Bench!

I finally did it! Me and my 5 year old boy built a bench for the trees! I'm really pleased with the result. Cost: 50€, don't know why I waited so long :-)

Pine, Pinus sylvestris, collected 2012

Here's my latest catch, a Pinus sylvestris, collected 2 days ago. It has an unusual shape, like a single trunk raft. First 25 cm of trunk lies down before a 90 degree bend as it shoots straight up for 25 cm where it splits 2 ways in a classic frog-leg manner.
It is potted in original soil and kitty litter, now it will be left alone for a few years to regain strength (if it survives) before any more work is done.

The Swedish Bonsai Society at Nordiska Trädgårdsmässan

Some shotgun shots of my club's exibit at Nordiska Trädgårdsmässan.

Surprise

Twenty cm of snow in eight hours... I'm curious to see how my leafing japanese maple will handle this.

The benefits of kitty litter and mesh pond baskets

Euonymus, 3 years in a pond basket with cat litter.
When I potted this little stick, 3 years ago I cut off ~95% of the roots, imagine a 1 cm thick CD. Today it was a solid block, 30x30x20 cm, of very ramified, fine feeder roots. Trunk diameter has grown from two to five cm in the same time. I cut the trunk and took the roots down to that CD size again and put it back in the basket but only filled it to 50%. now it's back to waiting another 2-3 years. Top will be worked in the meantime.