Revisiting old and growing a new collection - Acer 1

Despite having had a keen interest in Bonsai since the age of around 15, life and it's various priorities got in the way and I am only just re-visiting this passion now. Over 30 years later! With the wonders of the internet it is easy to track progress. This first entry is a picture of my small collection, which includes a couple of trees from the "old days" - which are getting pretty old by now. There are a few other trees which have been caretaken by my parents, which will come back into the fold soon. I'll dedicate an entry per tree to start with.

From rough memory I'll start with the oldest first, which is a rather grand looking Acer in the process of having the top section air layered:.

This Acer was one of my first serious purchases from a Bonsai nursery in Cornwall in Roughly 1992. It was a reasonable size sapling then, so overall it's probably 30 years old now. It's been grown in a large pot all that time. At one point the roots reaching down into the soil beneath the pot. It's got some nice girth to it, with a fairly nice nebari. This year's task is taking the top part off as an air layer (too good to waste) and working on getting two decent trees out if it. Getting the root system shallower on the original so it can get into a proper bonsai pot soon too.  Then some shaping and stimulate some back budding. A few more years to be a good specimen, but well on the way