Monterey Cypress (full styling from nursery material)

[justBonsai]

I was at my local nursery and found a nice monterey cypress. Good nebari and base flare and a good size to work with. I gave it a full styling (my largest wiring project to date) and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It does appear fairly cluttered but that's in part from the lack of depth and not enough detail wiring from me. In doing such heavy projects like this you invariably end up removing a lot of the strong outward apical growth. I am hesitant to do another 20% reduction and fine wiring that would risk the health of the tree and further die back. I'll give it good after care and fertilizing over the season and after it has a lot of strong interior growth I'll do the second detail wiring. My wiring still needs work though. When putting bends in the main trunk I had a blow out from a side I didn't brace. Fortunately the branch was still connected so I just braced it and stabilized it with more wire. The branch actually never detached so the union will be very close and tight to allow healing but I'll always have a weak spot in the tree.

The other problem is the center back trunk competing with my main left one. In person it is not noticeable as they are spaced fairly far apart but after it gets flattened in an image it's more evident. The issue is that it is close in thickness to the main trunk. While this may limit the tree from becoming truly excellent in the future it doesn't bother me too much. I probably should crank some movement in it to but it'll be tough. It's the thickest trunk and I've found the monterey cypress wood to be much more brittle than the junipers I've worked with. That brings to focus another issue. My main trunk is actually smaller than the back trunk. But their positions relative towards one another make them appear to be the same thickness. This creates the dilemma with depth seen in the photos. When styling the tree there was a much larger front trunk but I choose to remove it since it was dead straight and too thick to add movement. My plan is to selectively let the front trunk grow more while limiting the back trunk. In time the imbalance will be corrected but I can't think of any way to remedy it now. Also if you notice I got lazy and didn't finish wiring the apex of the back trunk lol.

I'll be focusing on aftercare to ensure it pulls through and is in good health for the second wiring this year. I think it still has potential to be a very nice tree in the future but there are still some flaws I'll have to work around and improve in the future.


Wow those pictures are big. Here are the thumbnails if you are on PC and want to click:


Before:


After:



Outdoor shot with better depth but no backdrop:

 

[justBonsai]

Its just under 2.5 feet tall so this was (least for me) quite a monster wiring project. From start to finish it probably took me 8-9 hours to finish the tree. A lot of time spent deliberating, then cleaning foliage, removing unnecessary branches, pondering major chops that may compromise the design, wiring, breaking the main trunk, praying it lives, then wiring the rest of the tree ? ???. I've been misting this thing non stop since I heard that loud crack. No wilting over the past 2 days so I'm crossing my fingers.

 

[Wilson]

Good start, it will definitely look better when you can go through again, and open more negative space. How vigorous do these trees grow?

 

[justBonsai]

Good start, it will definitely look better when you can go through again, and open more negative space. How vigorous do these trees grow?

I believe these are pretty fast growing so definitely a more vigorous variety.

 

[choppychoppy]

So first off bravo on the amount of work you put in and what you did you did well, but Id like to make a few suggestions.

So in the end what you did will pretty much look like the tree you started with. You need to choose some of the thickest branches possible much higher up and bring them down much sharper to look more like an alpine tree. Also as you move forward you will eliminate many more branches for much more open space. I showm below a sharper branch angle to consider.

 

[jriddell88]

what was the raffia used for? its hard to really tell from the original picture? did you just pull it over to left more?. I do like choppys idea of bringing the down in a sweeping motion, I think it would fit the style your going for, and the species. I would have gone a bit further with it seeing as its nursery stock and probably didn't cost all that much, it coud be a nice one one tree, good work so far, finish it! I look forward to seeing it progress in the future, don't see too many of these around!

 

[justBonsai]

So first off bravo on the amount of work you put in and what you did you did well, but Id like to make a few suggestions.

So in the end what you did will pretty much look like the tree you started with. You need to choose some of the thickest branches possible much higher up and bring them down much sharper to look more like an alpine tree. Also as you move forward you will eliminate many more branches for much more open space. I showm below a sharper branch angle to consider.

Eh it started as a bush and I think it's far better now. The reason it looks pretty messy is that I didn't do fine foliage wiring for reasons I already described. The overlay of branches in the 2D image makes it more dense and cluttered than it actually is.

I did contemplate a lot over how to orient the branches. I felt intiating the growth upwards worked for this tree and was in line with images of Monterey cypress I looked at. What you show is how I see a lot of alpine trees grow, but the Monterey cypress is a coastal tree.

