haha my S/O calls me a bonsaist when i start blabering off about bonsai.

but then again i feel like i look like this when im working on my trees.

I'm very new to bonsai. i got a juniper in Dec 2017 and a black monkey thorn tree a month ago. i also planted a bunch of seeds (some of them actually growing which has me doing a happy dance every morning) i am also nurturing a Karee seedling.
discovered this forum while doing some research.

reasons for not posting/replying often:
I have read some very harsh comments on loads of beginner treads which I thought was legitimate good questions.
I do not have any advise to give
my trees will probably not be impressive to most people here (even though they are awesome to me)
then I'm am in South Africa, so the tree i will mostly have, most people on this forum will not be familiar with them, so my questions might go unanswered anyway.

so to come back to what tree lead me to this forum.
here is pick of my black monkey thorn tree. one is how i bought it at a nursary (stating the tree is 5 years old) one pick is more or less what i want to do with it. and then a pick after i pruned it (i'm super excited about all the new buds i'm seeing). waiting for mid sept to repot to a training pot and will do wiring only mid to end oct. these trees swell up when sprouting new branches and leaves, so wiring now will only lead to wire scars. wiring only when all the sprouting are done and growing strongly.
i did post this tree in the progressions and will update there after the wiring

Welcome Stella!

Just would like to invite all those reading on the forum to also share, comment, like.. interact, really. The dark months of winter are in full swing where I live. With temperatures to hit -8 tonight there is very little I can do on bonsai. Maybe sell a few more. Maybe a bit of carving. But that is pretty much it (I already cleaned up my stands, sorted through the pots for spring and my substrate is waiting for spring to come too).

So.. What is happening in your garden, what are you growing?

leatherback wrote:

So.. What is happening in your garden, what are you growing?

Just finished a new inventory of my plants in training; many are in summer dormancy right now but others are growing like mad, mostly natives.

34 trees, 30 saplings, 40 seedlings.
If anyone is interested...


Azaléia Satsuki Osakazuki
Azaléia Satsuki Kinsai
Umê Prunus Mume Pink
Leptospermum kengai-mame
Wisteria
Ulmus Neagari kengai mame
Ulmus Parvifolia - moyogi
Ficus Retusa
Caliandra rosa
Caliandra rosa
Piteco - BRT Rain tree
Sakura
Sazanka
Adenium
Boke (2) - Jap Quince double white -
Serissa Variegat
Acerola -
Hamahisakaki -
Pomegranate -
Kuromatsu - JBP young
Kuromatsu mame - JBP
Kuromatsu neagari - JBP
Akamatsu kengai - JRP
Shimpaku - Juniper
Juniperus horizontalis Jacaré
Kumquat -
Bougie red - Bougie purple
Piracantha orange -
Acer Momiji Kotohime -
Acer Kaede -
Acer Momiji Palmatum -
Jaboticaba -

Looks like you are growing some species that would struggle with your climate!?

leatherback wrote:

Looks like you are growing some species that would struggle with your climate!?

Yes.
The Acers (in fact the exception is the Trident, it likes it here) , the Prunus Mume, the Bokes (quinces) and the Sakura.
They all struggle in this hellish summer, but they enter in dormancy and it helps.
Shimpakus and Itoigawas thrive here, as well as JBP. The red pine goes well but needs protection from the heat.
JWP are impossible here.
All in all, they all survive and thrive in the long spring and long autumn. I am happy with them so far.

Something to do in the winter months:

My wife suggested that I make up a booklet of my trees, with some good pictures. I decided to take that idea and develop it a little, making up a booklet of not just pictures, but also history - when I got it, when trained, etc. Also, a care guide. Different sources give different guidelines, so put in it what I do for my climate, etc.

No, I can't share it because I am only about 1/4 done, but, it is a very good idea, and something to do while waiting for the Spring thaw.

Ok, I'll bite.
Just cut back some almost 2-year-old Japanese maple seedlings for a few projects I'll be starting in 2 months. 5 of them will be for a root fusion project (tile with 5 holes in it) and 2 will just go trough a tile to start a decent nebari. The bigger Japanese maple in the back just had some approach grafting and put-a-branch-through-a-hole-in-the-trunk-grafting done. Sorry can't remember the English term for that at the moment.



Other than that I also slip-potted about 70 trident seedlings for another trunk fusion project I'll be starting next year. You can read all the exciting stuff about that right here: shumibonsai.wordpress.com/2019/01/06/tri...-later-slip-potting/

Oh yeah, and I have this bonsai that I bought from ebay a coupke of years ago and refuses to die on me. No leaves drop, it keeps growing. Tell me what I'm doing wrong and what species it is please

Fonz wrote:

...approach grafting and put-a-branch-through-a-hole-in-the-trunk-grafting done. Sorry can't remember the English term for that at the moment...

Hummmm... Thread grafting?
Which is different from approach grafting, of course.
Here's a beginners link to grafting Acers:
www.bonsaitree.co.za/blogs/tree-talk/554...-on-a-japanese-maple

Fonz wrote:

Oh yeah, and I have this bonsai that I bought from ebay a coupke of years ago and refuses to die on me. No leaves drop, it keeps growing. Tell me what I'm doing wrong and what species it is please

Ah, very difficult to identify, as I've seen quite a few similar to yours but with brown shrivelled leaves or no leaves at all. So I'm not sure.
But the "S" curve tells the whole history, congrats and take it to Ikea, they will surely help you identify it!