Hinoki cypress 8 years in training

[october]

Hello all. This was a tree I picked up at a local garden nursery about 8 years ago...

This year, I had to shorten all the branches because they were getting too long and ruining the silhouette. They are a bit long, but it looks more balanced than it did..

It has a nice natural curve to the trunk, but the base could have a little better taper.. Oh well, nothings perfect. I am still surprised that this tree, given it's reputation, has forgiven me for all the mistakes I made with it 7 or 8 years ago...

Rob

 

[John Ruger]

You got a beauty, good luck with it...have you ever worked with Calif. Redwood? I've worked on bonsai for 10 years and never tried evergreens.

 

[october]

Hello John,
Thanks for replying.. I have never had a cali redwood.. If I found one and it had potential, I would love to work on it

 

[John Ruger]

You ever check out Mendocino Coast Bonsai? That's all they deal with. I'm still trying to gather up the guts to try one out.

 

[october]

I think I may have come across that site in the past.. I will check it out again...

 

[Brian Underwood]

You should! They are incredibly fun trees to work on. Fast growing, easy to style, and almost indestructible. I have bought a number of trees from them, and they were all great. They will even ship you a tree if you call and describe what you are looking for, but the best way of course is to go to their nursery. They have everything from shohin size stock, to huge twin trunk stock. Everything is collected from the surrounding redwood forests. I'll throw up a new post sometime today in the conifer section...

 

[october]

Hello Brian.. Thanks for the reply.. I will be checking out their site. and look forward to your posting..

Rob

 

[Bill S]

Good looking Hinoki for having a lot of mistakes made to it Rob, especially if the branches got too long on ya. You must spend a lot of time pinching it.

Where is Rick M when you bring out a hinoki.

 

[october]

Thanks Bill.....I spend about 3 weeks off and on redesigning the whole tree...Almost every branch on the tree was shortened.

Unfortunately, the pot it is in is pretty much the most shallow pot in can go in.. Right underneath the base of the trunk is a thick star shaped root stump in which all the roots eminate.. I mean, it is not that bad as far as pot depth, but if it was possible, I would like to go more shallow.

Rob

 

[cbobgo]

Nice looking tree, can I make a suggestion?

After that first curve in your trunk, the trunkline continues to slant slightly to the right. So, just for kicks, I rotated your tree about 10 - 15 degrees or so to the left, then lowered the right side branches back down and moved the apex back over to the right.

It's a subtle change, but I think it works. What do you think?

- bob