Eighteen Year Larch Progression
This tree was collected ca. 1995 by John Biel in preparation for the IBC ’97 convention in Toronto. Dozens of cedars and larches were collected to be used as workshop material for that event, and afterwards they were dispersed around North America with their new owners. If you’ve seen or heard of a thuja or larix in the USA that was “collected in Canada some time ago”, there is a fair chance that it was collected by Reiner Goebel or John Biel in the early ’90s in preparation for the convention. John and Reiner are two of the old guard of the Toronto bonsai scene.
Marc Noelanders styled this larch during a workshop at IBC ’97 and the new owner took it home. Unfortunately the owner passed away a year later and Reiner Goebel inherited the tree.
Here is the oldest picture I have of the tree in 1998.
1998
The tree developed quickly in Reiner’s hands – here it is in 2004:
2004
In 2006 it was potted into an outstanding Horst Heinzlreiter pot. At this point the tree was near its prime, with dense ramification.
2006
Reiner is doing well, but as of this year is completely retired from bonsai. I bought this tree from him in 2015 and it was in a state of decline. It had not been pruned for a few years and most of the interior growth was dead. The tree was also quite weak – I don’t think it had been repotted since the previous image in 2006 (9 years prior).
May 2015
The best features of this tree are the stunning old bark and the exceptional nebari (collected larches with good nebari are very rare). To highlight the elegant trunk and delicate bark, I removed the majority of the old low branches which had gotten too thick. This was a difficult decision as the branches had incredible character and old bark all the way out to the secondary branches. However, major changes were necessary in order to come up with a design that brings out the key features of the tree and is sustainable for many years into the future.
July 2015
A few weeks ago I sat down with this tree and did some rough wiring. This is the best solution I could come up with. I’m pretty sure it isn’t better than the original design, but the important thing is this tree can be maintained in this image for a long time. I would really like to add a secondary trunk on the left side to make it a twin trunk, however it will be difficult to find a small larch which has comparable bark characteristics. Next year it will be planted either in a nanban-style container or on a flat stone.
July 2016
Nebari and bark detail
Delicate old larch bark
August 2016
Bending a Heavy Jin and Initial Styling of a Cascade Thuja
I collected this cedar in 2013 and only this year decided to style it as a full cascade. The big character jin jutting towards the lower left is amazing, but presents a practical challenge for getting the tree into a classic cascade pot. Instead of removing it, I thought it would be interesting to try to bend it flush to the trunk. In addition to solving the pot problem, it would also add some thickness to the base of the trunk, which has some distracting reverse taper.
The cascade style is often a solution for a tree that emerges from the soil with a sharp bend.
Before bending the jin. This image also better shows the reverse taper of the trunk.
Some of the jin had to be shortened so it could clear the soil surface when bent in. I hate removing ancient deadwood from collected trees, but sometimes it is necessary to realize the design.
The elbow of the jin was notched and some wood removed from the back. It was also wrapped in a wet rag several days before the operation.
Strategic parts of the jin were protected with aluminum foil then steamed with a torch to facilitate the bending. Two clamps were used to crank the jin in.
We were amazed that the jin did not show signs of cracking or tearing. When flush with the trunk, it was secured with two stainless steel screws.
A better look at the bent jin.
The bent jin from the back.
After setting the basic structure. The two unnecessary branches will be kept for a year or two until the main foliage mass gains more vigour. Hopefully this will help minimize dieback of the two live veins, both of which are visible from the front.
Photoshop without sacrifice branches. The crown needs to be about 30% larger to better balance out the massive trunk.
Image from May 2015 repotting. This tree has a surprisingly compact root ball and while it will not be easy to get this into a cascade pot, I think it will be possible without any major operations.
Some Images from the Royal Botanical Gardens Bonsai Show
The Bonsai Society @ RBG put on a show this past weekend that was both well-executed and well-attended. Here are just a few of the many excellent trees that were on display.
