Happy Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving Day was absolutely beautiful on the patio..80 degrees..mostly sunny..light wind..and I was thankful, mostly cuz I wasn't back in Nebraska, where I grew up. The high temp yesterday in my old "home town" was 30°..the low was 18°..'nuff said.

I worked on both Junipers today; minor pruning on both, what you could call "housekeeping"..the goal being to expose more wood..to show the underlying structure of the tree, without sacrificing too much foliage.

Blue Star

It's been about 30 days since I styled & potted the "Blue Star" & from all appearances, he's doing fine. He seems happy in the training pot & is taking water, which is one indication he is adjusting to his new life.

Juniperis

After some "due diligence", I have to admit that I do not really know the Genus (family) that this Juniper belongs, so until further enlightenment, he will be know as simply "Juniperis"

2 months now since the initial styling/pruning/potting & he continues to show no signs of distress; I am slightly "gun shy" around Junipers, as I lost a plant last year to unknown causes..he just "up & died", rather suddenly with little warning except for some tip browning..it bothers me when I lose a plant, and more so when I don't have a clue as to why?

Here is a close-up of this little tree, after some minor pruning, as with the "Blue Star" to expose his "bones" more advantageously; I want people to see the tree, under the foliage. I feel pretty good about how this tree is looking & his apparent good health..hope we can keep that mode, going forward.

Update: Japanese Maple

Nov. 26
Last night, I was afraid that I'd be writing about how my Japanese Maple was dying, but he looks much better this morning. I continued foliar-feeding w/ liquid seaweed & he is responding..there's no hope for the infected leaves, but I do see some back-budding lower on the main trunk & those buds do not look infected..keeping my fingers crossed!

Update: "the Fremont'

Nov. 26 - Update on Fremont Cottonwood

Good News!.a close look this morning revealed no blackened or wilted-looking leaves..hopefully, we've nipped the infection or fungus that was causing the problem, in the bud..watered/Fed (UB)

What Did You Do Today?

Nov. 25, 2025

 Another clear sunrise..no wind..I don't know if the plants are ready to get back to a regular daily routine, but I sure am. I think the first item on the agenda should probably be to see if anybody needs watering..I haven't watered since last Wed-Thur, but with the soaking they got last week & over the weekend, I have been more concerned with drying them out..wet roots invite fungi, which causes root rot, which is the commonest cause of death of containerized plants.

• First up, the Dragon Tree was dry, which slightly encouraged me, because he came out of the rains very wet & not looking well..the combo of cold & wet over consecutive days doesn't allow for any recovery time, so I have had him in the primo, morning-sun spot for 2 mornings now & my intention was to dry him out. I foliar-fed him yesterday & he is looking better. Watered/Fed (UB)
• Using a hygrometer (see My Magic Water-Wand) I checked each plant, but most of trees were well-hydrated, so no takers. Some of smaller plants, mostly succulents, were dry, due to the 50% gravel composition of their potting mix, I think. (it drains better)
• Pruning: did some minor pruning on the Laurel Sumac..strictly cosmetic;
• Removed a complete branch on the Pittosporum having contemplated doing so for some time..each major branch has 2 sub-branches but the sub-branch we pruned was the 3rd sub, which threw the plant our of balance.
• HoneySuckle II showed no effects of yesterdays pruning, where he lost a major branch.
• Spent some time moving plants around, in order to maximize what sun they got, according to what I think each needs.

After the Storm

 Nov. 23, 2025

Today dawned to a cloudless sky, clear blue & no wind..precious sun shines on the patio, after a week of record-setting rain & cold temps (for southern Cal) , the plants & I are looking forward to drying-out & warming-up.

Fact: average rainfall for November, going back 30 years, is a little less that 1 inch; the 2 storm systems we encountered last week dumped 2-5 inches on the region. Our local rainfall ranged from 2.4 - 4 inches, depending on location.

I reported on the Japanese Maple Issue , which was a pre-existing condition, but probably made worse by the extended cold/wet. Yesterday, while moving plants into what sun we had, I discovered a leaf exhibiting the same black splotches, on my Fremont Cottonwood; a native California tree. Also, my Madagascar Dragon looked like a wet-dog when I moved him into the sun; hopefully he will snap out of the "blah's" as he dries out.

Besides these, I'm also worried about the 2 new trees which were potted just hours before the rain began (see Unpacking 2 New Trees). Thankfully, the rest of the "little trees" seem to have come through in good shape & most are showing visible growth, probably due to the clean, fresh rainwater..after being raised on municipal tap water, the rain was like the difference between instant coffee & a fresh-brewed espresso.

