by Zach Smith | May 9, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Pruning, Styling, Wiring
We’ve been following the development of this bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, since last year when I first collected and direct-potted it. BC grow so quickly that it’s very easy to develop them completely in a bonsai pot, provided of course you begin with a suitable trunk. In the case of this specimen, I had a fine buttress and great taper to work with. The tree was chopped at 24″, which meant I’d be able to complete the design at a height of about 30″. Considering the basal trunk diameter of 3″ 3″ above the soil surface, this gives an ideal proportion for a bald cypress bonsai. They look best when you can produce a convincing impression of height (this is for the standard upright styles; certainly you could grow BC in most any style if the material lent itself).
In this photo you can see a couple of things. One, the apical dominance that defines bald cypress is fully on display. There are countless shoots that have emerged and are growing straight up, having extended in excess of a foot in length. Making a bonsai out of a piece of material that behaves this way is a challenge, since the branches all want to grow upward in order for the tree to get very tall. But as bonsai artists this is what we do all the time anyway: except for bushes and shrubs, every tree wants to get taller until it reaches its predetermined height. So we fight against this to create a small tree. In time and with root restriction, this tendency declines; however, it won’t ever go away completely.
The second thing you may have noticed about this tree is that the two lowest branches did not survive winter. This is not an uncommon thing for the smallest of BC branches. With apical dominance in full force, the tree didn’t feel the need to hang onto those lower branches. But they’re easily replaced, and with a little care this year should come through Winter 2017 just fine.
Here I’ve removed the two dead lower branches and wired two new branches on the right-hand side of the tree. I’ve also removed a number of the superfluous shoots pointing straight up. I had created a pretty complete design in the lower part of this tree last year, so my chore for today was to re-establish it. That involved mostly removing unwanted growth.
Now the rest of the unwanted shoots are taken off. I’ve also added some wire to the lowest left branch to bring it lower and enhance the appearance of height in the tree.
And finally I’ve wired a few smaller shoots in the apex of the tree and clipped the new leader. Notice how well the tapering transition is coming along. This multi-step, very reliable process is critical to making your BC (or any tree) look right. You don’t want to take any shortcuts.
In my experience with bald cypress, in order to find a specimen with a significant buttressing root base the trunk diameter near the soil will have to be 3″ or more. In fact, the cutoff point seems to be 3″ for reasons I don’t understand. In this case of this specimen, the base is 3″ in diameter but there’s a really nice, full buttress – in fact, the best I’ve ever seen. It’s a rare find.
This tree is available at our Bald Cypress Bonsai page.
by Zach Smith | May 8, 2016 | Care, Elms, Maples, Styling, Yaupon
Spring is in full force, meaning bonsai development is more or less a matter of moving from one tree to the next and doing pruning, pinching, wiring, unwiring, and on and on. Only repotting season is as intense.
Today, among others, I worked on the three trees below. Each represents a different stage of development, each indispensable to the ultimate goal. What’s important is to understand where your tree is along the way; it’s also vital to understand that not every part of your tree will develop at the same pace. This is where time and experience come in handy. You have to know what your tree needs at any given time, meaning what you can, should and shouldn’t do.
Here’s a neat yaupon, Ilex vomitoria, that I collected this past winter and direct-potted into this really nice Byron Myrick oval. This specimen has two trunks, so tightly together that one partly enfolds the other. I could see the whole design of this bonsai-in-the-making when I collected it.
So there are lots of new shoots now, and I can ask myself the three questions above:
- What can I do now? I can let the tree continue pushing its new shoots. I can also make a design decision on the right-hand trunk. There’s a well-placed shoot on the underside of the trunk. I can chop back the trunk to this shoot.
- What should I do now? I should continue letting the tree grow out to get stronger.
- What shouldn’t I do now? I shouldn’t do any wiring; the shoots are far too tender and will easy snap off.
So I did what I could do, chopping back the right-hand trunk. I like it better shortened; I can build a better crown on this trunk now.
In this photo I’ve neatened up the chop. All I need to do now is seal the chop. Then I wait for the shoots to grow out so I can wire them.
Here’s my “hopeless cause” swamp maple, Acer rubrum “Drummondii.” I wired some branches last year and then neglected the tree for the remainder of 2015. It grew into quite a bush. Time for some thinning, pruning, unwiring, rewiring, and shaping.
