Trees for Today and Tomorrow

Update to Post #25

Tonight was sorting out my Buttonwood that took a tumble off the benches last winter, and was chalked up for dead. Bounced back really nice, so I wanted to try and sort out a totally new design and a path forward for it, seeing that when the incident happened I lost quite a bit and there was no option of going forward with it's original design.

First off, obviously the tree called for a new planting angle... For me, it is always about going for the extreme. So, I think the new angle achieves this. Next up, was eliminating quite a few of the original heavy branching up high, and the dropping of the tree's design lower... Lay It Down Low! I also did this for another reason... after the incident of last winter, a large portion of the tree died off, in the form of the large shari now running up the face of the tree... with this growth up top eliminated, it will allow for the tree to focus more of it's energy in a much smaller portion of the tree. Allowing for faster growth and faster progress. I don't think the new design suffers from it as a result of removing, so bonus!

Lastly, tree's deadwood needs carving... will let it relax, and next year will break out the tools.

Also wanted to add that I will be waiting till next summer to repot. Will need to start searching for a pot.

Vin said:

I'm just going to say "DAMN NICE"!

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Thanks I appreciate it!

Update to Juniper in Post #81


Was working on altering this Juniper tonight... After killing off a section of this trunk a little earlier this year, I started exposing the rest of the dead vein all the way down to the base of the trunk. In the process, I also started examining the style and quickly noticed that with minimal effort, I could completely adjust the angle and the branching to a much better design, quite easily... so I did!

Tonight's project, is another rather large Lantana. I picked this up today on my way home from work. This one has a base pushing 8 inches, and the whole front is deadwood. First order of Biz was to chop the trunk! Then a first style was called for.
Slam it Down Low!
Bonsai with Attitude!

I need to find a different nursery..

V in said:

I need to find a different nursery..

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Thanks for the reply!
Biggest problem about nurseries is that once you find one that has some cool material, you shortly eat it all up and are soon looking for another!

So we all are constantly looking for different nurseries!

On the flip side... alot of my better trees were crappy material, I made nice!

Stacy, there is a nursery I pass by on my work commute that I like to stop at a couple times a year now. Every once in a while they have some decent one gallon junipers. It's funny because the one gallon plants are always way more interesting than the 2 or 3 gallon plants and not really that much smaller.

I picked up with Sea Gold Chinese juniper there yesterday. Never heard of that cultivar but it has interesting crossing trunks that will end up as cool deadwood. For now I combed the roots out a bit and put it in a pond basket. It's pretty scraggly looking at the moment but I'm confident I'll get it growing vigorously.

KennedyMarx said:

Stacy, there is a nursery I pass by on my work commute that I like to stop at a couple times a year now. Every once in a while they have some decent one gallon junipers. It's funny because the one gallon plants are always way more interesting than the 2 or 3 gallon plants and not really that much smaller.

I picked up with Sea Gold Chinese juniper there yesterday. Never heard of that cultivar but it has interesting crossing trunks that will end up as cool deadwood. For now I combed the roots out a bit and put it in a pond basket. It's pretty scraggly looking at the moment but I'm confident I'll get it growing vigorously.

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Seems like there is a lot to work with. Post up some pictures when you get busy on it!

Thought I would share today's project...

This is a Ligustrum (privet), I believe the variety is Japanese? I got this yesterday it. It was sitting in one of the cement mixing tubs for what I was told was quite a while... so much so, that a lot of the original dirt, along with a lot of the deadwood at and below the surface, had turned to mush. It was like a soggy bog... and the health of the tree was suffering as a result of this.

So, first order of biz was to get the tree out of this and into a soil with proper drainage. Not only because of the condition that the soil was in, but also because this piece of material is ready to start work on. I don't need to grow the trunk out, and even though the whole tree only consists of 4 branches coming off of the trunk, I am satisfied with this amount, and don't feel I need more to complete the design... These branches could use some more thickness, but have decided that rather than let them run free to accomplish this, I would begin to work the ramification, of the tree, and increase the branches size along the way.

