Boxwood Forest

[AZbonsai]

Dr. Jim McGowen put on a fantastic boxwood forest workshop yesterday for 6 Phoenix Bonsai Society members. He had a group of PBS mentors on the assist as well. Jim's workshop participants were given 5 nice boxwoods, a slab, muck, soil, and moss to make their creations in this all day workshop. Slabs were created, and donated,by our local PBS ceramisist Dennis.
The slab measured 9"x21". The trees had been initially root worked by Jim so this was their second go around.

 

[Michael P]

Very well organized workshop! And thanks for posting the notes with the muck recipe; everybody talks about muck, but no one ever says what they put in it.

 

[Bolero]

Very unimpressed.....not even remotely looking like a Forest, just nice looking Boxwood stuck on a Slab....

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Very unimpressed.....not even remotely looking like a Forest, just nice looking Boxwood stuck on a Slab....

Tough love!

 

[Daniel son STL]

Very unimpressed.....not even remotely looking like a Forest, just nice looking Boxwood stuck on a Slab....

It’s 5 trees! What else you want??

Maybe not a forest, but I can picture the top of a hill side with a mother tree and a few small trees around it. Wouldn’t call that a forest, but a pleasant looking landscape or group planting

 

[AZbonsai]

Tough love!

Nahhh...just another example of a person who relates to trees better than people.

 

[leatherback]

Nahhh...just another example of a person who relates to trees better than people.

Be interesting to see what a good forest should look like then. For a workshop outcome where you do not bring your own material its pretty ok.

 

[AZbonsai]

Thanks.

The point of the post really was that Jim and the PBS mentors put on a great workshop for 6 novice club members. Two weeks ago he put on a forest demo as a preview of what we were going to do yesterday. It was a great class and well worth the $55 price tag.

My limited bonsai skills and whether or not I should have titled the thread forest or group planting is totally irrelevant!

They put on a great workshop!

 

[Bolero]

I'm sure it was a Fantastic workshop & well worth $55.00 but it had nothing to do with being a Bonsai Forest Planting....

 

[LanceMac10]

Maybe that one in the middle is a bit straight. Mimicking it's neighbor's slight lean might help with congruity and enhance it's visual flow?

I think odd numbered groups/ and odd numbered plantings overall, present a "better" image. Like what you got here, though. I don't work with boxwood.

Viewers left could use some depth, to my eye. Dis-claimer, flat-top styling looks weird to me. That's my thing, not yours. Given the same material, this looks better than what I could create, most likely!!

 

[AZbonsai]

looks better than what I could create, most likely!!

Ha....you and I and everyone else knows that's a lie! You have mad bonsai skills!

The large tree is what makes it odd. The trunk is fused together. There was a debate about whether it should be counted as one or two trees. I settled on one. Lotto for the trees so I did not have a choice.

 

[leatherback]

A bit of wire could have helped. In summer, trim the large tree back so it is not soo overwhelming and you will get a nice group planting with lots of open space

 

[sorce]

Clearly those 2 trees are working hard at making this forest.

Perhaps they will hump themselves into a couple more offspring for that depth @LanceMac10 was talking about.

And after seeing some of the long, hell, short term great progress from those trees in the "Can't Unsee Nonsense Thread", you got something good started here, iffin you don't let anyone convince you otherwise!

I would try to root a green cutting a half inch right and as far behind the humpers as possible. That would do for depth.

Sorce

 

[Bolero]

I want t say... Several (3) of the Larger-Multi Trunked-Exposed Upper Roots-Good Foilage Boxwoods would be Stand Alone Excellent Examples for Boxwood Bonsai, Maybe one large, one small, medium sized pot, some pruning of the foilage....

 

[penumbra]

I think it is off to a good start. I like it. If it was mine I would remove the one small straight box in the middle of the group. I would consider making a small path there or a character rock.

 

[Atom#28]

Directions say to "avoid 9" when selecting number of trees.....is that a thing?

 

[AZbonsai]

Directions say to "avoid 9" when selecting number of trees.....is that a thing?

Unlucky number/associated with death is what I was told in Japan....seems to be very lucky in China.

 

[penumbra]

For all practical purposes in bonsai design it is meaningless, imo. Nine is unlucky in Japan, eight is unlucky in China. Question is, do you feel lucky? Do ya?

 

[leatherback]

Directions say to "avoid 9" when selecting number of trees.....is that a thing?

Most important rule is that if you use an even number, the number is so high hat one cannot see in one glance that it is an even number.

 

[penumbra]

Most important rule is that if you use an even number, the number is so high hat one cannot see in one glance that it is an even number.

I am not sure how important it is but it is a rule almost all of us choose to follow. It is a rule we follow in landscape design as well. I was a landscape designer for 40 years and it took many of those years to get over this bias and except the fact that an even number could always be divided into two odd numbers. There was many times that I broke a group of 8 into a 3 and a 5 and the effect was very pleasing. I will make an effort to do this this spring with bonsai as I love to break rules. I would however be very reluctant to have two groups of three because my eye would register 2 and not 6.