In a couple of minutes I pruned out all the excess branches. Now the trunk is visible again. A good start.
Here’s a good example of a “should do.” The leader I wired up last year and let run thickened well. Unfortunately, the thickness was pretty uniform and lacked interest. It wasn’t helping me to enhance taper in the upper part of the tree. So the obvious should-do was pruning the leader to enhance taper and continue the transitioning from the original chop.
But where to prune? In the closeup above you can see there are two options, one lower and one higher. Either would work, however, in order to limit the ultimate height of this tree and get the best tapering in the process I had to cut to the lower shoot.
Here the cut is made and the new leader wired up. I won’t trim the leader for a while, which will allow it to thicken at its base and enhance taper. This grow and clip process is useful both for building an apex and creating believable branches.
I have no idea how this tree will do in the coming years. If it behaves like the other large swamp maples I’ve collected in the past, next year it’ll start rotting out down the trunk beginning at the chop. I hope this doesn’t happen, and I’ll do what I can to prevent it, but the ultimate result is out of my hands.
This water-elm, Planera aquatica, was collected last fall. I wired a couple of the branches that were long enough to take wire last month. Those were “could-do’s.” Then I left it to continue pushing shoots.
Today I was lucky enough to have a lot more could-do’s. In fact, the whole tree got its initial wiring and shaping. I cut the right-hand trunk back, making it into a low thick branch, and went with a slanting style design. There’s no doubt in my mind this is what the tree wants to be.
If you’d like to continue the development of this nice water-elm pre-bonsai, the tree is available at our Elm Bonsai page.
by Zach Smith | Apr 30, 2016 | Care, Oaks, Styling, Wiring
I think we don’t grow enough oaks as bonsai. As a genus, Quercus is one of the more agreeable out there. Aside from being strong as oaks (ha!), this genus features a vast number of choices suitable to pot culture. I’ve written before about live oak and willow oak and water oak – Quercus virginiana, Quercus nigra and Quercus phellos – touting their superior qualities when grown as bonsai. And there are many, many more.
When we think of the characteristics of various species that make them suitable for bonsai, among these are smallish leaves that reduce in pot culture along with short internodes. While there are any number of oak species that fit this bill more than adequately, there are plenty of others inhabiting the other end of the spectrum. One of these is Southern red oak, Quercus falcata. This stately species features leaves ranging from 4-8″ long and 2-6″ wide. It’s not a species you’d necessarily set out to find when trying to decide on the various species to grow as bonsai.
So with that said, I was sure this tree was a water oak when I found and lifted it, which is another way of saying if I’d known it was a red oak I probably would have passed it by. It was collected in winter, of course, but there were plenty of leaves on the ground near this specimen that were water oak leaves. But of course, just because you find a certain type of leaf on the ground near a tree you want to lift, that doesn’t mean it’s from that tree. It never hurts to have an old lesson again.
Still, there’s no denying this oak has a lot going for it. I mean, look at that root base! Three nice lateral roots to stabilize the tree and its appearance. A very cool uro near the base to add to the character. Rugged bark with some lichens on it. No matter the species, I’d work on this tree just because it has a lot of bonsai potential.
So the tree came out starting in early April. The buds looked a bit weird for a water oak, but I didn’t think too much of it at first. But once the shoots began elongating I knew I had identified it wrong. The leaves were getting a lot bigger than I expected. Okay, so be it. Might as well start wiring it and see what I can make of this tree. This photo, incidentally, was taken about two weeks ago.
Did it grow a lot in two weeks or what? I put some more wire on the tree today, so those branches don’t get away from me. Interestingly enough, the primary branches are already pushing secondary branches. This is always a good sign when you’re training a tree, regardless of the species. A better tendency to branch and sub-branch means you’re more likely to make a suitable bonsai out of the species you’re working on. You can also see in this photo that the internodes are not all that far apart. That should mean I can get decent ramification on this tree, and that would mean leaf-size reduction.
Stay tuned for updated on this specimen. I imagine that by the end of this growing season I’ll have a very nice set of branches built. Next spring I’ll carve out the chop and possibly go to a bonsai pot with it.
