Updating on elms I was planting and posting last year. They sprouted nicely and spent winter in largely neglected state just on the ground. Now it's time to give them some pots. I don't know yet what I'm going to do with this army (it's one of several similar pots).

I'm looking for some advice from people who have experience with hawthorn bonsai, especially if you've started them from seed.

Last year I tried air layering a mature hawthorn growing in my yard, and it was a complete failure. I recently talked with a family member who's been doing bonsai for years, and they told me hawthorns are notoriously difficult to air layer, to the point that many experienced growers don't even bother trying. At least that made me feel a little better about it.

My next thought is to grow one from seed. From what I've read, hawthorn seeds can take a year or even two before they germinate because of their dormancy requirements. I'm patient enough to wait if that's the best approach, but I'd love to hear from people who have actually done it.

A few questions I have:

• Have you had success growing hawthorn from seed, and is there anything you wish you had known before you started?
• Are there any tricks for improving germination rates or shortening the process?
• If you were starting a hawthorn bonsai today, would you choose seeds or another method instead?
• More generally, what advice would you give someone interested in starting bonsai from seed? Any common mistakes to avoid?

One other challenge I've run into is overwintering. I'm in USDA Zone 5b, and I've struggled to keep young trees healthy through the winter. If anyone in a similar climate has recommendations for protecting seedlings or young bonsai during dormancy, I'd really appreciate hearing what has worked for you.

Thanks in advance; looking forward to learning from people who know more before I commit to a project that's above my experience.

Just sharing a seed-grown alder that got its first shallow pot, I think it looks cute. Moss was self-growing on top of previous pot, hopefully they'll move on together.

Progress on a tree I transplanted one year ago in the middle of summer. It seems it overwintered quite well, even though first half of winter was cold and snowless and the second one was extremely cold and so snowy that many trees got bent permanently.

So today I transplanted the whole bunch of it's same-age saplings in a similar way. This looks quite unconventional, but there is sure higher survival rate for spruces when they are transplanted this way in my region.

5 yo rosemary tree, grown from seed, barely survived brutal frostbite (below -30) couple years ago resulting in much, much more asymmetry. We should probably transplant it soon, just no container of suitable size to be found now. I should probably start making those.

Check out this amazing bonsai artist from down under

Acer tataricum that randomly decided to grow in one of outdoor pots, transplanted, cut, 5 y.o., meets a sudden cold air mass.

I stripped the cambium on this long shoot and buried it in some soil and sphagnum moss with rooting hormone powder to try and add a new root to this tree. After a year or two when it has healed into the trunk I will cut both sides of the original branch and leave behind only the root portion.

A cute little Suillus bovinus (probably) grew with my COVID-time seed planted tree

I was just walking the street last week and got showered with this rare treasure - ample crop of ripe elm seeds. These seem to have very narrow germination time window, so I scooped as much as I could in my hands

and planted them between soil and quartz sand layers asap, with this density. Let's see if some germinate this year!

(I did similar thing 2 years ago and got some trees in pots; I also scattered some shovelfuls in forest, no way to tell if they managed to survive yet with all the undergrowth)

I'm not using my 6-BAP on this yet, I hope to select for natural germination ability and later propagate bonsai seeds into the wild if I can. This place totally needs more elms, with all the climate change.

Started this from a random seed found on a street about 5 years ago. Today is the first transplantation, if it survives, it's brothers and sisters will follow! Not sure it's optimal time for spruce transplantation, but the previous planter was 4 times smaller (soil footprint could be seen in center, with intact moss layer).

Sharing my first bonsai-to-be projects. My goal right now is just to get these happy in pots without any more fuss after getting them situated. The oaks just passed the 1 year mark in pots, taken from a mess of sprouts under the parent tree. I'm guessing these are common oaks. The pine saplings (probably Pinus sylvestris) were taken a few months ago from the seaside. The evergreen seedlings are who-knows-what until they mature; these were potted up after finding them growing around the property where there are a few varieties of conifers kicking around.

I'm not thrilled about the pines getting bunched up in one pot, even for basic acclimatization, but I didn't have any standard nursery pots on hand, and then a week passed, and then another. So since they weren't looking too stressed I figured it's best to kick that problem over to next year.