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- Acer palmatum
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- Acer palmatum
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- Thuja occidentalis
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- Pinus thunbergii
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- Thuja occidentalis
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- Buxus sp.
Blauuw Juniper Raft Planted on Limestone Slab
I’ve been working on this tree since 2013 and some of that work is documented here. Recently a friend helped me plant it on a natural limestone slab which I collected from a lakeshore. We decided to make some modifications to the slab, one thing lead to another, and it turned out to be a much larger project than I expected.
The photos below tell the story.
First, the final product. The soil surface was top dressed with shredded sphagnum.
First we drilled holes for wire ties. Initially, this was all we planned to do to the slab.
We then decided it would be a good idea to use a belt sander (with a grinding belt) to flatten some parts of the bottom so it would sit properly on a flat surface.
This stone has a very narrow section which I knew would be problemmatic when planting time came. The solution? Extend it using another piece of limestone. Here we are rough-fitting the best stone we could find lying around.
We used a tile saw to reduce the thickness of the new piece of limestone.
Two galvanized nails (heads removed) were used as rebar to support the new piece.
Concrete adhesive was used to permanently affix the two pieces together.
The final slab ready to accept the juniper forest. The new piece is pretty obvious, but it is in the back and will blend in better after the stone builds up some patina.
A muck retaining wall was used. The muck was an eyeballed mix of clay, akadama, sphagnum, peat, and water.
Still not done. After planting, we used a grinder to improve some of the edges, particularly the extending left side which is a focal point of the stone.
Professional Image of Thuja occidentalis
This twin trunk thuja has progressed well since it was collected in Spring 2013. It was styled in the summer for the first time. While the foliage is still quite immature and lacking density, I am happy with where the image is going and it is becoming hard to imagine this tree without the lovely pot by Erick Križovenský’.
It was shown for the first time last weekend at the Toronto Bonsai Society Fall Show and Sale. The entire show was photographed by one of our members Mike Pochwat, who is a professional photographer. When the full album is available, I will share the link here.
We are extremely fortunate to have such a talented photographer in our show, and that he was generous enough to take his time to photograph our trees. Meeting great people like this is just one of the many reasons why I always encourage bonsai enthusiasts to join a local club.
Happy autumn to everyone! A busy time of year for us cold-climate bonsai nuts.
Thuja occidentalis
Sandblasting Some Large Eastern White Cedars
Prior to last week I had only tried sandblasting on one small cedar. The results were excellent, but I was limited to using my friend’s small parts sandblasting cabinet which could only handle a shohin sized tree. Recently, however, a member of our club got a full sized sandblasting tank and offered to let me try it out on some larger trees. Often sandblasting is done in an enclosed tent or room, but we just did it out on his lawn.
This tree was collected in spring 2013. Last year I did a rough initial cleaning on it using hand tools, but with a craggy old thing like this, sandblasting is the most efficient way to clean away all the old dead bark while preserving the details of the deadwood. Many of the cracks and crevices are impossible to access with hand tools. Sandblasting should be a once-in-a-lifetime event for a tree. Once it is done, the deadwood can be maintained over the years with gentle brushing (water and toothbrush) and lime sulfur application (although this is often unnecessary on thuja as their deadwood will naturally bleach in the sun as long as it is clean).
We used aluminum oxide media at 50-90 psi.
The tree before sandblasting. The trunk was wet at this point as it had been raining, so it is much darker looking than it actually is.
Preparation is important. Covering the soil prevents it from getting blown away. Covering the foliage is absolutely necessary – it will die if it is hit by the media. We chose to cover the live vein with modelling clay as insurance, although this is not strictly necessary if you are careful -the bark is surprisingly resistant to sandblasting. I’ve seen pictures from Takeo Kawabe’s book (Kimura’s student) who seems to sandblast junipers with no live vein protection.
