Birthday shimpaku and first attempt at styling.

[Bonsaicarpenter]

This past Monday my wife took me on a belated birthday trip to Meehan's Miniatures, in Rohersville, MD. They have a very inconspicuous place. It's on a back country road and has no sign. Once you park and get inside, though it is a beautiful nursery. They have numerous green houses and a great selection of trees. I forgot to take any pictures but, fortunately, my wife took over 100. For anyone who has instagram, check out her page. She's not into bonsai but she has all kinds of other awesome plant stuff on there. @solitaryqueengardens


I ended up picking out my first shimpaku juniper. It's a ver slender and contorted tree that I thought would make an interesting literati type tree. Since getting it ho,e at the beginning of the week I took a little time to look at it each day and today I pruned and styled it. This was my first attempt at wiring and styling. Feel free to give me some input but be nice, I know it's far from perfect. This is the tree before.



And this is the tree after I got done with it today.
And a picture with a beer for good measure

Let me know what you think. There's things I don't love about it but, overall, I'm proud that I was able to achieve something even remotely close to what I pictured in my head.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Really good start! Just make sure you don't kill it by removing too much foliage. I would not do anything else to it this season. Junipers get their strength from their foliage (versus their roots) so if you remove too much at one time you can shock/kill the tree.

 

[Bonsaicarpenter]

Really good start! Just make sure you don't kill it by removing too much foliage. I would not do anything else to it this season. Junipers get their strength from their foliage (versus their roots) so if you remove too much at one time you can shock/kill the tree.

Thank you for the feedback. I was trying not to take too much but I may have gone a little heavy on it. I think I removed at least a third of the foliage from it. It looked very healthy though. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Well... perhaps I am reading too much into your photo but I see new soil and a new pot - suggesting that you also transplanted the tree. That's all good but usually you want to do one thing at a time - i.e. transplant, let it rest... then when it shows strong growth, prune... let it rest... etc.

So much depends on species, time of year, and many other factors. But if you find yourself transplanting and pruning at the same time, it is best to be REALLY conservative. An elm would take it and wouldn't miss a beat. Junipers are a little more selective.

I also want to make sure you are keeping your tree outside, but just have it indoors for styling / photos(?) I am asking these questions because I want you to be successful Nothing makes you sadder starting out in bonsai than when you lose some special trees. Been there, done that

 

[Bonsaicarpenter]

Well... perhaps I am reading too much into your photo but I see new soil and a new pot - suggesting that you also transplanted the tree. That's all good but usually you want to do one thing at a time - i.e. transplant, let it rest... then when it shows strong growth, prune... let it rest... etc.

So much depends on species, time of year, and many other factors. But if you find yourself transplanting and pruning at the same time, it is best to be REALLY conservative. An elm would take it and wouldn't miss a beat. Junipers are a little more selective.

I also want to make sure you are keeping your tree outside, but just have it indoors for styling / photos(?) I am asking these questions because I want you to be successful Nothing makes you sadder starting out in bonsai than when you lose some special trees. Been there, done that

The tree came in this pot. They told me it had been in it for 2 years. The soil was settled so they gave me a small bag and I topped it off. I did no work on the roots. I like the pot but it’s too big for the tree. I want to put it in a smaller round pot next year.

 

[sorce]

I was a bit disappointed to see it go so "one-sided" as it seemed more 3Dable in the first pic...
Where you could have made a heavy low branch and a lighter top one then an apex...

All this top foliage got bunched up into one branch bigger than the low one....
So it seems A little more "upside down" than "tree like"..

None of that really matters though...as this was a nice, quite difficult, piece to work up, and I think given the circumstances, you did a great job.

That said....In some years....I'd love to see this composed of only the low branch.

Maybe get to styling the top as an independent tree for layering?

I'm kinda biasly fond of these single drop branch trees....but they usually make the most "sense", present the best "beginning", offer the most "control" in designing the BEST tree in the FAR future....where we can design it, while keeping to enjoy what we currently have.

Of course.....this is only human talk!
The tree will provide you better input as to its future! Just stay open minded about listening to it!

Nice....real nice....just still in a highly difficult state.

Sorce

 

[Velodog2]

I say bravo! You picked a good tree and found a good front and showed restraint in removing foliage and bending. It is not an “easy” tree that falls into a cookie cutter style but you did well nonetheless and gave us a very credible beginning by presenting a tree that doesn’t follow all the simple rules but still manages to work pretty well. If this is your first attempt I’m really impressed.

I still find shimpakus challenging both to style and to grow. I agree with just letting it grow now for the rest of the season. I don’t think you removed too much foliage but probably more than you realize. Hopefully it’s not your only tree - that makes it harder to leave it alone! I want to see what you do with this in the future. Thanks for posting!

 

[Bonsaicarpenter]

I was a bit disappointed to see it go so "one-sided" as it seemed more 3Dable in the first pic...
Where you could have made a heavy low branch and a lighter top one then an apex...

All this top foliage got bunched up into one branch bigger than the low one....
So it seems A little more "upside down" than "tree like"..

None of that really matters though...as this was a nice, quite difficult, piece to work up, and I think given the circumstances, you did a great job.

That said....In some years....I'd love to see this composed of only the low branch.

Maybe get to styling the top as an independent tree for layering?

I'm kinda biasly fond of these single drop branch trees....but they usually make the most "sense", present the best "beginning", offer the most "control" in designing the BEST tree in the FAR future....where we can design it, while keeping to enjoy what we currently have.

Of course.....this is only human talk!
The tree will provide you better input as to its future! Just stay open minded about listening to it!

Nice....real nice....just still in a highly difficult state.

Sorce

I agree the top looks too heavy and the bottom not heavy enough. I’m hoping over time the bottom will fill out more while I control the growth on top.

I was thinking at one point that it would look pretty good with the top branch gone all together. I remember seeing Brian van fleet say in a post on here that it’s good to use as much of the tree as possible initially. That kinda stuck with me while I was thinking what to do with it. I can always remove more later I guess.

Also, it looks more 3D in person. It photographed much more flat looking.

 

[Bonsaicarpenter]

I say bravo! You picked a good tree and found a good front and showed restraint in removing foliage and bending. It is not an “easy” tree that falls into a cookie cutter style but you did well nonetheless and gave us a very credible beginning by presenting a tree that doesn’t follow all the simple rules but still manages to work pretty well. If this is your first attempt I’m really impressed.

I still find shimpakus challenging both to style and to grow. I agree with just letting it grow now for the rest of the season. Hopefully it’s not your only tree - that makes it harder to leave it alone! I want to see what you do with this in the future. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the reply. It’s not my only tree but I don’t have many. It’s the only one I have that’s styled. I have a few others in various very early stages of developement. I’m in the process of buying a house at the moment and once that’s done I’ll have a lot more space to get more.

My plan was definitely to leave it alone for now. Just water and fertilizer.

 

[sorce]

Also, it looks more 3D in person. It photographed much more flat looking.

I see the 3D...I just have a thing against these "one sided" joints. ..
Nonsense!

I was thinking at one point that it would look pretty good with the top branch gone all together. I remember seeing Brian van fleet say in a post on here that it’s good to use as much of the tree as possible initially. That kinda stuck with me while I was thinking what to do with it. I can always remove more later I guess

Hell yes!

This entire paragraph IS EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING!

Hellllll Yes!

Good (skill and diligence) with the house!

I put "greenhouse" in the "features" search...
Lol! Not many options!

Just get a good Bonsai House!

Future Vision Goggles are key in this season of growth....what is Sun now may be shade in a month. .....

Sorce

 

[Velodog2]

I agree the top looks too heavy and the bottom not heavy enough. I’m hoping over time the bottom will fill out more while I control the growth on top.

I was thinking at one point that it would look pretty good with the top branch gone all together. I remember seeing Brian van fleet say in a post on here that it’s good to use as much of the tree as possible initially. That kinda stuck with me while I was thinking what to do with it. I can always remove more later I guess.

Also, it looks more 3D in person. It photographed much more flat looking.

Such is the way with bonsai photos. I would like to see it in 3d. Good job following Brian’s excellent advice. Another axiom says to make the smallest tree possible. In this case though imo you would lose too much by removing the top. You’d be veering into obvious been there seen that territory. You have something more interesting going on.

 

[cbroad]

Good score! I love Meehan's, haven't had a chance to go there yet this year, my sister lives in Frederick so maybe I'll have to go visit

 

[TyroTinker]

Really good start! Just make sure you don't kill it by removing too much foliage. I would not do anything else to it this season. Junipers get their strength from their foliage (versus their roots) so if you remove too much at one time you can shock/kill the tree.

How long until you know if the tree is dying? I just got my first Home Depot juniper (Blue Star) to practice reporting and trimming.... I definitely cut a lot off both....

What's left still looks good (3 days later) but I haven't cleaned up the trimmings and they still look good too....

I don't mean to high jack the thread but this was the first one I found that was relevant to my questions

 

[M. Frary]

(3 days later

Wait 30. They take a while to show death.

 

[Bonsaicarpenter]

How long until you know if the tree is dying? I just got my first Home Depot juniper (Blue Star) to practice reporting and trimming.... I definitely cut a lot off both....

What's left still looks good (3 days later) but I haven't cleaned up the trimmings and they still look good too....

I don't mean to high jack the thread but this was the first one I found that was relevant to my questions

Like Mike said they can take a while to look dead. I killed my first juniper and it was about a month and a half before I actually knew I killed it.

Good luck with you tree. In the future, it’s my understanding that you should butcher either the top or the roots but not both at once. That is my approach with this tree. It’s staying in the pot that it came in until next spring.

 

[TyroTinker]

Thanks for the info. Mine is probably dead. I've had it in the shady part of my property (bright but no direct sun) for 3 days after pruning. then I moved it to the south side for full sun and over blacktop for extra heat off the direct ground after I read this thread.
I had thought I left enough foliage but after reading all this I'm not to hopeful. But that's why I bought it

 

[Bonsaicarpenter]

I haven’t updated this thread in a while. I let the tree grow for most of the season. Wires from April were removed in August. In September I took it to a styling workshop with Owen Reich at Meehan’s. We didn’t do too much to it but I think it was improved. We removed a few tiny branches at the apex as we agreed they were too much and didn’t add anything to the design. The remaining stub was turned into a tiny Jin but that will possibly be removed later. The remaining branches in the upper part of the tree were wired and styled again. No drastic changes but they were dropped a bit more. I think I’m the future I will try to drop them even further to compact the design more. The pictures are the front, right, left, back and top of the tree. The plan from here is to repot next spring back into the same oversized container as I continue to develope the branches. Once I’m happier with the branch structure and whatnot I will begin to reduce the pot size during future repottings. It looks much better in person. I still have not learned to take a good looking picture of a tree. Gonna need to work on that.