No real nuance, buds (almost) never appear anywhere other than the bases of needle groups and branch tips is what I meant. I posited only
as
far
as
I know and suggested some treatments and observations to make. The scientist/engineer in me always wants to know, so I fiddle and find out - I just love finding things out!
Turn your geek/engineer loose!!
The nursery tag maybe saves some time exploring how white barks behave. This "persistent clumps ..." thing might even be said of p. strobus. But in the better part of a decade I have had one back bud on 'bare wood' on
my little p. strobus 'minima' and it was at the union of a branch and the trunk. I have another standard p. strobus that has been given plenty of stimulus to bud back on 'bare wood' and it never has.
Japonicus, on the other hand, has several on his EWP. The nursery tag, though, makes it sound like this occurs quite a bit more often with white barks (i.e., like it should happen spontaneously every season, maybe) and therefore is something I hadn't known. It could be useful or just a nuisance - I dunno. The desirable trait for bonsai, I think, is not having to develop an entirely new branch from the trunk, but just a portion of one, as time goes on.