Awaiting winter

With the very mild autumn and still no arrival of winter i am unsure which trees are still fighting and which are past the point of no return. There was at least one I've topped up with soil as its got buds which are prominent compare to others which still have very green leaves so it will be interesting to see what sort of crop appearing the spring

Birch

One of the grow bag trees with the most promising growth, as it was quite large before i re potted it i will try to keep its size to a minimum in the spring but for now its getting it through the winter which is the main objective.

Oak

This is the oak from the verge of the garden I saved from the mower. I had a small oak before as my first bonsai which didn't survive. I potted it in early autumn which isn't ideal but fingers crossed with lots of manure and sunshine it will grow small and strong. I had to clear out the gutters which had lots of moss in and I've put in on the top of the soil to hold in moisture and prevent weeds and grass.

I will not give up. (yet)

As with a lot of things you can not buy experience and I have got at least one year old tree, the hawthorn and my stocks have been bolstered by rogue sapling in grow bags and a small oak from the edge of the lawn. So hopefully the survivor's of this winter will be given a generous helping of manure and a moderate water. This picture is from the middle of summer at the height of bloom before things started to deteriorate

Sycamore_2

Unfortunately my green fingers are not preforming as after surviving the winter the sycamore has perished. Not 100 percent sure why but I am going to use more fertiliser in the pots next year as there quite small.
starting to wounder if this one needs the top pruning to stop it becoming disproportionated. but it play the waiting game to see how it grows during the spring. in all a successful crop with all three ex-wild trees surviving through to spring which should be easy to keep now , just water and a weekly feed, through to winter. Whereas the bonsai from the garden center only lasted a couple of months tops. if anyone fancies a tree for keeps give me a shout ill hook you up.

Ash_2

As with the sycamore the ash is no longer alive. I blame over watering causing the nutrients to drain.
its taken a lot longer to come into leaf than the other two but know its showing life at last. it must be due to different species of tree growing in different cycles and i should be looking into the tree type rather than writing about it but i am on a mission to update this which i can edited down the line.

Hawthorne_2

Management did me a great favour and brought me some bonsai food which i feed to the trees, giving me the confidence to make my first cut. as there's not a lot of body to the Hawthorne Ive pruned the top branch to give the sideways branch's a boost. hopefully it will have the desired effect, even though there is a bud with leaves lower down already. i don't want to do too much pruning as its still only in its second year but if i wait too long ill leave to great a mark on the tree where its supposed to look as natural as possible. its nice too know they made the spring as they were outside in a very harsh winter.

Sycamore_1

Again no leaves after the winter but some promising green buds on both sections of trunk which is a encouraging sign. the growth of foreign none tree specimens is encourages by me , not by management, as i think it will help to limit the growth of the tree by taking some of its resource, as if in the wild. i will be trimming them back to look in proportion with the tree and because I'm itching to start cutting.

Ash_1

No leaves left! Thhe winter has reduced this back to a small trunk with a bud at the top. its had the same treatment, new soikl and a root trimmed. hopefully with some nice weathwer and some bonsai foods from the garden centre well see some branches.

Hawthorne_1

After the winter its lack of branches is a worry as i don't want a big tall tree, so I'm going to try and promote branch growth by cutting any more upwards growth. i have added some bonsai soil and trimmed the roots to keep them tightly packed, helped by my niece. Its already got a small spike on the trunk. there is a slight slant to the trunk which is a worry but i can sort that out next year when trimming the roots by making sure the trunk is upright when placing it.

Sycamore

The best looker of the three trees, for now at least. i like the spilt in the main trunk early on as it adds much to the aesthetic of the tree but i guess that's nature innit. some of the leaves are quite big and get a bit burnt or disheveled in the sun,. eventually ill be looking to trim and shape the foliage but as I'm worried for its survival out in the cold I'm leaving it to its own devices.

Ash

My lack of knowledge on the subject is nothing short of embarrassing as I'm not too sure on what the other two tree are, i have been told when collecting them but i have forgotten. I will pretend i knew all along when Ive found out 'the Internet knows everything'. but the smallest of the three in size has the largest leaves which isn't prefect for bonsai but that where the skill comes into it coaxing it to think it needs to produce smaller leave by chopping of any big ones. At the moment its just in a small pot as surviving the winter is objective number one. its nice just to have a plant growing which is fairly low maintenance, and there is definitely something beneficial in taking water to summit

Hawthorne

The Tallest of the three, controling its growth is going to be a challenge as i don't it too tall. but hopefully triming unwanted growth and long roots will curb its size. it should produce a nice white blossom eventually which is partly why ive chosen it and just because it was growing in the wood. its on a bench i made with the other two.

Three Trees from the common

I took these three small samplings from the local woods with the intent to grow and sculpt them into small trees or bonsai trees. i put them in individual pots with a mixture of manure, soil and gravel. Placing some moss around the top to hold moisture which i found growing around the area i dug them up. i placed them in a shady spot and watered them regularly. This is was my second attempted at growing a tree as the year before i failed to grow a oak sapling, so i was determined to get these through the winter. i also bought a 5 year old bonsai from the garden centre, which after a disagreement over where it should live and over watering is also now dead.