(Autumn 2022) I collected this Camelia from an urban garden. An opportune collection derived from a garden redesign. With subtle and somewhat elegant movement, accompanied by that smooth bark, the tree showed some promise! The tree was estimated at a few decades old. Some foliage was kept to assist with recovery following a significant reduction at collection.The tree was in flower at the time, so it was great to get a glimpse of the flowers. If you do have control over collection timing, before ‘autumn’ flowering or spring would be best. (Jan 2023), the growth following the collection and further cut back. This was also the first time wired. Careful attention was maintained to ensure there was no wire bite as the branches set. (Jan 2025) Fast forward two years and the subject for today’s blog. The root base came with its challenges and last year I was grappling with whether to graft roots on or ground layer. I chose to ground layer for a few reasons. The first was, the root base where I placed the front was not good at all with many flaws, secondly, the wounds I felt were too large to heal well and thirdly by ground layering further up the trunk I could reduce the height of the tree. Using chalk I marked out where I wanted the new root base to form. No more wounds to deal with!A dramatic site! Removing a ring all the way around the tree. You are removing the bark, cambium and phloem and leaving behind the xylem that will still continue to provide the water transport to the foliage above the ring. The width of the ring is substantial to avoid any bridging. Building a box on top of a box. The structure to house the soil medium for the ground layer. My back hurts just thinking of carrying this back to the bench! The soil mix. For air-layers I use 100% sphagnum moss however there’s no real right or wrong here, so here’s my thinking. Being a ground layer I wanted to introduce some inorganic particles to the mix. The akadama is slightly acidic, what Camelias love, the sphagnum moss retains a lot of moisture and the pumice provides more oxygen to the mix. If I had Kanuma on hand I would have used this as well.And the completed job. The tree is currently 1.2m tall from the top of the second box, I expect the ‘finished’ tree to be at approx 1m tall. The tree had its spring flush and mid summer flush this year left untrimmed intentionally. More foliage up top to assist with creating roots now. With projects such as these it’s often the prep work before hand that is the measure of one’s success. To be intentional with your thought process and stick to it will see you in good stead. There is also a black mesh on top of the soil layer this is to stop the birds taking the moss and I added the plastic to increase the humidity. There are holes made into this to allow for watering. And now we wait!
Two Islands Bonsai 
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