Matt Jones
Seed
Hi all,
For Father's Day, everyone left me alone (just the way I like it!) so I thought I would try a first bonsai. This is my first post here, so I hope the pix come out ok.
Yes, yes, I know that some here really don't like Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) as a bonsai. Nonetheless, this what I did so far.
Any comments/criticisms are welcome.
Thanks,
Matt
1. Tree from a local nursery ($17). I'm guessing about 2 yrs old, because the main trunk is about 3/4" thick.
2. The trunk has a nice curve as it leaves the roots, which I will attempt to exploit later.
3. After pruning/trimming, before wiring/shaping. I'm trimming small branch sprouts 1/3 of the way up the trunk. Also trimming lower sprouts on all branches so that the remaining sprouts/leaves are generally pointing upwards. I'm also cutting off numerous branches to provide a "spiral staircase" look to the final tree. I also finger-pinch some younger distal shoots to create a taper from bottom to top, and to encourage bushier future growth closer to the trunk.
4 & 5. Wiring the trunk. Begin wiring and shaping by anchoring two 3.5 mm wires deep into the soil near the roots, following the angle of the trunk. Wire the trunk in a spiral, using two parallel wires because I know I want to create strong bends in the straight trunk, so I need double wires to give strength that will hold the desired bended shape until the tree grows into that shape.
6 & 7. The final shaped tree after bending the wired trunk, viewed from the front of the final display angle. The trunk starts from the roots at an angle toward the back, then spirals gently around to the front, finally straightening to vertical. The idea is to tell the story that this"ancient" tree has survived a lot of shifting ground (angle of initial trunk), wind and storms (twisting midtrunk and sparse branches and foliage) but finally reached equilibrium with its environment and found the sun by stretching above the surrounding canopy (straight vertical upper segment).
Next steps:
- I watered it mildly after repotting in the original pot with the original soil. Wanna let it sit and recover for a month or so.
- But meanwhile (tomorrow?) use some sealant to seal the many wounds where I removed branches. I also did a little damage to a few small sections of the bark, exposing the cambium, during wiring (but not all the way around, thankfully) so I need to seal these bits too.
- Use thin wire to shape the direction of some lower branches and provide more "motion".
- Repot into a decent flat shallow bonsai pot with bonsai soil mix, arrange the root display as desired, secure it to the pot with wire, fertilize, etc.
The whole process only took about 1.5 hours. We'll see if it lives., and survives the winter (I live in Wisconsin, and plan to leave it outside during winter - any suggestions about protecting it from freezing/frost etc?).
I think the vertical segment at the top may be too tall, and am considering lopping it off about 1/5 down from the top. In fact, a jagged jin spire at the top could give the impression of a previous lightning-strike, and add more "ancient character". But I'll have to think about this over the coming months and years.
Thanks,
Matt
For Father's Day, everyone left me alone (just the way I like it!) so I thought I would try a first bonsai. This is my first post here, so I hope the pix come out ok.
Yes, yes, I know that some here really don't like Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) as a bonsai. Nonetheless, this what I did so far.
Any comments/criticisms are welcome.
Thanks,
Matt
1. Tree from a local nursery ($17). I'm guessing about 2 yrs old, because the main trunk is about 3/4" thick.
2. The trunk has a nice curve as it leaves the roots, which I will attempt to exploit later.
3. After pruning/trimming, before wiring/shaping. I'm trimming small branch sprouts 1/3 of the way up the trunk. Also trimming lower sprouts on all branches so that the remaining sprouts/leaves are generally pointing upwards. I'm also cutting off numerous branches to provide a "spiral staircase" look to the final tree. I also finger-pinch some younger distal shoots to create a taper from bottom to top, and to encourage bushier future growth closer to the trunk.
4 & 5. Wiring the trunk. Begin wiring and shaping by anchoring two 3.5 mm wires deep into the soil near the roots, following the angle of the trunk. Wire the trunk in a spiral, using two parallel wires because I know I want to create strong bends in the straight trunk, so I need double wires to give strength that will hold the desired bended shape until the tree grows into that shape.
6 & 7. The final shaped tree after bending the wired trunk, viewed from the front of the final display angle. The trunk starts from the roots at an angle toward the back, then spirals gently around to the front, finally straightening to vertical. The idea is to tell the story that this"ancient" tree has survived a lot of shifting ground (angle of initial trunk), wind and storms (twisting midtrunk and sparse branches and foliage) but finally reached equilibrium with its environment and found the sun by stretching above the surrounding canopy (straight vertical upper segment).
Next steps:
- I watered it mildly after repotting in the original pot with the original soil. Wanna let it sit and recover for a month or so.
- But meanwhile (tomorrow?) use some sealant to seal the many wounds where I removed branches. I also did a little damage to a few small sections of the bark, exposing the cambium, during wiring (but not all the way around, thankfully) so I need to seal these bits too.
- Use thin wire to shape the direction of some lower branches and provide more "motion".
- Repot into a decent flat shallow bonsai pot with bonsai soil mix, arrange the root display as desired, secure it to the pot with wire, fertilize, etc.
The whole process only took about 1.5 hours. We'll see if it lives., and survives the winter (I live in Wisconsin, and plan to leave it outside during winter - any suggestions about protecting it from freezing/frost etc?).
I think the vertical segment at the top may be too tall, and am considering lopping it off about 1/5 down from the top. In fact, a jagged jin spire at the top could give the impression of a previous lightning-strike, and add more "ancient character". But I'll have to think about this over the coming months and years.
Thanks,
Matt