Greetings!
After exactly two years of learning about bonsai, growing tens,hundreds of shrubs and trees to be bonsaified and believing 100 % I can do it, I finally got my first bonsai tree! I did a mame or two with cotoneaster before, but this one is why I got interested in bonsai in the first place. It's simple and surely far from flawless , but I can't describe my satisfaction (and people around me who are thrilled almost as I am haha, as bonsai trees in Montenegro are non-existent - except poor ficus ginseng chunks imported from abroad ) every time I take a look at it So that day I worked 7 hours without a break. No lunch, no drinks, no sitting, no toilet xD It was a dense shrub and I took the whole forest of cuttings out of it, sure to be rooting in my garden as I write this. We don't have any bonsai pots in our stores, and I didn't find anything satisfying that could be imported, so I started making my own, and they turned out very well in my opinion. I even like those better than some antique expensive ones I see on the internet. I like simplicity everywhere, and many of those just look exaggerated. Hopefully though, I'll get some of those for a small exhibition I'm planning in the end of summer.You'll see the tree in two different pots, that's because the first one turned out to be too small, but I was in dilemma was it, was it really? xD Decided it was haha, so the next morning put it in the bigger one. Now, blasphemy! I used 1/2 4-8 mm grit, 1/2 black peat mix. It does great! . With everything I have. Pines, spruce (on conifers 1/3 peat, 2/3 grit), cotoneaster, ligustrum, pyracantha and boxwood. If the tree of species mentioned is doing bad, it's probably not because of the soil. You're overwatering, underwatering, not enough sunglight, too much sunlight etc. Of course, "fashionable" potting mixes have advantages, but If you're not a professional, nor from a place where it rains 365 days a year, this will do just fine. Also, I used ordinary gardening shears and a knife - saw. My next project is an old ligustrum shrub, and hopefully I'll repeat this success (in my own eyes haha) or even improve. I'll be using a rotary carving tool for the first time so I'm very excited. and will post the result of that.

This is a beautiful tree. love the pot too, you should think about making more and selling them!

Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it. There is already some interest from the biggest gardening center in my town, the third biggest in the country But as you said I'll look into making more before I offer anything. Also, when I get the result that I'm satisfied with, like I am with this one, I'd have a really hard time putting a price on it; it would be ridiculously high and way out of it's objective worth haha because I don't really want to sell. But when I see that a similar tree (I personally find a little less pretty), www.bonsaitreegardener.net/shop/bonsai-t...e-buxus-semperuirens , is priced as it is in countries where people have a great selection to choose from, I'm not sure if my ridiculously high is ridiculous enough :lol:

These are really looking cool, Nikola. And it is so nice to have someone here from Montenegro. Last summer I visited your country to attend jazz festival by adriatic sea. I defenitely like it and Montenegro is gorgeous place on the Balkans. I live in Bulgaria and here I have same problems like you. No Bonsai stores, only ginseng they sell everywhere and some weak prebonsai from China which usually die. The other day I found nursery garden where they sell real stuff but heavy expensive, 250-750 euros per tree. We dont have bonsai clubs here and there is very small society of bonsai enthusiasts who communicate mostly online. So, Bonsai is not that developed in our part of the world but I very hope this will change one day. Pozdravi!

Hvala! Nice to hear from someone from Balkans. There is no such garden here, no club, neither did I hear about another bonsai enthusiast hah, everyone I found online, not many, was from around, Croatia or Serbia. I guess you visited Ulcinj than, and probably didn't know that one can't imagine a place with more olive trees in the world, so you hadn't brought a shovel Well, there are positives and negatives haha. What's positive is that you're doing something uncommon, and that being said, negatives follow It doesn't matter that we don't have good looking finished trees to buy, we have enough of great material to be worked on of all kinds of species to buy or collect inexpensively, but we don't have anything else from the tools and supplies needed more than ordinary shears, grit and peat (recently I found a carving rotary tool at one tool shop by accident - after searching for two years, most likely nowhere else to be found in the country). In my case, fingers were crossed and turned out it's enough haha. I've had a good luck with finding a way to make my own pots too, and now I have no other worries but to plan the first show in Montenegro ever. Hopefully I would encourage others to share my enthusiasm and join me. Zahvaljujem jos jednom na komentaru!

Nikola990 wrote:

I guess you visited Ulcinj

Thats right, it was for the Southern Soul festival. What a nice place! Definitely go back one day there.

Beautiful boxwood! May I ask how old it is?

Nice to see you starting out.

Do realize that the link you posted shows an overpriced shrub with branches trimmed to give it a shape. not a bonsai. Please do not use that link to tell you what direction to take with your tree.

The Box you show has a good trunk, and may become a bonsai indeed with the right training & care. Have a look at this page: adamaskwhy.com/2013/03/01/its-about-time...xwood-into-a-bonsai/ and compare what he has done to your tree. It should give you some indication of which way to go. Bonsai is more than just the outline. The real kicker is in the branches. If you get the concept of well-developed branches in your mind, bonsai becomes fairly simple, yet you realize that there is a decade between the plant you have now, and the bonsai it may become :)

Do make sure the tree is well-established in the pot before drastic wiring.

As for tools etc.. On the internet you can order a lot of things. But most of the stuff is quite expensive.