crape myrtle restyle

will0911

Shohin
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This is the little tree after I defoliated it in late july
2011-08-10_16-21-41_702.jpg


This is the tree after I wired and restyled it
2011-08-10_17-10-27_452.jpg


And this is the tree in august after new growth is responding well!
2011-08-23_07-25-10_420.jpg


I know that alot of people will disagree with how I styled the branches flat but my idea is to wire them flat now and when the wire comes off they will slowly move up over time and hopefully with directional pruning make a nice subtle curve up.
Just an idea but it may work! Any thoughts welcome. Oh and this one flowered this year! They are the light purple with yellow centers!

Thanks,

Will B.
 

will0911

Shohin
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So this litte guy is losing its leaves? Its only September here in florida so I don't know why its dropping leaves? Its getting new ones so im not particularly worriedly yet. Here it is after the leaves dropped. Any advice on why it dropped its leaves will be greatly appreciated!

2011-09-03_08-27-11_614.jpg


Thanks,

Will B.
 

will0911

Shohin
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some more new leaves coming in just before fall. this little guy is a champ!

2011-09-12_08-04-04_991.jpg


this is the view of the back btw. the front of the tree is in post 2

Thanks,

Will B.
 

will0911

Shohin
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More little leaves coming in

2011-09-14_07-20-02_982.jpg


Looking at this picture I definately need to move the 2nd from the lowest left branch up.

Comments?

Thanks,

Will B.
 

tmmason10

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Well it's good to see that it is recovering. It probably dropped leaves because of your repot. As to your styling, I think you should put some more movement into the branches. Right now, most are coming out at a 90 degree angle and straight. Try pulling some down a little bit, and puttin not only side to side movement, but also slightly up and down. I would google some crape myrtle bonsai pictures and study them. One below might be relative to your tree.

http://www.makebonsai.com/guide/photos/Lagerstroemia_indica_bonsai.jpg
 

will0911

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I repotted this one in the spring not recently. Its been in the pot since like march. But I do agree with adding movement. Ill wait till it loses its leaves for winter and wire everything again and get alot of movement out of them. Thanks for the advice and the picture for reference!

Will B.
 

will0911

Shohin
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Its cool. I know I have quite a few crape myrtle posts. I was thinking it might have been confused with the less amount of light it received during that hurricane that came through. We had cool nights and cloudy days for a week so I think it might've had a false start to fall....maybe
 

will0911

Shohin
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Tmmason10,

I readjusted and put more bends in the branches...better?

2011-09-25_16-45-11_688.jpg


Thanks for pointing it out!

Will B.
 

will0911

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Yeah the leaves will come in just in time to drop! Lol. I really appreciate your help. Ill be refining the new shoots when the leaves do drop.
 

Speedy

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The new bends really make feel less static or rigid. Nice looking tree.
 
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