名媛直播

Too quiet in here... must be because it's winter and there's not much to do. Let me post something for discussion, so we keep this forum going

I wrote before about two trees that I got from a colleague. Her mother, who owned the trees, was getting too old to continue with her hobby and was looking for someone who could take care of them.

Below are photos - this is how I received the Ginkgo. Looking at the long shoots - especially the one at the top - this tree has not been pruned for quite some time. Also it seems it has not been repotted; looks like the roots have pushed it up and out of the pot - hence the green straps to keep the tree in place. This is how I received the tree.

My main concern is to keep this tree (and the apple) alive. Plans for this year:
- Shorten the branches. I've already pruned that very long top branch
- Look at the roots and decide what to do with 'm.
- Repot it
- Let it grow

I'm not sure what style I'm going to try. Root over rock seems an option, but note that many of the roots (the ones that are above the soil) don't seem to be alive. I will probably try to remove them and then see what remains.

Your ideas please
(quality of the photos unfortunately is not great).

Photos:

Tricky indeed. The best i can think of is what you are saying: root over rock. Very nice ginkgo though, it is tough, when it grows out bit more i think it will be clearer to see the style it will suit. I don't see many ginkgo in the bonsai world (here at least) so i think it will be beautiful .

I'd be tempted to chuck it in the ground for 3 years. Gain some girth..

But you could consider a slender semi-cascade, which would help your dead-roots issue; Use them as a feature.

leatherback wrote: I'd be tempted to chuck it in the ground for 3 years. Gain some girth.

Yes, i was planning to 'let it grow' for a while, it sure can use some girth. I was not planning to put it in full ground yet. It's an idea... (bit of a problem thought that we have a dog - she has ruined 2 prospect trees already...)

I've only seen a Ginkgo once and it had a trunk with some more girth. It was styled on a flamboyant way. The branches looked like as if they were columns of fire, they all grew towards the sky and as I saw it this last autumn the yellow color of the leaves contributed heavily to that feeling of being in the presence of a powerful flame coming out of a tree. It was a beatiful thing indeed.

So, if you allow me to speak my mind I'd say plant it in the ground, gain some trunk girth and in the meantime, perhaps wire the branches up to the sky. I'm sure it could turn into a beatiful tree in the future.

Those are my 2 cents Auk

Alain

Here's an update. I removed the roots that were above the ground and - as expected - dead. I shortened the branches and made a new top.
Last year I wanted to repot it, but found the roots were extremely long with only fresh roots at the very end. So, I put it back into its original, deep pot.

Last year at an end-of-year sale I purchased a rock, and yesterday I repotted the plant. I could have used an even higher rock...
I'm not unhappy with the result. I'll post an update when it has grown leaves.

I like it Auk, it?s nice
The scale is a bit off though , the tree seems to be a bit too big for that kind of landscape.
But I made that mistake myself with my tiny hornbeams on railway and land penjing - due to their leaves size they do not fit the scale of a landscape and it is gonna look bad all the time with the leaves on.
But here it is a simple solution - you can use this nice tree with a bigger landscape and use smaller one for this nice landscape

Kri?tof wrote: The scale is a bit off though , the tree seems to be a bit too big for that kind of landscape.

I'll call it 'root over rock' then, not 'penjing', and I'll be fine

I do see your point. A bigger rock though is entirely possible. The roots are long enough - I had to wind them in the pot.
Maybe next year. First it needs to recover - and if I buy another rock, it will be at this years end-of-year sale.

That would be perfect, bigger rock and bigger pot, another tree for this one and all of a sudden you?ve got 2 cool penjings - winner

So, didn't change the rock.

Here's the tree at our club-exhibition. Won 3rd price. While there were only 8 contestants, I was still pretty happy with that - everyone could only vote once and there were two trees (a pine and an azalea) that were better than mine. I expected all votes to go to one of these trees and did not expect to get any myself.