The karate Kid & Bonsai

I have a nephew named Ben & he's into Karate big time . He recently won a silver medal
at a regional competition & last Saturday he was in a local tournament .I told him if he did
good I would post him on my blog, so I'm keeping my promise.

















The start of the tournament




















Ben's first match & that's Rita , Ben's mom
taking pictures.

















These kids aren't afraid of any thing, there
mixing it up pretty good!





















Here's Ben winner of two medals!
Way to go Ben!! We are proud of you!!


















Here's two of Ben's loyal rooters his
cousin Kira & my wife Mary.


Now for some bonsai -unfortunately I haven't remembered to bring my
camera outside with me. So these are the after pictures.



This elm has been
pruned & wired
into a weeping
style.













This is the first
styling for this
elm. The bottom
branch is a sacrifice
branch left to thicken
the trunk.















This elm is in a
plastic net pot
that lets the air
in to control the
root system.

Again the bottom
branches are left
to thicken the trunk.











this old Boxwood
will be used for a
Phoenix graft to fill
out the two lower
branches.
will post on it's
progress later.













This is a collected
elm & after it had
been pruned and
wired.












It still looked
cluttered and
messy. We will
have to see what
it looks like in
spring.








That's all for now.

Wax on ...................Wax off


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Blooms & fall colors

This time of year with the temperatures at the mid eighties & night time lows in the sixties
it kinda of feels like spring. Some of my trees get confused they don't know if they should wind
their butt or scratch their watch.
Any way so much for humor...some of the tropicals are blooming like it's spring & junipers
are coming out of summer dormancy and putting on a spurt of growth. While the rest of the
trees are in fall colors , they struggled with the late summer heat & are ready to drop their
leaves & rest!!!



This is a weeping bush cherry & is in full
bloom with pink & yellow centers















This is a myrtle with white blooms
















Even my blue berries produced ,they didn't
last long before the birds got them.














These are Singapore hollies with pink to white
blooms & yellow centers.
















My bougainvillea's are blooming along side
my sweet gum in fall color














This is my Japanese plum in fall color it has
already dropped some leaves.















This Japanese maple can't make up it's mind
dark green ,light green & red foliage.















This Japanese maple has made up it's mind
it's fall!!!













Almost forgot the Dallas Bonsai Auction on Oct 1st was a great success & a good time
was had by all who attended; sorry I forgot my camera so no pictures. thats all for now.



Wax on ....................Wax off

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Dallas annual auction

Heads up every one ...Dallas bonsai society will hold it's annual club auction on Oct. 1st.
At north Haven Gardens from 9:00 a.m. till 12:00 noon...it's open to the public.
It's a good opportunity to pick up a bonsai and /or bonsai related material so come on out.



Since the weather's been so nice & the trees are coming out of summer dormancy I decided
to do some long awaited maintenance.





The first tree is a san jose juniper
in the white plastic tray.















After cutting the long branch on one
side I pruned & wired it


















Now it has time to recover & get ready for winter.














I've done the same to the following trees















Some shaping














Some pruning















Some wiring
















This wax leaf ligustrum planted on a rock had to go into a new pot.




















It fit into a nice brown oval pot.




















Left to right is me then James then Jacob &
the newest member of the Bonsai Bitch's
is Robert.
Were relaxing with a cold one waiting for the
bar-b-que.


Till next time!


Wax on ..............Wax off



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100 degree heat wave finally over

Man was I glad when I heard the weather man say this 100 degree weather was
finally over!!!!! A lot of my trees were suffering from this heat. Not to mention myself.
It was get up super early to water & then for the rest of the day work for a couple of hours,
then go inside & rest for awhile. Then go back outside to work for a couple hours ,well you
get the idea.








These kingsville boxwoods turned into
crispy critters, but I still kept watering
them & some of them are making a
comeback. You should never give up on
a tree untill you know for sure its dead.








The following trees are trees that showed
heat related stress.
















The leaves dried up & shriveled.

















Turning brown looking sad.




















This tree lost most of it's leaves but
then with the weather changing it started to
put forth new leaves,hallelujah!!!

It's funny how they can sense when the weathers going to change & come out of
summer dormancy. Any how I hope your
trees are doing well & if so keep up the good
work!




All most forgot the tropicals they were
loving all the heat. they went crazy. look
at my Brazilian rain tree I have to trim it!













My nerofolia put out it"s fruit.

















Here's the same tree in all it's glory,heat what heat,
I love it ...bring it on !!!

Oh well different strokes for different trees, I guess.


Wax on.........Wax off






































































































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Ft. Worth Bonsai show & sale this week end 08/12/11-08/14/11

Ft. Worth's Bonsai show and sale will be held this week end at the botanical garden in Ft. Worth.
It will begin on Friday & Saturday 9:00 to 5:00 p.m.and Sunday 9:00 to 1:00 p.m.
(08/12/11 thru 08/14/11)


How about this heat wave!!!! Hope your trees come through this ok. My tropicals are
loving this heat wave & are thriving. As for the rest of the trees they've gone dormant or
semi dormant.
Make sure you take time to check & make sure your trees are getting enough water.
Also try to protect them from getting too much direct sun. A good way to do this is to
drape a wet towel around your container or pot (preferably white) or move your trees
into some shade in late afternoon.







These tropicals are doing fine & I'm giving
them plenty of water & fertilizer.














Another way to protect your trees is to
put them in a Styrofoam box. They will grow
just as quickly & are insulated from the heat.
















The pots that are plastic /or ceramic will
hold the heat in & practically cook the roots;
especially if they don't get watered enough.
















As you can see I have a lot of my trees
planted in Styrofoam boxes not only are
insulated but the white color reflects the
heat.














These boxes are easy to cut down to
size when your tree is almost ready to be
put into a bonsai pot.













Remember to stop fertilizing your
deciduous trees that have gone dormant or
semi-dormant untill they start growing again.















That's all for now

Wax on .............Wax off






















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Sorry I haven't posted any thing this past month (June) I lost my camera and
I've had some personal family problems but hopefully that will clear up.
I will post something soon.
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Watering system for pine bed

I had to show you this, last Easter Sunday
my #1 side kick"Bella"had her first encounter
with the Easter bunny. He was ok from afar
but when he came closer "Nana get him away
from me"!!!

















After laying pvc pipe & adding some risers with
sprinkers




















We had a watering system going! Sure beats
the heck out of watering by hand not to
mention saving time.
Now maybe we have time to weed out the
bed.












Next we had to put a fence around the bed
to keep the dogs out of it. My #1 side kick sits
inside the fence.














Of course I was informed I had to share
some space for "nana's" vegetable garden.













My miniature wild plums had flowered
and fruited.













They make great bonsai but it's hard to
keep the fruit from getting eaten by the birds















This bonsai is a Japanese plum and is about
20 yrs.old .














In this picture you can see the fruit.It's almost
ripe.

Hope the birds don't get to it before I do.



Wax on ....................Wax off




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