing me how to wire trees. Then I let someone borrow my raffia to fix the broken branch on their tree.

It was a lot of fun and I'm excited to go to the next meeting. They said I'm taking good care of my tree and they look healthy so I'm proud of myself.

Ended up doing some hard chops on this awhile back. The lower branches are starting to back bud

Eventually I will air layer the top left but that's next season probably