The literati hawthorn in fall

This hawthorn has produced nice fall colors this year, the yellow leaves look cool with the deep red fruits.

Five years of a scots pine

I have bought this scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) in the winter of 2004 in a garden center. This variety, 'Saxatilis' is in my opinion great for bonsai because it has small leaves, a compact growth habit and buds a lot. (I also have a larger one of this variety.)

This is how it looked like originally, and after a very little pruning.



At about 15cm high the trunk has split into two major branches and two about equal sized "crowns" so I have removed the right-side one and carved it into a jin. I have also pruned away a lot of the branches of the remaining crown as Saxatilis is a very dense growing variety. This picture shows the tree in the winter of 2007 when it was badly in need of a wiring.


In 2008 I did a leaf-pruning on the tree (removed all of last years needles) and started to wire it. The wiring was about half done when Tony Tickle came to the Bonsai Show 2008 in Budapest and visited my garden. Tony saw the potential in the tree and he has kindly offered to style it. He has pruned much of the remaining half of the tree to open up the dense structure and also wired the major branches. Some pictures of this work:

This way a major leap forward as the crown was reduced to the essential branches. Tony with the finished tree.


This year the pine has sprouted back vigorously and produced more ramification. This picture was made a few days ago.


Then I have leaf-pruned it again, removing all of last years needles which has opened up the "bushy" character that it has produced again. I have also placed some stones around the tree to create an explanation for the strange root bulge on the right. With time I plan to carve it away but I would like to see its roots at the next repotting before I do it. This is how the current front looks like today.


However the tree looks a lot better when viewed a little from the right side. Next spring I will pot it up in this orientation: about 45 degrees to the right of the current front and also tilting up the current far left corner.

Literati hawthorn with fruits

The hawthorn that I have posted about in this post has ripened its fruits now. I have removed two lower branches and it looks much better now.
I like the contrast of the fruits and the leaves.

White lilac in flowers

My lilac is in flowers - I love this tree!


With me for scale.

I have found this tree in 2006 in a flower shop just around our corner - interesting how it got there... Of course I have bought it!

The tree in 2006, marked with red where I haved planned to pruned - eventually I have left the left-side thick dead branch. I have to thank Walter Pall for his advice on the Internet Bonsai Club on this tree!


The lilac in August 2006 - it has sprouted vigirously after havin cut back in the spring.

Crassula ovata - 'Gollum'

A Crassula ovata that I have acquired during the spring flower exhibition. This is a leaf mutant with very interesting, almost tubular leafs, 'Gollum' if I'm not mistaken.
A great trunk and a great feel about this tree!

Min Hsuan Lo in Budapest

On April 14th, Min Hsuan Lo has visited Budapest and our bonsai club had the honour of seeing him doing a demonstration.
He was working on refining an old hornbeam. It was a great pleasure to see Min's demonstration as for me he is one of the greatest bonsai masters I know of, with a very unique style.


Ervin Katona, the president of the club and Min are greeting each other. Min has received the 25th anniversary plaquette of the club from Ervin. Min was talking about 2009 Asia-Pacific Bonsai Ehibition that he will be heading in Taiwan.



First the future front of the tree was chosen. Min has evaluated several options and even had the audience vote for the front.


Sanyi Papp was helping during the demonstration with the wiring.


Min with the finished tree that turned out great.


After the demonstration Min has answered some questions of the audience, among others he was talking about his personal style and how he sees bonsai.



See you next time!


Min Hsuan Lo in Budapest - an amazing event for me!

Spring exhibition 2009

Between 22. and 24. April our Club took part in the Spring Flower Exhibition at the University of Horticulture. Our exhibition was a little bit smaller than usual. I have presented these three trees (I will post pictures of some of the other trees in my exhibition blog).

I took my little broom-style hornbeam that I'm working on since 2006, I think it's coming along nicely.


I took this literati hawthorn for its flowers. It has a very interesting trunk and a still undeveloped branch structure (I have collected the tree in 2007) but it was full in flowers.


I have also exhibited this larch that I have bought as an unstyled yamadori from Karl Thier in 2007. The potting is bad but all the roots are on the left side so I couldn't pot up otherwise. Next year I will try to remove some more roots and pot it in a round pot instead of this oval. The companion plant is a small Sedum in a lovely kusamono pot by Dan Barton that I got as a gift from Tony Tickle (the pot is set on a flat stone).

Spring flowers again - blackthorn

This is a sloe (blackthorn - Prunus spinosa) that I have acquired last spring. It was about twice its current height but I have cut the top part because it was too much curves for one plant :) I have a picture of it from last year but I just can't find it now...
This year I have potted it into this oversized pot and did some cutting and wiring. It's still a bit chaotic but that's it for now. The base of the trunk is really bad, I think I'll have to disguise it with some extra deadwood (tanuki-like). But the flowers are very nice :)

The first picture is as it looks like today, the second is a virtual in a smaller pot and a slightly different potting angle.

Flowers, Bees, Prunus...

I have this little Prunus (some kind of ornamental Prunus species, maybe incisa or serrulata but I'm not sure) that I'm trying to growing in a broom style. Because it's flowering so nice I've brought it up on our balcony. This morning I have noticed a big bumblebee flying around and landing on this tree.


Two years ago I have rooted a little cutting from this tree. It's really tiny, about 10cm high, yet it's flowering.
It was overwintered in an unheated room and was the first tree to bloom this year, in the middle of march.