The trunk base of this tree is 2.5″ in diameter above the root crown, and it’s 11.5″ to the chop. I can see it topping out at about 20″.
by Zach Smith | Apr 23, 2016 | Care, Flowering, Potting, Privet, Styling, Wiring
I showed you this Chinese privet, Ligustrum sinense, earlier in the season. I collected it in Winter 2016 and direct-potted it into this nice Byron Myrick oval. Because it had a complete trunk, nice movement and taper into the apex where I knew I could grow a crown in no time, there was no reason not to go straight to a bonsai pot.
So here it is, all flush with new growth. Time to do the initial styling before the branches get too stiff (privet branches get way too stiff to bend if you don’t catch them while they’re young and tender).
It’s best to work from bottom to top when you’re styling your trees. While this isn’t a hard and fast rule, it does make branch selection and placement easier.
My first step was to clear unneeded growth, once I had selected my first two branches. Since I want to wire branches in pairs, whenever possible, I work my way up the tree picking branches two at a time. This helps tremendously.
Now the first two branches are wired and positioned. There are two benefits in doing this: one, the branches are where they need to be based on the intended design; and two, with these branches in position it’s easier for me to select and envision the positions of the next two branches.
Two more branches are wired now, a back branch and one coming toward the viewer. Regarding the latter, you need branches that move into the viewing zone, however, these are typically not found until you get more than halfway up the tree. Remember, you want the first third to half of your trunk to be visible to the viewer. At that point, you want foliage crossing the trunk. A front-pointing branch is one way to make this happen. In my privet, I’ve got a branch in just the right spot to make this happen.
Now the next two branches are wired. Both of these are in the back of the tree. This helps with the illusion of depth. Bonsai are three-dimensional objects, so without branches emerging all around the tree you run the risk of destroying the illusion you’re trying to create.
After a little more editing and wiring, the finished result. This tree now has its basic structure in place. The next step is to let it continue growing, which will thicken the branches and start the ramification process. I’ll need to remove the wire in about two to three weeks, then wire again for the summer growing season. By fall, this will be a presentable Chinese privet bonsai.
The trunk base of this tree is 1.5″. Finished height should be about 16″.
This tree is available at our Chinese privet bonsai page.
by Zach Smith | Apr 16, 2016 | Care, Flowering, Oaks, Styling, Wiring
I love spring because there’s always new material to work on. That’s one great thing about bonsai: no two are exactly alike. Even though any given species has a particular growth habit, when you start building a bonsai you don’t know for sure exactly where your branches will be. So you style around this uniqueness in each tree, which is what ultimately makes them all different from one another.
I’ve come to appreciate crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, as a species for bonsai. Their easy growth habit, rapid growth and vigorous rooting ability set the species apart from many. They have beautiful spring and fall foliage, and will bloom in a container. What’s not to like?
I grew this crape myrtle from a cutting I made years ago. At some point I potted it in a large nursery container, set it with some other raw material and ignored it. It grew out and got taller as it thickened up. Crapes will produce long, straight, stiff, non-tapering trunks if left alone. That’s just what this one did, except it also produced a low branch and an interesting set of surface roots, which you can see in this photo. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but when I bought this shallow tray from Chuck Iker it struck me that I had the makings of a neat exposed root bonsai.
I cut off the bulk of the trunk and of course the roots – crape myrtles root more vigorously than just about any non-tropical species I can think of. I had a couple of shoots to work with in starting a design. No, it doesn’t look like much right now but I think you can see the potential. The proper design for this tree, to my way of thinking, is a broad spreading specimen with a classic crape myrtle shape. In this case I want to make it “low-slung,” complementing the shallow tray and the exposed roots.
The trunk base on this specimen is just under 1″. It’s 15″ in length to the end of the long shoot.
I’d love to hear what you think of this bonsai-in-the-making.
I’m blessed with oaks where I live, and these guys were volunteers near my garden. I’ve let them grow for the past several years, thinking that one day I’d do something with them. I had this Byron Myrick tray sitting idle, and its depth happened to match the basal thickness of largest of the trees I had available. Couldn’t ask for a better sign. So two weeks ago I dug this group and assembled a fledgling forest.
You can probably see some unhappy foliage on the trees. I left some in order to gauge my success in lifting the trees. While some of it withered, each tree with foliage (all but one) kept some green so I was confident they would make it. Now they’re pushing new buds, so I can get down to the next stage of forest building beginning next month.
The base of the largest of these trees is 1.25″, and it’s 26″ tall. I’m very fond of tall forests, so I’m really looking forward to watching this one develop.
Let me know what you think of it.
