Operculicarya decaryi Bonsai Styling

A CURVEY MIKAWA BLACK PINE

After reading the title, you are wondering a pine!?  I've never done a post on a pine.  This pine is from one of my great bonsai friends Mike Rogers.  We were going through his nursery and I found this little guy.

I had the idea to put a piece of wire on it and put some movement into it.  I asked Mike to help me since I did not want to break the tree in half

So when I did this, it was February 16.  I took the pine home and it has been living on my bench for a few weeks.

After taking it home, I wanted to find out why it was called a Mikawa Black Pine and not just a regular Black Pine.  I found out that Mikawa is a place in Japan where these pines are found.  I found this out from Peter Tea's website.  This particular Pine was grown from a seed.

So on February 28, I repotted the Pine into a colander.  The reason you repot into a colander is on this website.  So now it's time to take the tree out of the pot.

Wow! Look at those roots!!  I did not expect that many roots!!

Now if you notice the white stuff, many may think it is a bad thing to have in the soil.  But it is actually very good for the tree.  Some plants rely on this stuff for survival.  The white stuff is called Mycorrhiza which is very good for the roots and the tree!  Mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between the roots of a plant and a fungus.  According toWikipedia, at least 80% of the land plant species have mycorrhiza.

Now it's time to rake the soil off the tree.  I usually bare-root the tree with the hose but you should really try not to bare-root conifers.  So for this tree, I will use my trusty root rake.

The soil came off a lot easier than I expected!  After getting rid of the soil, it seems there is more trunk then originally thought.  This will make it an even better tree!  If you notice in the picture there is luckily some extra wire that was used for the original styling that can be used.  Now, time to make this tree even more interesting! 

​Before I show you the finished tree, here is the before picture.

And the after

Wow, what a transformation!!  I can not wait to see what this tree looks like in a few years!!

Hope you learned a lot about pines and will see you next time!!

BSF Convention 2015 - Bonsai By Design - By Benjamin Lorber

The BSF 2015 Convention has been one of the best state Bonsai conventions yet!  Check out this video that showcases the event!

Smelly Corpse Flower Blooms Today For First Time in 11 Years - Ripley's Believe It or Not!

Smelly Corpse Flower Blooms Today For First Time in 11 Years - Ripley's Believe It or Not!




The actual flower... Cool Right!!



This is how bad it smells ^

Repotting a Ficus Burtt-Davyi

 Original Post Date:
12/6/2014

Where I live, the leaves on maples and elms are changing colors because of the cold weather.

It is the wrong time of year to repot a ficus because of this cold weather.  A ficus is a tropical plant, which means you are suppose to repot it in the spring and summer.  But I am going to take the risk of repotting it..
The tree I am repotting is a Ficus Burtt-Davyi.  This tree has been in this tiny pot for many years.  The tree is a relative of our original Ficus Burtt Davyi.  Working on a baby from the original Burtt Davyi, Mike Cartrett suggested that this root be put in a pot and that if it is planted above ground, it will grow leaves and branches.  The part that is underground will grow roots.  The tree mostly grew roots above the pot.  It grew some branches and leaves, but not many.

The reason I'm repotting this tree in this time of year is because it is not healthy.  If I wait any longer to repot this tree, I could risk loosing this tree.
Below is what a healthy Burtt-Davyi should look like:

Picture From Google. Search Ficus Burtt Davyi

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Back to work.  I rinsed off the broken down bonsai soil and got these roots.

There are some big tap roots, but I am not going to mess with them because it is not the right time of year.  I put the tree in a pot and added some fresh soil to it.  Here is the after photo, I did change the front.

Hope you have learned about Burtt Davyi's (by clicking the link) and when to repot tropical trees.

~Ben Jamin

View JaminWithBen Post

Repotting A Ficus Microcarpa

Original Post Date:
11/12/2014

Warning: even though this is the middle of November, I want you to know I repotted this tree two and a half weeks ago.  When I was looking in the garden, I saw this tree has some broken down soil and it appeared root-bound.  Below is the tree:

You may recognize this tree...  Time to take the tree out of the pot.

Time to wash the soil off.

All of the soil is washed off.  I expected more roots.
Now I will do a little root trim:

All trimmed, I picked out a nice blue pot.  Here is the after picture:

Notice how I didn't wire out the whole tree.  I didn't wire it out because I did cut some roots and when I repotted it, it was October.  The nights will get cooler.  I also didn't want to harm the tree or brake any week branches.  I want the tree to flush out with growth.
The tree in November has new buds and is growing.  I'll post an update soon.

~Ben Jamin

JaminWithBen Post Link

Out in the Garden With Clingy Trees & a Brazilian Rain Tree...

Hello All,

It's almost the end of October and it has rained, A LOT!  Everything has grown, A LOT!  All of the trees look like they have grown into one huge tree!  Some trees where really being clingy to one another.  We have an ilex next to a ficus and it's root's were wrapped around the pot!

Below is the root that was attached to the tree above. 

Our Brazilian Rain Trees have been growing a ton!  I got down to look at one of them that when looked up to, it looks like it could be a massive tree in the ground, but is really in a pot.  Below is the picture.

It really does look like a real tree!  Maybe one day I will see a tree that looks just like this in the future!

Hope you have enjoyed,

~Ben Jamin Lorber

An Interesting Picture of a Mexican Cypress

Hello Everyone,

Happy August!  I was out in the garden yesterday and saw an interesting orange-reddish color on the apex of a Mexican Cypress...  The apex was cut a couple of weeks ago and it is now healing.

Enjoy the pictures,

Ben Jamin

See the orange-reddish color on the apex.  To find out more on Mexican Cypress, click here.

BSF Convention 2014

BSF 2014 Convention - Welcome to www.JaminWithBen.Weebly.com
A Video I Made About the Show: http://youtu.be/9cL49lWNUqo

A Neighbor's Bougainvillea

A Neighbor's bougainvillea - Welcome to www.JaminWithBen.Weebly.com

Hello Everyone!

Recently, my neighbor got a new fence...  But a big bougainvillea was in the way!  So my Bonsai friend Adam (Facebook Account) (Blog) came to dig the big tree up!  But when I say big, I mean BIG!!  This tree has been growing in the ground for 19 years!  When Adam was taking the bougainvillea out, I got a little piece that came off...  Below is what it looks like:

And here is the piece Adam got: (Here is his Blog Post)

In case you want to know more about a bougainvillea, you can click here. 
This particular bougainvillea has a pinkish purple flower. 
Although this tree has a pretty flower, it has a lot of thorns! 
Like I said above, this bougainvillea has been growing in the ground for 19 years! 
This tree also loves to grow wild!

Below is this bougainvillea flowering:

Back to my little piece, after getting it...  I had to get this bougainvillea in water, it only had 1 root!  It was hard finding a big enough container to fit this...  Finally, I remembered I had a watering can a good size for this bougainvillea.  Below is how I left it for the day...

I will keep you updated on how this tree is doing!!

Enjoy,

Ben Jamin