After about two hours of sandblasting. 90% of that time was spent drinking beer and waiting for the tank to re-pressurize. Sandblasting requires a high CFM compressor and the one we were using was unable to keep up for more than a minute or two.
Unwrapped.
The medium we used left a slight texture behind on the deadwood but it is all we had to work with. I am still very happy with the results. The live veins will be further defined over the coming years.
This heavy break will unfortunately be hidden in the back of the tree. It is gorgeous but there are always compromises with yamadori.
Another candidate for sandblasting. This tree was probably collected in the 80s and was once a bonsai, but had been growing as a garden shrub for 10-15 years. Most of the branches are unusable and it will be a challenge to bring this one back. I’ve been rehabilitating it for two years, but you can only expect so much backbudding from a thuja.
After blasting. No trunk protection was used to sandblast this one.
You can see where some of the bark was blasted away, but nothing too major. I will likely polish the bark on this one anyway.
Original front of the tree 20 or so years ago. It is likely to become the new back as the deadwood is quite flat and the inverse taper more pronounced.
An old picture of the tree from the Toronto Bonsai Society website.
This tree was also sandblasted then a basic structure was set. Sorry, no before picture. It was collected in the 90s by a senior club member and is also quite overgrown, but not as bad as the previous one. It could be presentable in two years.
Detailed Wiring of Big Eastern White Cedar Complete
Previous posts about this tree:
http://lakeshorebonsai.com/?p=2331
http://lakeshorebonsai.com/?p=2172
It is looking very sparse right now due to the removal of old foliage and unnecessary branches, but hopefully it will fill in before the end of this growing season. Its current sparseness gives an opportunity to see the strange relationship between the two trunks. As the foliage fills in, the pads and the spaces between them will become more well defined.
This tree is big, about 65 cm tall from the lip of the pot, and weighs about 75 lbs. The two top jins are of equal height – a problem which I will address the next time I work on the tree.
This is a photoshop adjusted picture showing how I would like to reduce the top jin on the right, and bend the jin on the left so that it better matches the overall movement of the tree.
Right side. I’ve always struggled with the flatness of the main trunk, but yamadori always have their faults.
Back
Left side
Larch Thread Grafting Woes
Most of the old crusty larches I collect need grafting. It seems the older they are, the farther the living foliage is from the interesting part of the trunk. Three thread grafts were started on this larch in spring 2014 and all three of them failed this summer (despite not yet being separated from the donor branch).
Three dead grafts. The middle one was the most important as that was to become the new leader of the tree. The one above that… well it was too high i.e. a mistake.
I’m not sure why they failed, but I think it might have had something to do with long period of time elapsed. Ideally, once started, a thread graft will grow rapidly and then take within a few months. Unfortunately, these grafts hardly elongated last year therefore they had no change of reaching the thickness required for fusion until they really started to take off this year. But in July of this year when they should have been fusing, they were instead girdled and died. This is purely anecdotal, but I believe that the callus that formed around the edges of the drilled hole was somehow too hardened-off or otherwise too old to readily form a graft union with the threaded branches by the time they were thick enough to do so. Or maybe the drilled hole didn’t form a callus at all.
Anyway, they failed and I needed to re-graft. Late summer is not a good time for thread grafting larch, so I tried a traditional approach graft instead.
I’m not sure what these nails are really designed for, but in Japan they are commonly used for grafting. With this graft they are not going through the branch, but are just adjacent to it. With thicker branches it is OK to hammer them right through the branch. They do an outstanding job of creating a very snug graft junction.
And now we wait…
First Styling of Small Thuja
This is one of my smallest eastern white cedars, collected in the spring of 2012. It took longer than it should have to reach peak health following collection because quite a bit of mucky field soil remained in the root ball until spring 2014 when it was completely bare rooted. This year it was healthy enough for a rough initial styling. Next year it will be planted in a new pot at the correct angle and the deadwood will be cleaned. It could be show ready by fall 2016.
One year after collection, still in an untouched state.
Healthy and ready for work.
After recent work. Growing a new apex is the priority for the rest of this season. This tree has some excellent deadwood which is still obscured under dirt and dead bark.
Blaauw Juniper Raft
This raft style Juniperus chinensis ‘Blaauw’ was started 10-15 years ago. I acquired it in 2013 and after two years of preparation (thinning, gaining strength) it received its initial styling over the last few days. A lot of raft style Blaauw junipers were created in the Toronto area 10-20 years ago, when upright single trunk Blaauw junipers were readily available at garden centers. As the Blaauw juniper has fallen out of fashion in garden centers, so has creating Blaauw rafts.
I find multiple trunk bonsai the hardest style to work on and photograph since there are so many variables to consider. Parts of this group are still too crowded for my taste, despite having removed one of the trunks. For now though it will relax for another year.Currently we are undergoing somewhat of a heat wave in the Toronto area, so this planting will be under shade cloth with the occasional misting for a couple of weeks to help recover from the work.
As far as forest designs are concerned, this one is unusual, with the largest trunk being near the outside of the group. I think this unusual design makes it unique and very reminiscent of a Georgian Bay vista. To further emphasize this connection, I would like to plant it on a flat natural stone next spring.
Juniperus chinensis “Blaauw” raft
Last week before work began. Can you find the trunk that was removed?
As acquired in 2013. The trunks on the right side were extremely weak and discoloured.
Eastern white pines on Georgian Bay
Twisty Twin Trunk Thuja in Erik Križovenský Pot
This serpentine tree was collected in the spring of 2013. I’ve always admired Erik Križovenský’s bonsai containers and thought this tree would be a great candidate for his unique style so, in 2014, I commissioned him to make one for this tree. Many people have tried to imitate Erik’s style of containers, but I’ve never seen anyone get it quite right. Furthermore, Erik has an incredible eye and designs containers to specifically match the style of each tree.
Erik is based in Slovakia and his work can be seen on his website Atelier Bonsai Element.
I hope you enjoy the following photo essay.
Spring 2014, still in an untouched state one year after collection.
This tree recovered faster than most, so received a rough initial styling in June 2014. This was the picture I sent to Erik for his design input.
Erik’s initial design. After some minor revisions, I gave him the OK to make the pot.
As of last week it had recovered from the repotting and was ready for work.
After deadwood work, thinning, and detail wiring. If it fills out as planned it could potentially be displayed this fall.
Satsuki Work and New Photography Backdrop
I acquired this “Kinsai” satsuki azalea in March 2014 from the Kennett Collection Reduction Sale. This event was the most significant bonsai sale in North American history and probably one of the most significant outside of Asia. According to a Facebook post by Doug Paul, owner of the Kennett Collection, “all the Satsuki’s were purchased from Kobayashi San in Kanuma City”. At first I thought this was referring to contemporary bonsai master Kunio Kobayashi, but I’ve since learned it is referring to Kobayashi Sangyo Co. Ltd. which is a wholesaler, producer, and exporter of satsuki azaleas.
While this tree has an awesome trunk and nebari, it still needs years of work before it reaches its peak. It has a number of significant wounds that, while not overly large, had not been treated with much care – probably because it was grown for wholesale purposes. Also, it seems that detailed branch thinning hasn’t been done for years. As a result, the ramification was overly dense in need of major work. Last year it was only repotted, watered, fertilized, and flower buds were removed in order to build up strength. The wounds were also carved back and sealed so they can continue to heal over. This year it was lightly repotted again and after seeing that it was extremely vigorous, I set about drastically thinning the tree and doing some structural wiring. I am relatively new to satsuki bonsai, but I know by now that they are incredibly dense growers and it seems that drastic thinning work like this will be necessary every 10 or so years, as is the case with most trees.
Before any work. Even though I plucked the flower buds last summer I still missed a couple dozen.
