Envy! Sheer envy! I love that container! And the juniper!

Do you suppose that sakkei would suit you more than bonsai?

I'm not familiar with the word sakkei,isn't that some type of alcohol you drink?
I must be missing something.
Anyway thank you ,I,m glad you liked it.And glad you could see it.When I tried to veiw the pics on the posting,I could not see anything.

I have a few more pics I'll post,I just wish I could figure out how to do it useing Photo bucket.
The large rock that was hollowed out I did 2 summers ago,It took me allsummer to finish.I did another one in early 2001.The rocks I moved with my tractor and some of them I could,nt lift I had to drag them into position.
As you can see my pojects move at a snails pace.
Thanks for leting me brag.

lp

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:337181}}

lp, did'nt see the first pictures but will try to go directly to the site after i get off GW.
The second post worked great. Is that the tallest the tree will get? How short can you keep them?

Someone who can drive a tractor and drag and shove rocks around is'nt bragging. She's telling it like it is. Look out world here comes lp!!!
vickie

Hello Vickie,

The Arborvitae I don't consider a bonsai,It will get tall, 40 ft or so.
Driving tractor and playing with rocks comes natural because I'm just a country boy.

lp

LOL! lp i stand corrected.Hope you were'nt offended. Just change the she to he and the statement still stands.

yep!! Us country folk will survive.
vickie

I cheated when it came to using the URLs you provided. I did a highlight, then went to Edit on my toolbar, Copied, then clicked into the address line - and Pasted. Worked just fine! (I'm using Firefox but it would probably work in IE.)

Sakkei's the one where you take something as gorgeous as your rock troughs and plant it up using a mxture of dwarf trees, elegant rocks - and, if you like, little figurines. After which you will definitely deserve a shot of sake (rice wine).

What do you use for carving your rocks? And what sort of rock is it? (I can manage pumice stone. I might have a go at scoria to make niches for those Tillandsia air plants - which I love.) Facing really tough rock with a diamond drill seems way out of my league. Is that what you do? Do you market them at all?

If you a Rocky Mountains rural: folk on that forum have some useful plant swaps...;-D. And they've always been friendly - even to foreign folk. (NZ isn't what you'd call 'local'!) From what they tell about their weather anything from those states should be tough enough to survive no matter what! Might be worth a look?

I have seen pics of trough planting W/miniature's, They are nice,I guess I would try that,but it would take yrs at the rate I go lately.
Mostly because I hav'nt found any stone laying around on my property that is softer than granite.

No to your Q whether I do this for profit.So far I've done 2 big and 1 small planter.I need inspuration from the rock before I'd do another.Besides what it cost me in time and effort I'd have to get hundreds of $$ plus shiping a 2-3 ton rock would cost a pretty penny.

By the way I,d like to see pics of some of yours or others that have trees or plants your proud of.

lp

I'm just the same with driftwood and turning blanks. Let the wood speak instead of bullying it into submission.

I suspect it's a country folks' thing: we wouldn't pay zillions for the things we do. (I'd rather make it myself!) But there definitely are people who would rather pay to have, who aren't cash-strapped, and to whom your crafting plus shipping fees would be negligible. So, if you have the inclination - you could probably find buyers.

Photos - I take MAGNIFICENT pictures of - blurs! You can imagine anything at all in what I produce. And, if it's bulb flower pics - suddenly my hands are steady - and I get a super picture of my ancient gardening shoes. Isn't that neat?! But, seriously, you might want to spend some time looking through the galleries attached to the forums. Some people are great botanical photographers.

And that 'Gardening with Stone' forum could be a source of ideas, too. You certainly have a gift with stone.

I had a book out from the library recently which, if you can get to a copy, might spark a few notions of your own: "Gardening on Pavement, Tables, and Hard Surfaces" by George Schenk. He did some interesting things with seedling conifers, does bonsai, and created fascinating plantings on rock walls. If you can - I found it fascinating, and very useful.

Thank you for those reading & gallery tips I'll have to check them out.

Last fall I planted 2 pinus longeava that are off to a good start,one of them must have grown 1/2 inch! can't wait until they get a bit bigger.Talk about plants growing to slow.I'll try to post more pics but they might just have to be 1 at a time.

lp

LOL! Today I chopped off about the same amount from one of my maples to get it to sprout in a different direction!

The Japanese larch is starting to sprout and my three Pinus radiata are starting to candle. I have this suspicion that spring might be arriving. And, when the persimmon comes into flower - we'll get the last frost of the season... :-(.

Species such as P radiata grow quickly here - a foot or more a year - which is why we use them in plantation forestry. Our native species grow much more slowly and have denser wood as a consequence; more like your arbor vitae do for you.

Reading your posts I got to thinking about my favourite trees. Birches (even if they do drop branches and twigs). Most maples. Kahikatea (native Dacrycarpus dacridioides). Eucalyptus ficifolia, Liriodendron, Knightia excelsa, Cryptomeria spp, - and the hand flower tree (just 'cos it is so different!)