Pot is a tad small... could go a bit bigger, but I like it and it's shape. I might have a hard time finding a bigger pot for it in this type of shape, seeing that this is a pretty big tree! The width of the pot it is in right now is 20 inches wide. Leaf size with this material by nature is going to be bigger, but I feel will reduce down with ramification. I have not really seen any example of this type of material being used in bonsai, I think because of this leaf size, and the fact that most of the material is not of the size. This was obviously a very old tree. I would say it is safe to say that it is over a 100 years old. It takes a very long time for one of these to put on the amount of width that this trunk has.

So, because of the size of the trunk and scale of the tree, I think that when the tree is worked, and there is a reduction in the size of the leaves, that their scale will work within the overall design. I wired the tree last night and finished the fine wiring of a couple of branches this morning...
I am totally sorry, that I do not have any before pictures, it was about 5 pm when I got home with it and went straight to work with the repot, because I knew it was going to take forever... and it did! I changed the angle drastically to put the branches that were originally on the side, up where I could form the apex and design of the tree... I had to go through and remove all of the soggy decaying wood, had to cut away big chunks of the base, just to make it into a cohesive design, with the path forward I was taking it. This tree also has a killer rake to it, and leans way out towards the viewer, which I had to try and figure out how I was going to make work and tie down. Not only was I by myself, which sucked cause the material was really heavy, especially before I removed half of it, but I didn't get finished until about 10 pm... So, 5 hours of repotting... then another 3 on the wiring before heading off to bed.

Was able to get some more pictures today of this tree from varying sides. As I mention in the previous post, this is a pretty big tree. It quite literally touches each side of the pot at the base. The pot is 20 inches wide. In the last picture you will see at the bottom left hand side some deadwood That i will have to deal with by carving and making look nice. This area was under the soil line before the repot, and I went through and removed all the rotting wood.

Update to Post # 60

Thought I would post up an updated of this tree 2 Months on...
The tree is really taken off since then. I have already gone through an wired all of the new branching that has popped since the last post regarding this tree... and tonight was already going through and removing it all already, since it is already being buried in the bark. Here is a picture I took tonight after removing the wire.

My plans for the future with this tree are the following...
Even though the eventual tree's design will end up being smaller than it is right now, I will be letting all of what you see grow, next year to thicken up, and help to resolve some of the problem areas, before cutting back. Now with that said, I might have to cut back sooner than later with the top, seeing that I need to force some of the tree's energy down lower, to help with some of the issues there. Also, I don't want at this stage to allow the branches at top to become to big, and look out of scale. The top is not a problem, growing out... never is with most material, so I can easily chop some of this and resume increasing the size of the branches at a later date.

Lastly, I am considering doing quite a bit of grafting next year to give the tree more branching in between the top and the bottom, where it is currently lacking. If I do this, then to help increase chances of these taking and help speed the process up, I would want to do it before chopping anything up top, seeing that what's up there helps draw the energy through the sections I would want to graft... So, ideally... I would want to try and graft right after the fear of any freeze next spring... Then perhaps cut up top, next summer/fall.

Also wanted to add, that I am considering chopping back the lower left branch bellow where the previous cuts were made on it, where the two branches are now... in favor of the little tiny branch that just popped this month lower down the trunk. It is a bit hard to see, it currently shoots straight up in this picture in front of the large branch. I would then wire this out and allow it to just grow, to form the continuation of this branch.

Actually, looking at it now, I am pretty sure I will. I think it will be better for it long term!

Ok... So it's as if we are going live! Lol!
I just went out after posting and commenting about the lower left branch, and part of it's possible removal, and removed it... And wired up the two branches there and set the tree on a better path!

I like the splitting off of this area lower down as it is with the chop. Mimics the design of the right side a bit better, and will allow in time for more visual element, rather than just a single heavy branch. Obviously, I will need to try and push growth down here sooner than later now to try and get these lowers areas to thicken up... so will probably go ahead and chop all of what is up top tonight, down low... so it can recover some before we get any cold. Then next spring do some grafting in the area between these bottom branches and the top. And allow the top to grow at the same time.

See how that was done! Poof! instant change for the future!