None of the satsuki at the sale had labels therefore I was delighted to learn it was a kinsai when it first flowered some 3 months after purchase. The spidery scarlet flowers are certainly unique. Kinsai is also known for small leaves and a slightly reddish bark colour and winter foliage.
A main branch after thinning and wiring. New growth should explode all along these branches in a few weeks. Then it can be maintained for a few years with diligent thinning and much less wiring. At least that is the plan.
About halfway done. The idea is to make tiers of foliage which will produce tiers of flowers.
All done and photographed in front of my new backdrop. This certainly makes it hard to hide any faults of the tree. Clearly the first branch on the left needs to be shortened but that will happen after the new buds appear. I am also considering removing or layering that lowest back branch poking out on the right.
The backdrop is just a roll up projector screen which I can hang on my fence. This makes it much easier for me to photograph my larger trees (of which I have more every year, it seems). Having it mounted outside also allows me to take advantage of natural light which I find makes taking decent pictures much easier, especially since I have a pretty crappy camera.
March 2014, as purchased and in front of my old backdrop aka the wall in my kitchen.
Yew and Ginkgo Spring Images
Taxus cuspidata ‘nana’, 10 years from nursery stock. This year it will be thinned and wired again.
Ginkgo biloba ‘chi-chi’, 7 years in development from imported raw material. Probably started as an air layer in Japan.
Bonsai is (Usually) Not a Rescue Mission
The phrase “bonsai is not a rescue mission” is sometimes used to discourage eager bonsai enthusiasts from trying to make a bonsai from every plant they find. Instead, we should focus on the best material we can possibly get our hands on, thus increasing our chances of making something we can be proud of.
Sometimes, however, bonsai really is a rescue mission. Story time!
Last August I responded to an online ad where someone was selling their collection. Not knowing what to expect from the vague description and two blurry pictures of some tropicals, I arrived surprised to see a very old and once impressive bonsai collection in its final death throes. This elderly gentleman had been doing bonsai quietly in his backyard for 30-40 years, away from the clubs and shows, and now was in the predicament of having to sell everything due to failing health.
He had (understandably) put off selling them for years, but in those last few years the trees suffered greatly. To make matters worse, everything was planted in pretty much pure topsoil and was weak to begin with, therefore many were unable to handle the stresses of erratic watering.
Some of the tougher species were still hanging in there, but other more finicky ones like this impressive Japanese white pine had no chance.
Imported Japanese white pine.
After much haggling I went home with two larches, a ginkgo, and a Japanese maple – three very tough species that had managed to survive but were now in serious need of rehabilitation. This was August 2014 and some of the trees were already showing fall colours- A sign of definite stress.
I’m happy to report that all four trees survived the winter and were completely barerooted and repotted this spring. They seem to be doing well and I anticipate that they will have recovered their strength by the end of this growing season.
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- American larch, as purchased last summer. This was definitely the strongest of the trees I bought, but still was obviously weak.
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- Budding out nicely this spring. A cool tree that is begging to be planted on a stone slab.
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- Back view.
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- Second larch, as purchased. It is never a good sign to see fall colour in August. However, the tree had set winter buds so I though it was worth a chance.
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- A testament to the strength of larches, the tree is budding out nicely after transplanting. I have a feeling this might be Japanese larch based on the bark and needles. Regardless, it has been grown in a container for a very long time.
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- Ginkgo biloba, as purchased. Again, showing obvious signs of stress. You can clearly see the pure garden soil these trees are potted in.
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- Budding out after transplanting. It is extremely rare to see a ginkgo with any sort of movement in the trunk. While the movement is pretty monotonous and artificial looking, this tree is cool just because it is unusual. Definitely more of a penjing feel to this one.
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- Lastly, the Japanese maple as purchased, clearly extremely weak, already having lost most of the branches. Very, very root bound.
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- Budding out this spring. Fortunately the main trunk is throwing new buds… for a while I though it had completely died back to the first branch. It may be hard to see the value in this tree – certainly it is a long term project. But it has a nice trunkline and is not grafted. That along makes it worthy of some attention.
