This rather nice looking Trident maple (Acer buergerianum) is sporting a monstrous nebari. Does it look a bit like a clown’s oversized shoes? Or does it suit your fancy just as it is? The original appears in Bonsai Today issue 70 in an article titled “Transplanting to increase the feeling of age,” by Kazunori Kamiya.
This impressive Trident maple’s (Acer buergeranum) massive nebari is a dead giveaway that it was field grown. The original article is in Bonsai Today issue 64. I once read a report from Cornell University (I can’t find it; anybody?) about the advantages of planting trees directly into the native soil, rather than the common practice of digging in soil amendments, a practice that may be good for the garden center’s bottom line, but not so good for your plants. If you think about it, it makes sense; if you create a pocket of richer soil, then the roots tend to … Continue reading Field Growing 2: Native soil