The Bonsai Blog of Hans Van Meer

Hi every body,

two weeks ago I repotted my small Hawthorn and I wanted to show you some pictures I shot that day. Unfortunately it was a to big  a risk to plant the Hawthorn in to the planed Dan Barton pot, it was just to shallow to house the root mass that was clinging on to a large stone. So I planted it in a temporary and a bit over size pot. Next repotting I might be able to remove that rock and then I plant it in Dan’s pot!

 Below: The small Hawthorn released from it’s ugly plastic container.

Below: A small detail I did not expected or had forgotten about! A rock hold firmly by thick roots. Those two roots (yellow arrows) might be useful in the future to replace that thick root. For now the thick root will be shortened.

Below: The thick root shortened. (Yellow arrow) The second thick root holding one to the root is not cut back for now, there were just to many small roots growing from it. Next repotting time, wen more fine roots have grown from the top thick roots it will be removed and then the stone might be removed as well!

Below: On the backside of the tree a other thick root is shortened.

Below:  And a other one is removed!

Below: After all is don, the tree gets a well deserved shower, that removes all the dust and small particles from the soil.

Below: This picture was made a few days later. I know that the tree needs a lot more work and that the top section needs to thicken and fill out more, But I do feel it is heading in the right direction. I love to work on Hawthorns!

Hope you like were this little Hawthorn is going?!

I will keep you posted on it’s future developments.

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Check out my personal Bonsai website “KARAMOTTO” : http://www.karamotto.org/

======================================================

Hi everybody,

as promised, I would like to share some pictures of the repotting of my “DUTCH” Hawthorn yamadori. I collected it way back in ( will find out tomorrow)  in a dune forest close to the sea and not to fare from were I live. It took me tree seasons to downsize it to the height I wanted and all but a few branches were removed. So I created a blank canvas and basicly had to hope for new buds to appear in just the right places to create the new branches with.

Now after all these years working on the ramification, the tree is heading in the right direction. It will take another 4 to 5 years of growth and wiring to fill out the desired image, but the basic branch structure to work from is there all ready.

I hope you like this little story of this Hawthorn, the rest you can find soon on my website!

Above: Collecting the tree.

Above: The tree is freed from the sandy soil, and now I am cutting the tree down to a more lift able size!

Above: A year later, The yellow arrow shows from were I want my future apex to grow from.

Above: All the unwanted branhes are removed or shortened. Only one original branch remains on the left middle site of the trunk!

Above: A few days ago. The larger roots were shortened. This is don every repotting, until the roots are in proportion with the base of the tree.

Above: Carefully removing the old soil.

Above: My student and friend Ed van der Reek is helping me to carfully work the fresh soil in between the roots.

Above: I am please how this tree is progressing. There is still a lot of growing and work to be don, but it all ready looks promising.

Above : Close up of the natural deadwood. This tree has come far in just a short time and I cant wait to see how it looks in 5 years?! I love this hobby!

I hope you like were this pre bonsai is going?!

Cheers,
Hans van Meer.

The rest of this and many other stories can be found on my personal Bonsai website “KARAMOTTO” : http://www.karamotto.org/

—————————————————————————————————

Hi everybody,

well it took a few day’s, but yesterday was finaly the sunny day that I was waiting for to make some decent pictures of my Larch (XL) in it’s new pot! So with the help of a few light reflecting pieces of white  hardboard, to illuminate the tree, I managed to make some good enough shots to show to you all!

I think he looks great in this Brian Allbright pot! It gives the tree stature and a both elegant and powerful image! This next growing season is spent keeping the new growth under control!  Were I need some more branches, I will let the new shoots grow until it has the length that I need. But the number one thing that I am after, is lots and lots of upwards growing thin  short branches to fill out the winter silhouette of this majestic tree! This should be the final step towards showing XL at next years “Noelanders Trophy”!

I hope that XL is happy in his new home and will grow strong, so that I can show and share  him with you all for the very first time!

Below: Collecting XL in Austria May 2004.

Below: February 2006.

Below: XL has gone a long way in a short time

Above: The pot is still a bit dirty from the akadama dust, but I was not able to clean the rough texture any better in this spot! An carrying this tree around is not a wise thing to do with that back of mine!