Japanese Maple Issue

Nov. 19, 2025 - 

Over the last day or so, I noticed that my Japanese Maple was looking disheveled, but figured it was due to the storm & that JM's don't like being wet & cold. Upon closer inspection, I saw that some of the leaves had discolored tips..in fact, the tips were turning a blue-black color, as you can see in this enlarged photo (left)

I began researching possible causes for this discoloration & learned that it indicates a circulatory problem, possibly root restriction or damage to the roots. Either way, this changes my plan & probably overall strategy for this tree.

Nov. 20, 2025 - Regardless of my long-standing plan to wait until winter & dormancy, it will be necessary to de-pot this plant, today if possible, & take a good, hard look at the roots & the root system for signs of rot, infestation, or constriction due to overgrown or potbound root growth. If there is rot, I will remove the affected portions or treat them if it is an infestation or some sort. Now I have no choice..I'm going to have to re-pot him as a consequence..

I will post updates to this item as the day progresses. 

(to be continued)

 He came out of his nursery pot fairly easily, due to still being semi-saturated from the last few days of rain. This plant was NOT root bound..no circling roots, no feeder roots reaching for the surface. But I wanted to get a better look at the roots than just what I could see,so I began removing the compacted soil mix, in order to get a better look at the roots ball & to see if I could see anything amiss with the potting mix that it had been growing. 

Managed to remove about 50% of the soil..very wet, but not muddy.. what I saw now were the rest of the root ball, & the feeder roots. The mature roots looked normal, but the feeder root growth was all on one side, with a large gap on the opposite side of the root ball.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that perhaps when this plant was potted, a large air space went undetected & created a perfect spot for fungal growth..dark, humid, presence of oxygen.. Since I was going to re-pot, I went ahead & pruned the straggly roots so they were even & re-potted.

Now it's just a "wait & see" as to whether or not this tree can recover, given a fresh start in well-draining potting soil. Additionally, I am foliar-feeding the affected leaves to help them heal the damage done by the fungal infection.

You can monitor the Japanese Maple's progress as time goes on by "clicking" on Japanese Maple on the right-hand side of the front Page

Unpacking 2 New Trees

Nov 18, 2025

Received a shipment, yesterday, of what I hope will be 2 new members of our tree collection, or rather, 2 seedlings..a Pacific Crabapple & a Flowering Dogwood. Ordered via the Internet, direct from the breeder, shipped/delivered via USPS, these specimens arrived in a cardboard tube

First job is unpacking the trees from their shipping tube, carefully & extracting the packaged seedlings. 

This is the Pacific Crabapple(left) & has a plastic envelope protecting the juvenile roots & root "plug" which retains the shape of the propagation tray it came out of.

Next step is to give the seedlings a good drink of water..I let them soak overnight.

During the soak, some of the loose soil washed away & revealed that both of these seedlings had healthy, white roots..the Crabapple is the larger of the 2 & will fit into a standard training pot that I use for almost all of my trees when they first arrive.

The Dogwood is smaller & fit nicely into a previously used pot. Now I will "water them in" & keep a close eye on them for the next few days. This is the most critical stage of their lives when they are vulnerable & have not developed any defenses against disease or insects that prey on young plants.

If they live, I will start a dedicated History page for each & post it to the list, so that you will be able to see each plants progression as they grow into mature "little trees in little pots".

Nov. 30 - Update

Both of these seedlings survived 5 days in-transit, and nearly 2 weeks since they were potted & both are showing signs of growth, so I have formally welcomed them into the collection, live or die, & created permanent Photo/History pages for each, which have been added to the list of speciman trees.

They can be found at Pacific Crabapple (Malus Fusca) and Flowering Dogwood (Cornus Florida) respectively. To see the complete article showing the process of receiving, unpacking, potting, etc. see Unpacking 2 New Trees.

Weather Widget Down?

 Yes, we know that the Weather Widget isn't working this morning..according to Google, the problem is with Cloudflare that provides services for many corporations, websites & API's like the Weather Widget. You can read more about the outage here: article -"Cloudflare Outage..." The widget will start working again as soon as Cloudflare fixes the problem at its end.

Nevermind..it's fixed!

New Features Added

 The inclement weather this weekend has prohibited any outdoor gardening, but it has given me an opportunity to work on the blog and add a couple of features that I want to tell you about.

Google Translator: On the upper right-hand side of the homepage you will see a new feature labeled "Translate", with a drop-down menu that allows you to view my blog in any of 110 different languages. Try it  yourself..just "click-on" Select Language , pick a language & enjoy.