Larch Madness
If you follow the traditional guidelines, the best time to wire and repot Larix laricina is when the spring buds are just starting to open. This is usually the most practical time to unwire larches too, because around here it is the only time they are without needles and not frozen in the ground. This “spring buds just starting to open” window can be very short – often just two weeks in mid to late April. Needless to say, if you have a good number of larches like I do, spring gets pretty busy. Add to that repotting a couple dozen more trees, building a new bench set up in my yard, and a couple of collecting trips, and you have an insanely busy last few weeks.
Here is one larch that I recently worked on. This tree changed hands a couple times in the last few years, and I snatched it up almost exactly one year ago as soon as I had the opportunity. I was collected about 20 years ago yet has spent most of that time in bonsai limbo, without a coherent design. Most of the finer tertiary branches used to create this structure were grown last year.The tree was also gently repotted into a simple Yamaaki container that suits the semi-cascade style pretty well.
After a few more years of ramification development, this will be a killer chuhin sized larch, and I am proud to be its new caretaker.
Larixi laricina, approximately 25 cm from soil line. April 18 2015.
Winter 2013 as acquired.
Siberian elm shohin
This small Ulmus pumila was displayed at this year’s Toronto Bonsai Society Fall Show and Sale.
Ulmus pumila shohin. Yellow pot by Sugiura Keisen, accent pot by John Pitt.
The tree was developed from a naturally layered low branch from a much larger elm that was collected from a hedge, along with many others.
The shohin elm was a low back branch on this larger tree (circled in red).
After separating the rooted branch in April 2011.
Summer 2011.
Thuja occidentalis Foliage Shedding
This is peak season for eastern white cedar foliage shedding. While not at all a health concern, it is somewhat unsightly and can leave your tree looking quite sparse.
To reduce autumn foliage shedding, I’ve been following the advice of Reiner Goebel and making sure I prune my cedars some time around mid-August. This year the results are really showing. Bear in mind that if a tree is early in it’s development or recently collected, it is often better to avoid pruning and just let it shed.
Pruned August 21st.
Pruned August 15th
Pruned August 20th
Not pruned
Not pruned
Not pruned
Thuja occidentalis Initial Cleaning
This large Thuja was collected in Spring 2013 and this year has been growing well enough that I have started some basic work. In the first year of collection, I try to do absolutely nothing to a tree – not even move it around the yard. Cleaning work like this invariably involves bumps and vibrations, so I don’t do it until the tree is obviously strong and established in the grow box – typically the second year.
This is not a thorough cleaning – just the removal of bark that come off easily, getting piles of detritus out of cracks and crevices, and cleaning the deadwood with water and a toothbrush to get rid of algae. After this it is easier to study the tree and identify the path of the live veins. As the live veins swell up over the next few years, they will be defined further.
The thin dead bark that is really stubbornly adhered to the deadwood will gradually be picked at over the next few years. Removing it right now would require aggressive scraping or rotary brushes that would ruin the natural texture of the ancient wood. I’m estimating this tree won’t be show ready for around ten years, so there is no point in rushing things. Cycles of wet-dry-freeze-thaw will aid the gentle removal of the bark.
Next spring it will be bare rooted and repotted into a much smaller pot or box. Like most collected Thuja, designing this tree will be a serious challenge. Semi cascade seems like the obvious direction but close examination reveals that there is no easy solution.
Before cleaning, likely front.
Before cleaning, likely back.
Before cleaning.
After cleaning, likely front.
After cleaning, likely back.
The thin layers of dead bark are the hardest to remove.
Defoliation of American Hornbeam Forest
This Carpinus caroliniana forest was made in the Spring of 2013 and this year it was defoliated for the first time. Owen Reich told me that American Hornbeam respond well to defoliation (maximum once per year) and indeed the results were positive. One issue I noticed is that as the second flush was coming in, some very vigorous leaves grew back at an accelerated pace and became very large. These were periodically removed to allow the smaller, less vigorous leaves to fill in at a more uniform pace.