Above: Close up of the aria were this tree, in my fantasy, in the past was hit by lightning and lost its old top! From that spot, as in nature, lots of new branches emerged. And the strongest top branch grew out to be the new top! Still looking relatively young, but the texture of the bark on these new branches ages rapidly. Becoming more and more believable every year!

I hope you like the new look of  XL ?! And I will keep you all posted on his progress trough this new growing season!

I will post some more repotting stories on here tomorrow!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Check out my personal “KARAMOTTO”  bonsai website: http://www.karamotto.org/

————————————————————————————————-

Hi everybody,

2 day’s ago, the weather forecast predicted that last Sunday would be a day full of rain. But when I woke up that morning, it was lovely weather! So I immediately phoned my friend/student Ed van der Reek and asked if he could help me to repot my old Larch named “XL”. He made it to my house in just under half a hour! This repotting was I bid of a gamble for me, pot size wise that is. I collected this masive old tree with a large compact rootbal, that way the tree has a greater change of survival and it recovered just fine! But there is one problem with this technique and that is that you dont know what is in hidden in that rootbal. It could be filled with large roots! So you can imaging that selecting a proper sized pot was a bid of a gamble. Well the rootbal proved to be OK and not to much large roots had to be removed to fit “XL” in the smallest and best suited one of the 3 pots that I had selected! This is a beautiful pot made by my good friend Brian Allbright. Here are some impressions of that wonderful and exciting repotting.

Above: Backside of the tree. Removing the plastic container with a power saw. This way the rootbal will stay intact.

Above: Now that the rim of the container is removed, we carfully starting to work our way inward.

Above: This root was a bit bigger than I thought!

Above: Almost all the old mountain soil was removed. And a lot off rocks as well!

Above: Birdseye view of “XL”. I am realy happy with the way it ramification looks! Next year, I plane to show “XL” for the very first time and by than it’s ramification will look even better with this coming seasons new finer growth added to these almost fixed branches.

Ed and me, had a lovely and exciting Bonsai day! At the end of the day I was realy tired, but is was good to do some serious work again! I hope that “XL” will do well in it’s new home and I cant wait to finaly show it next year!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Link to “KARAMOTTO” my personal Bonsai website:  http://www.karamotto.org/

———————————————————————————————–

Hi everybody,

finaly, last Thursday  was a lovely Sunny day to do some bonsai work! So my eager bonsai friend and student Ed van der Reek immediately came over to my garden to start to work on the amazing deadwood of his recently bought old Olive. For the last couple of surprisingly cold weeks the tree stayed as a guest in my winter shelter to protect it from the elements! All though the elaborate deadwood on this tree is truly amazing, it those not make it any easier to style! A few weeks age,  when Ed brought the tree to my garden, we had discussed the future of this tree. And we both quickly came to the conclusion that we should try to incorporate the deadwood in the design! It would be a crime not to try to build the tree around this unique feature! The history of this tree is locked in all that deadwood, so it is up to use to design a believable bonsai out of it! A big exciting challenge indeed, but we both believe it is doable!

Here are some pictures of that first deadwood session!

Above: Before the work started.

Above: This section was to rough and fat, so it had to be removed and improved!

Above: Carefully sawing.

Above: That worked out nicely!

Above: Some sheltering wasp were replaced in to the frond garden. This little beauty’s can hollow out a tree in one season! I learned this the hard way!

Above: Refining and shaping the deadwood as much as possible from below. This way the beautiful old deadwood, that is in view on the top, is not harmed!

Above: This section, up to the yellow line,  has to go as well.

Above: Worked perfectly.

Above: Looks better already.

Above: Ed redusing and styling the top section.

Above: The end resuld for now. A lot more deadwood work needs to be don, but that is for the next sunny day!

You can see more picture  of this day on Ed’s blog: http://www.ed-bonsai.nl/#home 

 and a film on his website:  http://ed-bonsaiwebsite.magix.net/album

I will keep you all posted on the progress of this amazing olive.

Hope you liked it so far?!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

——————————————————————————-