Trees for Today and Tomorrow

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Sad to hear about the parsoni. The movement you were creating with the lower right branches really reminded me of someone stretching and waking up from a long night's rest. I'd be interested to see a side view, as I can't quite tell what the top branch is doing. Very cool trees.

I was also sad to see you stop posting your practice trees. Those were quite inspirational for us newbies.
Thanks I appreciate it!
I have done quite a bit of work on the practice trees as well! Will be posting them up too!
Also, thinking of comprising some more tutorials on how to deal with trees from big box stores... how to begin to set them on a path forward towards becoming a nice bonsai. Alot of folks don't have top notch material to work from... so, we have to be creative and create it ourselves!
 

GrimLore

Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
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Immediate future plans, are next spring I want to get it out of the nursery soil it is still in.

You are one of the "very few" people that do that(or admit it). I leave all Junipers in the nursery soil for a long time - sometimes 3 or more seasons. After that I also rarely repot them and highly recommend it to anyone starting out. When I mention it or suggest it I usually get a bit of lip but it works well for me and I am sticking with it. That plant should grow out nicely for you - will the cat make it :p ?

Grimmy
 
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You are one of the "very few" people that do that(or admit it). I leave all Junipers in the nursery soil for a long time - sometimes 3 or more seasons. After that I also rarely repot them and highly recommend it to anyone starting out. When I mention it or suggest it I usually get a bit of lip but it works well for me and I am sticking with it. That plant should grow out nicely for you - will the cat make it :p ?

Grimmy
If one is wanting to put on serious growth to the tree, not discussing foliage amount or ramification, it has been my experience that a tree in nursery soil will almost always develop faster than in bonsai soil. Once one has the main trunk and the main branches the size they want, and want to begin to develop finer branching, finer roots, smaller spacing between internodes, and foliage mass... it is best at that point usually to move the tree to a bonsai soil, to actually slow the rapid growth down.
 
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Green Island Ficus
(Ficus microcarpa 'Green Island')
Style: Informal Upright

This tree was one of my first real pieces of "Bonsai" stock I ever bought, when I first started doing Bonsai about 10 years ago now. When I first bought the piece of material it was actually planted at an angle, as is apparent in the third photo... For years it remained as such and actually was developed, and a lot of time was spent on the tree in my earlier days, but I never really found myself happy with where it was headed. It then sat for a couple more years, just having basic maintenance done on the tree, until a two years ago, when I decided to take it in a totally new direction. Which funny enough usually would be a big no-no in bonsai, turning the tree trunk straight up and down taking all the movement away, which is probably why it had been planted at an angle before... but I like it! I think it gives the tree power, and the crossing aerial roots give it character and movement, so I think it works!

Also, I created, and will be creating more small uros, all up and down the trunk, to add to the character, and the appearance of age.
First picture, was today. Second, another European pose for my buddy Smoke, Third, was from about 3 years ago, after I had greatly reduced the tree in mass and size... searching for a path forward. Sorry no photos previously before that. Last, was from a year and a half ago, after the trees angle had changed. At the time of the transition, it had been defoliated, had a "V" notch cut into the portion of the trunk I wanted to now be the continuation of the tree, and the heavy branch bent up. Photo is after the tree fill back in.

Since then, the work that I have done, has been mostly trying to establish more ramification, within the tree. Wiring and positioning branches. and growing other areas out. I am still working the nebari, in the area of the tree's front, which if one looks at the third picture you will see, when the tree was tilted, was below the surface, and covered in very heavy roots, which were removed.