So, after the cut yesterday I decided to go ahead and work and wire this tree...
Seeing here in Florida we still have warm for a little while longer, I felt it would be best to go ahead . This will help push the lower left branching where I did the chop. and will also set it up for next springs grafting I want to do.

Also, included a picture of the tree with 7 1/2 inch jin pliers for scale.

That one is a beefcake. I feel conflicted about the bottom branches. The one you cut back has a good size compared to the trunk and now set to have good taper, but it starts so low. The one on the right side with the big wire mark will have to grow out quite a bit to be comparable in size. That's nothing you don't know. I just wonder if you considered removing them instead of working with them? I'm guessing that the final height won't be any taller than it is now after you get it where you want with branching and ramification.

KennedyMarx said:

That one is a beefcake. I feel conflicted about the bottom branches. The one you cut back has a good size compared to the trunk and now set to have good taper, but it starts so low. The one on the right side with the big wire mark will have to grow out quite a bit to be comparable in size. That's nothing you don't know. I just wonder if you considered removing them instead of working with them? I'm guessing that the final height won't be any taller than it is now after you get it where you want with branching and ramification.

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Thanks for the reply!
Let me say that this tree has so far to go with development that the final image probably will end up looking nothing like the tree it currently is!

The lower branches on both sides will most definitely be grown out. At the moment, I chose as mentioned to go ahead and trim everything growing except for the ones on the left, mainly to help push these as much as I can for the reminder of this growing season, which is not much longer, and the next.

Next spring, I will be grafting about 8-9 new branches in between the bottom branches and the top. So, as of the moment I am still trying to establish branches on the tree. So, this is my top priority, and everything else is secondary.

By trimming up top, I have slow this area down for the moment. Come next spring, it will pick up speed when all I have cut, begins to send out more branches and begin to take off. This will draw up a whole bunch of energy in the process which is what I need, when I go to do the grafts... it will increase their survival and help them establish, grow.

Once I have the branching all where I need it I can then begin to worry about growing certain branches out to balance them for scale. It is to much to try and do grafting and balancing out at the same time... I cannot pull energy up to help with the grafts and push energy down at the same time to increase the bottom branches. Once I have the grafted branches in place and growing, a will then begin to do a lot more aggressive cutting up top... this will send energy to the grafted branches and one's below.

Once the grafted branches are of good size, I can trim these and the top more and push the growth down to the very lower branching only.

Size of the overall tree will just be determined on how it develops... for the moment I think the tree would hold a lot more power being smaller. As it currently sits now, it is only about 12 inches high.

I could remove the bottom branches... but worry that if I do this will eliminate the only thing that separates it from other trees and makes it different. I like the feel that this tree will end up being more like the heavily branched trees one sees coming out of Taiwan.

Do you have a sketch or example of how you'd like this tree (ficus) to eventually look? How about the final height, I think you mentioned earlier that it would wind up shorter...so about where you have it in the most recent pics, or somewhere in between?

I've got a couple of large trunked ficuses that I'm trying to figure out...

Chris

Edit to add - my two ficuses are in this thread if you feel like taking a look and making any suggestions: http://bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/what-have-i-done-a-couple-of-new-ficus-trees.17182/

coh said:

Do you have a sketch or example of how you'd like this tree (ficus) to eventually look? How about the final height, I think you mentioned earlier that it would wind up shorter...so about where you have it in the most recent pics, or somewhere in between?

I've got a couple of large trunked ficuses that I'm trying to figure out...

Chris

Edit to add - my two ficuses are in this thread if you feel like taking a look and making any suggestions: http://bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/what-have-i-done-a-couple-of-new-ficus-trees.17182/

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Thanks for the reply!
Will do a quick virt and post it up...
Also will look at your thread, thanks!

Here is a quick virtual of where I see that this tree could possible go... Didn't bother much with the top, seeing I think one can get the drift.
As far as eventual size? The tree could end up really being taller and wider, or staying more compact... will just see how it develops!

Ah. I had missed you saying you'd be grafting more branches in the empty spaces in the middle. It makes sense now, especially with the virt.