Shibui
Imperial Masterpiece
Here are a few of my Japanese Black pines in various states of development.
The older ones suffered for years as I tried to work out how pines grow and respond to pruning. I live in a reasonably remote area so have little access to bonsai help. Closest clubs are 300km in one direction and 400 in the other. Consequentially I have learnt a lot by trial and error which does make the whole process vert slow. On the other hand I have found that I can actually do a number of things that the experts tell me are impossible, simply because I was never told that it can't be done.
Pictures are (my) mid summer so I have not yet thinned out all the buds after decandling earlier in summer. Still a mix of longer and shorter needles until I get into a good maintenance regime.
My older pines grew happily for many years despite being regularly bare rooted or styled and repotted in the same season. Due to incorrect pruning and maintenance they developed long, bare branches with tufts of foliage at the ends - terrible bonsai but good trunks. I've spent the past 10 years trying different techniques to get better ramification and foliage closer to the trunk.
Just a couple of seasons of maintenance pruning to start developing better ramification and smaller needles but I think it is starting to come along reasonably well.
This one acquired as a 1 or 2yo seedling. The long, bare branches have dictated a rather wild styled tree but I'm happy with it so far.
Younger ones have been developed with more information so are a little more compact.
Root over rock style from seed. Only a couple of years into maintenance pruning and still plenty of sorting out to do on the branches.
More recently I've been developing smaller trees. The next few are 5-10 years old from seed.
This twin trunk came from 2 seedlings threaded through a hole drilled in stainless steel sheet which forced them to unite and grow new, flat nebari
From seed
Another older tree, probably a sibling of the first picture posted. accidental breakage when wiring branches have left limited options.
The older ones suffered for years as I tried to work out how pines grow and respond to pruning. I live in a reasonably remote area so have little access to bonsai help. Closest clubs are 300km in one direction and 400 in the other. Consequentially I have learnt a lot by trial and error which does make the whole process vert slow. On the other hand I have found that I can actually do a number of things that the experts tell me are impossible, simply because I was never told that it can't be done.
Pictures are (my) mid summer so I have not yet thinned out all the buds after decandling earlier in summer. Still a mix of longer and shorter needles until I get into a good maintenance regime.
My older pines grew happily for many years despite being regularly bare rooted or styled and repotted in the same season. Due to incorrect pruning and maintenance they developed long, bare branches with tufts of foliage at the ends - terrible bonsai but good trunks. I've spent the past 10 years trying different techniques to get better ramification and foliage closer to the trunk.
Just a couple of seasons of maintenance pruning to start developing better ramification and smaller needles but I think it is starting to come along reasonably well.
This one acquired as a 1 or 2yo seedling. The long, bare branches have dictated a rather wild styled tree but I'm happy with it so far.
Younger ones have been developed with more information so are a little more compact.
Root over rock style from seed. Only a couple of years into maintenance pruning and still plenty of sorting out to do on the branches.
More recently I've been developing smaller trees. The next few are 5-10 years old from seed.
This twin trunk came from 2 seedlings threaded through a hole drilled in stainless steel sheet which forced them to unite and grow new, flat nebari
From seed
Another older tree, probably a sibling of the first picture posted. accidental breakage when wiring branches have left limited options.