I don’t usually start digging the grow beds until July but a Shibui Bonsai customer has been keen to learn more by volunteering to help. Jim had a couple of days off work due to wet weather so we picked a dry day and got started a week early.

Jim is younger and enthusiastic. He started on the shovel and kept me so busy pruning that I did not get any photos of the actual dig.

In a few hours we managed to dig and do a rough top and root prune on most of the larger trident maples, some Japanese maples, a few crab apples and some of the first year tridents.

They have all been ‘heeled in’ to a spare patch where they can wait until I’m ready to do a final inspection to decide if they get potted for sale, put back in the grow beds for more growth or go on the scrap heap.

More details of Shibui Bonsai winter seedling offer

Some customers plan to wire the trunks and make lots of twists and bends as potential shohin and mame sized bonsai. If that’s your plan please tell me and I’ll specially select thinner, more flexible stems which should allow for better bends with less unwanted snaps. From experience there’s no point trying to put tight bends into thicker maple trunks. They rapidly get hard and brittle so larger trunks snap rather than bending well.

Large trident seedlings are from 6mm (around pencil thickness) up to 10mm (almost small finger thick) $5 each

Also available:

XL and XXL tridents – These tridents were hiding last year when I culled so are now 2-3 years old. Trunks from 2cm -5 cm thick near the base will give you a head start on growing larger trees. Be aware that these larger tridents have grown quickly and have very little trunk taper. The necessary trunk chop will leave quite a large scar though tridents heal rapidly if they are allowed to grow freely again in the year or 2 after the chop As untrained seedlings they may have good radial roots or not. I’m happy to send photos of potential XL and XXL if you want to see before committing to the purchase.

Forest packs – Bundles of different thickness trident trunks specially selected to make starter group plantings. Forest pack typically consists of 2 large, 6 medium and 6 small trident seedlings at just $20 each. See this post Trident maple group planting for my tips and techniques to build your own group from a Shibui Bonsai forest pack.

All winter seedlings are sent bare root. That means no soil but don’t worry. While they are dormant your maple seedlings won’t even know. Roots are packed in wet newspaper or damp sawdust so the roots don’t dry out, then wrapped in a plastic bag to retain moisture while they travel and packed in a cardboard box to protect them while in transit. Seedlings can travel for up to 2 weeks this way with no ill effects. When your package arrives, open the bag and check that the packing is still damp. Add a little water if required. Bare root plants can be stored for several months if necessary. They will eb fine in the plastic bag for a few days but for longer term storage – dig a hole in the garden and cover the roots with soil or place the roots in a suitable sized container and cover the roots with damp soil, sand or potting mix and they will be fine until you get round to dealing with them. Obviously the sooner you pot up your new Shibui Bonsai seedlings the better but provided the roots don’t get dry the seedlings can be stored this way until leaves start to open in spring.

Don’t forget if you don’t think you have the time or patience to grow your bonsai from small seedlings Shibui Bonsai has lots of more advanced trees in pots. Prices starting at just $10 and up depending on age, trunk shape and branching.

Make sure you include your mailing address when you order so I can calculate post costs to get your order delivered right to your door.

I tackled some bigger garden grown trident seedlings today. Thicker roots so these took a bit more time and effort to extract than the smaller ones I usually offer.

Trident trunks like this are still available bare root – until the new shoots start to open. Prices from $15 through to $30 for these XXL bare root tridents depending on how good the root base, trunk taper and trunk bends. This one priced at $20 as an indication.

As shown, XL and XXL tridents are usually tall and thin. They are good for larger groups as is but can be trunk chopped and grown on to create trunks will have good taper in a few years.

My back is not getting any younger or stronger so it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage larger bonsai so I am reluctantly offering several older bonsai for sale.

This is an opportunity to obtain well developed, 30-40 year old bonsai.

Trident maple – informal upright, root over rock.

Grown from seed in the late 1980s. This trident maple is one of my early trials with root over rock. You can see that the rock is on the small side and the tree has grown so the roots have almost swallowed the rock. Branches are well ramified and few scars on the trunk. Priced at $2,500.

Ficus rubiginosa – informal upright.

Grown from seed in the early 1990s. This tree started out as 2 seedlings fused together to form a twin trunk bonsai. The trunks fused very well but, as the individual trunks continued to thicken, the fork between them moved higher and higher so it is now an informal upright bonsai with a very thick lower trunk and a large first branch. The cold climate here is not the best for ficus so ramification is not as extensive as the trident above but plenty of primary branches to continue building on. $2,500

Cedrus deodar – informal upright

Cedars grow slowly so it’s not surprising that this is one of my oldest bonsai. Obtained as a pencil thick seedling from Nell Saffin in the early 1980s and developed slowly in pots, this tree is a beautiful example of deodar bonsai. Cedars of this age and quality do not come up often. Priced at $3,500.

If you’d like to see more photos of any of these trees, please ask. I’m happy to take shots of different sides or any particular aspects of the trees that you’d like to see.

I don’t really want to consign trees of this size and quality to the tender care of the postal service so alternative arrangements will need to be made for delivery. Pick up by the buyer is preferred but other options may be available so, if you don’t think personal pick up is possible, please talk to me about other delivery options.

I’ve been growing and developing root over rock bonsai for many years and gradually developed some techniques that help me produce reliable results. Check out some of the Shibui Bonsai root over rock trees.

More recently I’ve been working to develop some really good smaller Root over Rock bonsai. Like other styles, shohin ROR are much more difficult to get right. Getting good trunk taper, good bends and branching in a smaller tree is challenging. Adding extra height with the rock makes shohin ROR even more difficult.

Most of the Root over Rock trees I grow are trident maples. That’s because they grow fast and the roots develop quickly so we end up with roots flowing over the rock much quicker than with other species. The same techniques can be used to develop ROR plantings with other species. Here are a couple of Shibui Bonsai pine ROR but I’ve also developed ficus and Chinese elm as root over rock bonsai. I’m still working on developing branch ramification on these pines so the branch pads still look distinctly hairy and unkempt.

I’ve already shown some of the smaller ROR I’m attempting to grow but bigger ROR is also possible. Just allow for the weight of the rock. The following tree does not look very big but weighs around 20 kg so is more difficult to move for pruning, repotting and other maintenance tasks. The assistants who were helping dig trees from the grow beds that year christened this one Root over Boulder as they struggled to lift the tree and rock out of the ground.

You can find this year’s Shibui Bonsai ROR trees available for sale on the ROR catalogue – Root over Rock

Root over Rock pre-bonsai can be costly to ship due to the weight. For those attending the AABC National Bonsai convention in Canberra in May we can bring selected root over rock trees with no delivery cost. Make sure you get your orders in well ahead to avoid disappointment.

I’ve been asked to present a demonstration of Shibui Bonsai methods for developing Root Over Rock bonsai at this year’s Bonsai By the Harbour in Sydney in June. That’s your chance to get all the tips and proven Shibui techniques. We’ll try to bring examples of ROR at all different stages of development to make that session a really practical how to session.

For any NSW growers who fancy skipping the 3-5 years of growing, Shibui Bonsai will have a sales table at Bonsai By the Harbour so you too can order ROR trees from the Root over Rock catalogue and cut out the delivery fees. Don’t let the Convention attendees get the best trees. Make sure you order well in advance. I’m happy to put a reserve on trees and hold them until delivery at BBTH in June.