The other feature is embedded in the Blogger code (Blogger is Google's blogging software). If you "click" on any photo on the blog, it will open in a full-size version & display all of the other photos on that page as thumbnails along the bottom of the screen. You can scroll through all those photos without having to read the narrative. So, if you're searching for a particular photo, you can review them en masse' as opposed to one at a time.

Nov 17, 2025 - UPDATE:

This morning I added another new feature to the blog that seems highly appropriate after the last few days..a 

Weather Widget . Placed in the upper-right corner, it will most likely be the first thing you see when you log in..enjoy.

Rain, Rain & More Rain

Nov. 16, 2025 

This is our 3rd straight day of rain..very much a typical early, taste-of-winter storm for us. This storm has been a real "soaker"with few breaks in-between the squalls carrying tropical moisture in addition to a preview of the coming rainy season that we call "winter".

My "little trees" not only  came through this storm, they are absolutely thriving..they look happier & healthier this morning than usual, due to the rain that has cleaned the air and given the plants a deep drink of clean, fresh water & hopefully flushed many of the toxins & chemical water treatment residues that build-up over time.

Unfortunately, I only have access to municipal water here, which is not great. The only alternative is either bottled water or some sort of water filtration system, which sounds extreme, just to water some plants, but seeing the visible improvements to their foliage, posture, color makes me think that I need to spend some time finding out if I can improve the situation at a reasonable cost.

the calm before the storm..

Nov. 12-13, 2025

There's a BIG low-front, probably the 1st Alaska Low of the season moving in & the weather forecasts are calling for a multi-day rain event, statewide. Looking at the weather radar, you can see that this one might be our first real winter storm. Keeping that in mind, I want to get a few things done before the rain hits.

There are a number of trees that need their potting mix refreshed, the soil having settled, due to compaction & loss of soil due to frequent watering. Also, this will give me an excuse to get a look at the roots & to get a general sense of the plants health & rate of growth since their last re-pot.

First victim, Dracaena or Dragon Tree: de-potted & immediately saw impressive root growth, with long, white (healthy) roots encircling the root ball, as well as many feeder roots fanning out from the center. I unwound the circling roots & was pretty surprised at the amount of root growth..if you're interested in knowing more about this process & how the plant was affected, you can read a more detailed account on this plants history page if you click here 

Next up was my Star Jasmine: this little tree has been totally trouble-free, to the extent that I had forgotten to register him & set-up a History page. The Jasmine, like the Dracaena, showed what I considered impressive root growth, which required substantial pruning before re-potting in a small bonsai tray..your can read a more detailed account & view photos here 

What Did You Do Today?

Laurel Sumac

Nov. 9, 2025

In spite of the warm weather we've had, the calendar doesn't lie & the shorter days & cooler nights presage our "winter"and I find myself preparing by re-potting plants &/or simply refreshing the potting medium that has served it's purpose..for young, healthy, growing plants, about 6 mo's seems to be the yardstick, at least for my trees.

I've been growing this tree (in a training pot) for several months, while periodically pruning him for height. Over the months, I've been able to reduce his overall height by roughly 50%. The time has come for the next step in attempting to train him to live in a container.

Once I de-potted him & removed most of the soil & exposed the rootball, I decided to take a chance & skip the 2nd training pot & give him, for what might be, a permanent berth in a small ceramic bowl (pic) that needed a tenant.

As with all of the trees in my collection, the Sumac has it's own Album which documents it's development & growth, which you can access & follow by clicking-on  Laurel Sumac here or in the menu on the r-side of this page.

Bonsai Pics from China

A friend of mine & his wife are vacationing in China. He visited me here in Ontario a couple of weeks ago, before his trip & I took him to Eastern Leaf, the Bonsai nursery in Chino. So, he sent me those snapshots taken when they were visiting a Buddhist monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan with a population of over 20 million. It is also famous for the Giant Panda Breeding program. The practice of Bonsai traces its origins to China.

What Did You Do Today?

 Nov. 4, 2025

• Gave Madagascar Dragon Tree a "haircut"; I do this 2-3 times per year.
• Watered & Fed everybody: the plants, the cats, the whole fam-damily..
• Cut my ankle & bled all over the place.

Happy Birthday Pittosporum (Wheelers Dwarf)

 Nov 1, 2025

It is a year since this I brought this dude home, so one day being as good as another, I declare Nov 1 as his birthday. 

    

AFTER

BEFORE

If you want to learn more about this plant & see his transition to the present, click on the Pittosporum Album in the right-hand column.