Lastly, I wanted to touch on the pot, it is a Tokoname, that I spent $400 dollars on, that originally was bought for another tree... which didn't work out for it, but really seemed to play the part for this tree.
green island 1a.jpg green island 1b.jpg green island 1c.jpg green island 1d.jpg
 
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Buttonwood
(Conocarpus erectus)
Style: Informal Upright

This tree took a tumble this past winter, in early winter... and had to be repotted, in the cold, which Bwoods absolutely hate. It dropped every leaf, lost quite a few major branches in the process, one extremely large lower one in the process of the tree hitting the ground, and I thought it was gone... then in late spring it just started sending out new growth! So, now... just picking up the pieces! The last picture is the tree earlier this year after growth started returning. The tree was heavily fertilized since, and this past weekend I started wiring, to get the branches set for the tree's new design.

The old apex that leaned out to the right, was removed and jined. Which gave the tree a much more powerful stance. Seeing that I will be now taking the tree in a whole new direction, I felt that the new apex should also have a new direction. Giving the tree a more complicated design. I wired up a new leader to begin the work needed for this new apex. As of the moment, the tree now looks like a mess, and is hard to determine what's taking place, seeing that I am currently growing out most of the tree, and it's branches... but should begin to develop I feel quite fast! The tree really has picked up an amazing amount of speed, since this winter's incident.

Also, wanted to add, that a whole portion of the trunk died off this winter as well. I just found out when wiring and styling the tree. Giving me a whole new shari running straight up the trunk on the left side now. The tree had one on the right all along, but now I have a cool live vein running right up the middle, with sharis on either side. Eventually I will do some carving , to add a little detail to them.

As for exactly where the front might be? I figured as the tree and it's new style develops, it will determine what will be best. Thought it worth sharing regardless of the mess it currently looks like. Will be nice to see the transition. Will keep one posted!
Also, didn't attach any older photos, before the fall, cause, just thought it was spilled milk!
Forgot to mention, the second photo is for my buddy Smoke.


buttonwood3a.jpg buttonwood3b.jpg

buttonwood3c.jpg buttonwood3d.jpg buttonwood3f.jpg
 
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Wanted to also add, that I have considered removing more of the top of the previous tree, and making the apex shorter down... at the branch just below?
Looking at the pictures, this might happen... I think it would make an even stronger looking image, we will see how it develops. Would be nice to see a larger jin sticking out the right side of the tree.
 

qwade

Shohin
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Yo Cladium
I have to say, you have some of the nicest Tropicals on this site.Hey maybe for the next tree you could go NJ and where a hat and glasses as shown in my avatar. Don't know if you have a Jersey tree. Maybe the buttonwood, that is what we call sycamores (Platanus occidentalis). Lol ,different than your buttonwood. Was confused the first time you posted that tree thread.
 
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Juniper Parsoni
(Juniperus chinensis)
Style: Informal Upright

This tree might be familiar to some here, seeing that I posted some images of it, recently after giving the major branches a restyle. This is part of the whole silly "Instant" tree discussion and how one could not make a decent tree out of a big box store piece of material. Last weekend I did finally get around to finishing fine wiring on this $7 dollar tree. I also started reigning in some of the foliage... didn't want to go to far in one go, of course seeing that it is all adult foliage.

The first two pictures are front and back as of today. Third is after restyle, earlier this year. Last is the tree's first initial style last summer as practice for an upcoming styling contest at the time. The jin pliers are 7 .5 inches in height for scale. So, the whole tree now sits just under 7 inches, of course not including the jin.

This next spring I will be repotting to the tree's new angle, and into Bonsai Soil... so plans for the rest of the year will be very minimal.



juniper2a.jpg juniper2b.jpg juniper2c.jpg juniper2d.jpg
 
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Found these two pictures of the above tree along the way as I was composing photos for this thread. Thought some might find the origins of this interesting! Nothing special about this piece of material... Sometimes, one just has to create the "something special"



juniper2e.jpg juniper2f.jpg
 
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Yo Cladium
I have to say, you have some of the nicest Tropicals on this site.Hey maybe for the next tree you could go NJ and where a hat and glasses as shown in my avatar. Don't know if you have a Jersey tree. Maybe the buttonwood, that is what we call sycamores (Platanus occidentalis). Lol ,different than your buttonwood. Was confused the first time you posted that tree thread.
Thanks, I appreciate it! yeah, when I first started working with Buttonwoods, I came across the same situation... I would look up the tree on Google, and get a totally different tree! The photos with me in them, are mainly my way of dealing with the boredom of photograpghing a lot of trees! Every time I see one of my European friends post trees, they are always in the picture, and often it is hard to see the tree...
 