The tree was defoliated May 31st, just after the new growth had hardened off. One month later, the second flush had filled in and hardened off.
May 20th, ten days before defoliation (I forgot to take a picture right before defoliating the tree). The leaves here are not quite hardened off.
May 31st immediately following defoliation.
The tree today, just over one month after defoliation. One major effect of defoliation was that the smaller interior shoots were allowed to open up. Many did not open up at all in the spring as all of the vigour went to the shoots of the exterior canopy. After defoliation, the density of the tree is much more uniform.
The new leaves are about 50% the size of the old ones. Very nice!
Exhibition Gallery: Bonsai Society at Royal Botanical Gardens
Click here or the image below to see a gallery of over 60 trees exhibited by the Bonsai Society at Royal Botanical Gardens to honour the 25th anniversary of the twinning of Itabashi, Japan with Burlington, Ontario.
Blue rug juniper bonsai exhibited at Royal Botanical Gardens.
2014 Toronto Bonsai Society Show Photo Gallery
The Toronto Bonsai Society is extremely fortunate to have a member who committed much of his time and energy to professionally photograph every tree at this year’s Spring Show (not to mention updating and maintaining the website). It is amazing the difference a professional quality photograph makes (and also amazing how it highlights the flaws in our trees!). Thank you Dan… even if you photographed my Potentilla from the back… doh! 🙂
Click here for the full gallery, or the image below.
Collected Thuja occidentalis by TBS member Mike M.
The Feels of Bonsai
According to Ryan Neil (see this video starting around 26 minutes, courtesy of the most excellent and prolific Bonsai Eejit), the overall feeling of a bonsai is determined by the combined directions of the trunk, main branch, and apex.
Three common scenarios are:
- Trunk, main branch, and apex all move in the same direction. This creates a calm, feminine bonsai.
- Trunk goes one way, but the apex and main branch go in the opposite direction. This creates tension.
- Trunk and apex the same way, but the main branch goes in the opposite direction. This creates dynamism and is rarely seen in Japanese bonsai.
Of course there are other scenarios such as the trunk and main branch going the same way while the apex goes off in the opposite direction. My guess would be that this creates imbalance thus it is difficult to design an attractive bonsai with this layout.
Ryan’s comments really stuck with me when I first saw this video. This is a simplified but useful approach to bonsai design. Of course, there are exceptions to the above scenarios just as there are exceptions to everything in bonsai.
When I was doing the initial wiring on this Thuja this weekend, I was aiming to create scenario #2 – Tension. Two trunks which strongly move to the left and apices/branches which strongly move to the right. This made a fun and compact design.
As a side note, my initial plan for this tree was to have everything moving to the left… trunks, branches, apices. It seemed like the most logical design. However, doing this would cover up the best feature of this tree – the two “kinks” in the trunks that boast some very nice deadwood. The current design makes it possible to emphasize those kinks and, importantly, makes a more compact tree.
Devilishly Sinuous Twin-Trunk Thuja
Trunk lines like this are what keep me trekking into the wild each year to scour for nature’s freaks. This tree was collected Spring 2013 and is gaining strength quickly. I am excited to do the initial work this summer.
Korean Hornbeam
I have been working on this korean hornbeam since 2006. A major mistake I have been making over the last four or five years has been overfertilizing in the spring. This has limited the development of fine ramification and as a result the growth is still somewhat coarse.
This spring it was thinned and wired. Owen Reich visited my garden last week and he made some adjustments to the positioning of the finer branches, adding more movement and natural lines to the branching.
Late April before cutting and wiring.
After cutting and wiring, before Owen Reich.
After Owen Reich’s adjustments. The details are a bit difficult to see as the tree is leafing out.
An early picture, as purchased.