Trembling Aspen Bonsai Forest + Transplanting Largest Juniper + Initial Work Spruce Bonsai

Lots of work this spring transplanting and styling various bonsai compositions. The bonsai forest is a personal vision of a forest in my area. I’ve been holding onto making this composition for a while as I’ve slowly acquired the trees. I was super nervous about the juniper bonsai repot but it went well and I’m feeling confident that it’ll thrive. Also did a lot of quick hacking on some material that I didn’t have time to wire but couldn’t wait another year without work as the trees were beginning to lose interior budding and branches. Go bonsai.

[@chrissnyder8415]

Great looking forest and that Juniper is fantastic and has a lot of potential

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thanks Chris 👍😃. The juniper has some of those I-wish-i-had qualities that we see in the bonsai shows. I hope I can do it justice.

[@thelazybonsai]

I have an aspen in a nursery pot. i dug it up from an empty lot. The bark on the aspens are pretty nice. And I like the way their leaves tremble in slight breezes. Looks good!!

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thanks, I noticed you got a lot more new trees. Looking good. I love the Aspen I just wish I was better at keeping them compact. I might have to try and do a lot of heavy pruning to see if I can push growth lower and increase ramification. I also get a decent amount of branch die back. Anyways, keep on bonsai.

[@thelazybonsai]

I haven’t done any trimming yet on mine. I had a bunch of “extra” trees, so I made some forests. Lol… we’ll see how that goes… hopefully i’ll sell some trees at some craft shows. I don’t think they’ll fit in the greenhouse!!

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Glad to hear you have a way to off load some of your trees. I have the first world problem of too many trees and end up looking after super low quality low potential trees. Are you going to show us your forest planting? 🤞

[@thelazybonsai]

If they live thru June! I potted them late. Am nervous. But they seem to be doing ok so far

[@BODHISATTVA108]

Растения в неглубоких горшках наверное нужно часто поливать, я живу в южном регионе, у нас земля высыхает за один день в тени, а на солнечной стороне за пол дня.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Ya, you’ll need lots of orgânic soil to keep moisture in. Maybe automatic water system and shade cloth of some sort. Maybe water misters. I know some people in lower US that need to do this to keep their trees alive. Also there must be some natives that you could work with (weeping fig?) that are more sun strong and drought resistant.

[@BODHISATTVA108]

@@kootenaybonsaicanada Спасибо!

[@leszekrybak5067]

Hi Chris. I find Aspen hard to collect. Like you say, they sucker and it is hard (at least in my experience) to find one on its own roots. I have a small one - found that the smaller they are, the easier it is to make them survive. Large Juniper amazing, funny how just changing the angle made the tree. The only thing is somewhat coarse growth, looks a bit unkempt now. Wondering if you will be able to tame this beast. What Spruce variety is the one you worked on? Seems to be a bit sparser grower and looser needles... I have a similar one, call it an "Ugly Duckling" - because it is small and ugly... and looks exactly like yours growth-wise. As usual, great video, nice trees. Cheers!

[@chrissnyder8415]

Indeed. I have said it a million times, an angle change can do wonders for a tree.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thanks, ya I’ve managed to collect a few but like you said smaller ones. Not sure about the juniper, this year I’ll let it grow a bunch to build roots and strength. Overall this species of juniper won’t be as compact as the shimpaku and thus a lot more unkept and droopy. Maybe I’ll consider one day giving it new foliage via grafting. Not sure the spruce small needles I think is due to poor conditions. We’ll see how it pushes growth this year. Not sure if it’s the variety or environment conditions that are making it look that ways. Anyways, thanks for the long comment and maybe we’ll get to see each other in person again this year 😃👍