Vin

Imperial Masterpiece
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Green Island Ficus
Excellent decision on changing the planting angle. It really didn't look like much of nothing other than a plant when it was leaning. Once you tightened up the foliage it really came together. As I've said many times before, I wish I had you eye.
 
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Excellent decision on changing the planting angle. It really didn't look like much of nothing other than a plant when it was leaning. Once you tightened up the foliage it really came together. As I've said many times before, I wish I had you eye.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
 
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Ha....some hot s#@t there...great trees....remember to look past the camera though...old modeling trick...your welcome.:p Thanks for sharing.
Thanks I appreciate it, and the modeling tips! The pictures of me are just for fun, I have alot of trees and after a while it gets old photographing all of them, so just hamming it up!
 
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Premna
(Premna microphylla)
Style: Informal Upright

This little sumo shohin tops out at just over 7 inches. I have posted this tree up before a little over 3 months ago, right after the second photo was taken and the third trunk chop was done to carry on the remainder of the tree with a new leader with very tight internodes, seeing that the overall size of the tree will end up being less than 8 inches. Thought it worth posting, seeing how far the tree has come in that short of a time! First photograph is from today.

The last photo is the day I first received the tree as part of a 30 minute styling competition. Trunk width at the time was less than one inch. That competition will be 3 years ago this November... Trunk width now is right at 5 inches! Third photo shows how small the leaves reduce down. Plans for this tree for the immediate future is to just grow and establish branches.

One trick I have learned when growing out that I will share, is that if one plants a tree in the ground to grow out... if you actually plant it in the ground in a nursery pot, and allow the roots to run out the bottom of the pot, you will be able to allow the tree to run free... yet at the same time, the pot will help to maintain fine feeder roots in right at the base of the trunk. So, when one goes to dig it up, you will be able to cut all the large roots away, and have the fine feeder roots, keep the material alive.


premna1b.jpg premna1a.jpg premna1b1.jpg premna1c.jpg premna1d.jpg
 
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Is there anything about Parsoni that make you work with them more than Procumbens Nana or Shimpaku?
Often what I work on, is what is readily available at the time... One can walk into any store at least where I live and find parsoni. Also, I like this idea... that one can create a piece of art , and great art, from material they can pick up anywhere! Don't have awesome yamadori around to great a great bonsai, then one needs to figure out a way to create it!
I do have quite a few Procumbens. Will post up some soon!
 

amcoffeegirl

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Thanks for sharing some of your work. I like the green island also very much in fact. Nice transformation.
I like seeing you in the photo for size reference and the hat.
 
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Fukien Tea
(Carmona retusa)
Style: Informal Upright

This small shohin measures out at 6.5 inches tall. It was bought for me if I can remember correctly as a birthday present from a friend, years ago...
Nothing really was do with it for years other than just maintain the original tree, which was pretty much crap. Two and a half years ago, I went through a lot of my collection and started revamping trees I wasn't paying any attention too. This was one of them...

The last photograph , was when I decided to begin to set this tree on it's way. I wired it, and repotted it for the next year in regular nursery soil, to help regain the tree's strength. The tree took off. After this I repotted it again back into the bonsai soil, and began a regiment of heavy fertilizer.

First photo is from today. Second from last year, Third is a close up obviously of the pot.



Ffukien1a.jpg fukien1b.jpg fukien1d.jpg fukien1c.jpg
 

amcoffeegirl

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Ok hold on tell us about you- just a little. How did you learn this craft? Did you have a mentor/ teacher/ club?
Why do you enjoy bonsai?
I enjoy this thread.
 
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