What you suggest is still a possible option though and doing so will help introduce negative space to better define the tree. I'll consider it when I do my next wiring and possible restyle.

 

[justBonsai]

what was the raffia used for? its hard to really tell from the original picture? did you just pull it over to left more?. I do like choppys idea of bringing the down in a sweeping motion, I think it would fit the style your going for, and the species. I would have gone a bit further with it seeing as its nursery stock and probably didn't cost all that much, it coud be a nice one one tree, good work so far, finish it! I look forward to seeing it progress in the future, don't see too many of these around!

I wanted to add more movement in the main trunk. It was straight to the right so I brought it left and added a little side to side motion. Might not of needed but I put it on when prepping the tree on case I wanted to go further. As I found, the wood on these are very brittle so it doesn't hurt either.

I'll definitely keep progress on this tree updated. I'm not completely full of crap and will clean up it's image in the future. If you've seen my hinoki cypress progression the first wiring looked like crap but after the second refinement the tree looks pretty good now.

 

[jriddell88]

Where is the hinoki thread ?

 

[justBonsai]

Where is the hinoki thread ?

Can't find the link right now but I have the exact same pictures and progression on my website:
https://bontsai.com/category/trees/hinoki-clump/

 

[jriddell88]

Ah yes I remember it now , it perked up and filled in nicely , I bought a large one a few years back , I’m going to keep in the ground as a landscape tree in my garden , it’s probably about 3 foot tall

 

[Potawatomi13]

So first off bravo on the amount of work you put in and what you did you did well, but Id like to make a few suggestions.

So in the end what you did will pretty much look like the tree you started with. You need to choose some of the thickest branches possible much higher up and bring them down much sharper to look more like an alpine tree. Also as you move forward you will eliminate many more branches for much more open space. I showm below a sharper branch angle to consider.

Look at Monterey Cypress growing in Monterey/along coast and will not look that way. Better styled spreading or windswept like natural not like Japanese juniper See Ryan Neils live feed videos on Bristlecone Pine and Turkish Oak. Importance of using style near natural for tree is mentioned in both. Highly recommended wisdom.

 

[hemmy]

My plan is to selectively let the front trunk grow more while limiting the back trunk.

Inspiring work! I need to work on mine in the ground.

Your plan should work. I’ve read they thicken well in containers (phutu.com) and I was surprised how much mine thickened in only one year in the ground. I’ve also been told that they don’t back bud well.

I love the look of those Monterey Cypress on the coast with the flattened apex. I also wonder if a slight angle change or more movement in the trunks would convey that rugged coastal style?

Good work!

 

[Emanon]

Look at Monterey Cypress growing in Monterey/along coast and will not look that way. Better styled spreading or windswept like natural not like Japanese juniper See Ryan Neils live feed videos on Bristlecone Pine and Turkish Oak. Importance of using style near natural for tree is mentioned in both. Highly recommended wisdom.

I think this tree here is maybe the "goldcrest" cultivar (or not?) -- which looks like a tree quite different from those windswept examples found in nature along the coast in places like Point Lobos or Pebble Beach. If that's the case, would it be better to aim for, or design with an eye towards, the natural style of the cultivar?

 

[my nellie]

I was at my local nursery and found a nice monterey cypress... ...

I assume (by the pot) this is a pre-bonsai nursery.
So the roots have already been "trained" but I would like to ask : Do you happen to know about first root reduction of a landscape nursery M. cypress tree? How do they take it?

 

[Mike Hennigan]

Any updates on this tree? It’s cool to see somebody working with monterey cypress. I was out in California this past summer and got to see them in their natural range, totally mind blowing I must have take 200 photos. Not sure if you’re trying to style it like wild monterey cypress, but if you are... just keep in mind that all the branches should move UPWARD. I actually have a juniper that I’m going to be styling after the Monterey Cypress I saw in Cali. All the branches will be trained upwards. I’m sure someone will shit their britches at seeing me do this with a juniper. And I will revel in it.

 

[justBonsai]

Haha I'm suprised people are still following this tree!

I've actually since moved to Japan to pursue an apprenticeship. Most of my trees have been sold or are in the care of others, but I left this one with my parents! After seeing my keen interest in bonsai, they decided to get involved themselves and joined the local bonsai club.

The tree handled the repot no problem and grew like gangbusters. It essentially reverted back to a bush but the primary branches thickened a lot. They had some help from Lindsey Shiba at a SABS meeting who help them cut the tree back and thin it out.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

that's great. Really nice to have your folks involved in bonsai too.

 

[Punky]

Tonight I am sleeping next to this: