Evergreen Gardenworks Shimpaku 1

[butlern]

I've never started any progressions on any of my junipers, and inspired by a re-read and update on BVF's devoted to his "Shimpaku from Evergreen Gardenworks," I thought I would start today. Particularly given that this specific tree is the curvier "sister" to BVF's Shimpaku.

First, a picture as advertised from Brent on his site:



And a picture of the tree as received in the spring of 2018:

 

[butlern]

At that time (when received in the spring 2018), the tree was purported to be 41 years old.

This was basically my first juniper, so the plan was to let it acclimate to my locale and observe its growth characteristics and responses to heavy fertilizing (Biogold) and foliar feeding (fish emulsion).

I neither pruned nor manipulated any parts of the tree in 2018, although I should have started to remove flaking bark and cleaned deadwood. But that didn't happen:

 

[butlern]

The Shimpaku was left untouched in 2019, although I should have re-potted (it was in fir bark and perlite 50:50) and thinned and started to plan the design.

In early spring 2020, I finally got it into an unimpressive production pot in 1:1:1 soil and started with some jins to expose the trunk line and eliminate overly dense areas. I also removed green shoots from hardwood and semi-hardwood, unless the shoot was being allow to fill in a void. A couple of branches were wired to get the foliage into the sun.

My intent was to change the potting angle to stand it a little more upright (tilted to the right, and bury a large surface root on the right), but that didn't happen. During the first re-pot this spring I was concerned about being too aggressive with the roots while at the same time changing out much of the original soil.

 

[butlern]

This summer I'll continue to clean the deadwood and continue to remove flaky bark.

In the winter or early spring it'll be fully wired out for the first time. The image above shows areas that remain overly dense and areas with what appears to be little if any foliage, but full wiring should help balance it out more. Time to get some pad development going.

The front left branch is also guy-wired to bring it down and forward a bit. But I think it'll need some raffia and 8 or 10 wire next spring.

 

[butlern]

So that's where it stands as of June 2020.

Any feedback on directions and general care and maintenance is welcome.

Noah

 

[augustine]

That was a significant reduction of roots moving from Anderson flat to the container.

great tree

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Glad you started a thread on this one Noah. I’d guy-wire at the green spots to move the upper part of the tree toward the right as shown in the blue. I agree with the plan to plant the tree more upright and covering the right root. I really like the snag of Jin on that right area, and would not touch it at all; but would shorten the lower jins on the left.

You’re going to end up with a rather thin, feminine design, but one that conveys a lot of age. Look at some of the old Kokufu books for inspiration...like in the mid-1900s when they were still pulling them out of the mountains and sticking them straight into pots.

 

[butlern]

That was a significant reduction of roots moving from Anderson flat to the container.

great tree

Thanks, Augustine, I'm excited for its future.

Re: root reduction.... Not really. Brent had it potted pretty shallowly in the Anderson flat (I added a little pumice/akadama on top to keep some surface roots on the left side happy). It went from 686 cu in (14x14x3.5) to 515 cu in (14x10.5x3.5), so 25% reduction in soil/root/container volume. That was coupled with jining three branches and thinning out weak, downward growing shoots and shoots on semi-hardwood, as noted above. So I think I balanced root and foliage removal OK.

It's been 11 weeks since the re-pot, and it threw runners this spring, so I'm confident it didn't suffer. And now it's in better soil and appears happy overall.

 

[butlern]

Glad you started a thread on this one Noah. I’d guy-wire at the green spots to move the upper part of the tree toward the right as shown in the blue. I agree with the plan to plant the tree more upright and covering the right root. I really like the snag of Jin on that right area, and would not touch it at all; but would shorten the lower jins on the left.

Thanks for checking in, Brian

Moving the upper section is a great suggestion. I'll likely wait until next spring before I start additionally tweaking on the tree, since I just repotted it this year. Also, after I saw your suggestion, I went out to examine possible guy-wire placements... might have to wire it to a tie-down that is anchored in the pot. Will dig deeper into that next spring.

 

[butlern]

Some pretty heavy work on this one... Significant thinning and removal of foliage.

Front before:

Front after:

Right side before:


Right side after:

Back before:

Back after:

Left side before:

Left side after:

 

[PeaceLoveBonsai]

Nice progression. Well done.

 

[Colorado]

Looks great!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Good to get it started. Have you considered shortening it?

 

[butlern]

I have not considered that as a front. But the current chosen front (noted above) could use some compaction, for sure.

Thanks for checking in, Brian.

Worked with some of your old friends back here in Iowa yesterday (Ron Heinen among them). He mentioned your name in relation to a yew... I think. Might have gotten that mixed with one of his other trees.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I have not considered that as a front. But the current chosen front (noted above) could use some compaction, for sure.

Thanks for checking in, Brian.

Worked with some of your old friends back here in Iowa yesterday (Ron Heinen among them). He mentioned your name in relation to a yew... I think. Might have gotten that mixed with one of his other trees.

Ron is one of my best friends, we go back a LONG way…over 25 years working on trees together. He is collecting some really cool stuff.

 

[butlern]

Yes, I saw some spruce and ponderosa that Scott and Ron collected this spring (not sure if you know Scott Allen).

Really cool stuff... an understatement.

RE: my tree... will compact the top a bit and also shorten those lower jins this week. I was aiming to keep it sinuous and relatively tall, given the thin feminine trunk. So I likely won't shorten to the degree that you show in your vert. But maybe over time and down the road.

 

[butlern]

2022 Update. Some simple work to try and keep this tree in shape... bit of thinning and cutting back runners. Runners all over the tree this spring, so seems healthy. Filled out quite a bit since the hard cut backs and wiring in June 2021

Runners:


Front, before work:


Front, after work:


Back, before work:


Back, after work:


Still could use some more thinning on lower right and upper left (viewed from front). And now that I look more closely at the pictures, I think the left and right pads at the upper 1/3 of the tree are too much aligned and much too flat... need to drop that upper left to break up that hard line of negative space and build more "clouding" appearance on both left and right. At least that's my take when I stand back.

 

[butlern]

Slight tweak, before and after, side-by-side, and a re-fresh on what I started with 4 years ago. I thinks it's come a long way and still coming alone nicely.

 

[Colorado]

Looks great!!

 

[butlern]

Looks great!!

Thank you! You have some awesome trees, for sure. I enjoy your updates, Colorado.