New Flat-Top Bald Cypress

by | Jul 9, 2021 | Bald Cypress, Care, Most Recent, Pruning, Styling, Wiring

new flat-top bald cypress

the bonsai files

Sneak Peek

Each year we bring home a few BC’s that catch my eye to the point that I want to train them. This one shouted “flat-top.” So let’s see if we can get that going.

New Flat-Top Bald Cypress

When we brought home this year’s Bald cypress specimens, a few said “train me.” This is one of them. The trunk character, taper and movement are really outstanding, and I knew from the start that this would make a fine flat-top bonsai.

The photo above is from January 30th, while this one was taken today. It shows pretty typical recovery strength for Bald cypress specimens, with the standard apical dominance showing prominently. One thing to keep in mind with BC is that this apical dominance is not necessarily a bad thing. Remember, the tree when lifted has no feeder roots or much left above ground, and “wants” to regrow itself as quickly and efficiently as possible. Part of that process is pushing multiple leaders that grow up toward the sun, and that allows the tree to collect as much light as possible. This in turn feeds those new roots, and the cycle of foliar and root growth reestablishes itself. My point in saying this is, don’t be tempted in the beginning to control the apical dominance; there’s time for that when the training begins. The first priority for a newly collected tree is to get strong, and its natural growth habit is designed just for this purpose.

The first step is always to remove superfluous growth. Here I only have left what I’m going to use for my design.

 

Now I’ve done almost all the wiring that needs doing today. There are exactly five branches in the whole starting design scheme, one of which is a secondary branch. I also carved down the trunk chop area to start the process of blending it into the trunk line.

 

And now we have the whole start for this specimen. Two vestigial branches, and a beginning for the crown. Notice that I’ve taken it in quite a bit. The tree will regrow everything I took off today, and my job will be to control that growth into the design. Those leaders, incidentally, will thicken a lot faster than you think.

I did not trim the vestigial branches. They need a lot of thickening, and that will only come if I leave them alone to grow.

I’d love to hear what all you flat-top BC fans out there think.

Styling An Apple Bonsai To Be

by | Jul 5, 2021 | Care, Crabapple, Most Recent, Pruning, Styling, Wiring

styling an apple bonsai to be

the bonsai files

Sneak Peek

I collected this rather stout apple from a bonsai friend’s property last year. Since then I’ve left it alone to grow out and gain strength. Now that some of the branches are almost too stiff to bend, it’s time to do an initial styling.

Styling an Apple Bonsai to be

I collected some trees from a bonsai friend’s property last year, including this apple (not a crabapple, a regular one; he didn’t know the variety). It’s a stout fellow, with a trunk that measures 5″ across at the soil. It’s chopped at 13″, so I’m thinking it should finish out at about 20″ when I’m done.

From February of last year until early July of this year, the tree has put on a nice bit of growth (it did take a while to get going last year). Some of the branches are almost too stiff to bend, so I can’t afford to delay styling the tree any longer.

I always start with some editing, working my way up from the bottom. That all-important first branch needs to be selected with care. I have a few candidates.

 

I found it and its counterpart in back of the tree, which will be my number two branch. Here they’re wired together and positioned. I also pruned away the superfluous branches near these two.

 

Now one of the left-hand side of the tree.

Two more branches are now wired and positioned. The shape of this future bonsai is emerging from the mass of branches I started with.

 

The last step was to prune the leader, in order to introduce some movement and taper. I’ll let this new leader run for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022 – there’s still a lot of work to do to build the tapering transition at the chop point.

Let me know what you think of this specimen. Isn’t that hollow at the base interesting? I’m sort of expecting to hear from the Keeblers about moving in.

Monster Bald Cypress Available

by | Jun 27, 2021 | Bald Cypress, Care, Most Recent, Pruning

monster bald cypress available

the bonsai files

Sneak Peek

We always bring home a selection of very large Bald cypresses each collecting season. Here’s one that’s available for someone looking for a “statement” BC.

Monster Bald Cypress Available

We brought home this monster Bald cypress in early January of this year. Unlike most of the rest of the BC’s we got, this one swelled a few buds early on a very small branch it came home with, but didn’t do anything else for almost two months afterward. It finally started showing some promise after our snow and ice storm, and the next thing you knew it just took off. Here’s the initial shot from today.

When you’re in the recovery phase of a large BC, you have a few things to keep on top of. One is your chosen leader, the other is the lower branches – the former because you don’t need competition for that all-important apex-builder, the latter because the tree will push most of its energy right to the top. In this photo, you can see I’ve removed all of the competition for the chosen leader. That will help strengthen it as the growing season progresses.

This is one of those trees that has more than one potential front. Here I’ve turned it to show you what I mean. There’s no doubt the tree has good basal flare and fluting from either angle, but this view definitely shows deeper fluting. You can certainly go with this front; all that will be needed is to wait for a new shoot on this side to emerge and let that be your leader.

 

For the really big and/or interesting trees, I like to take “naked” shots to show more trunk detail. Here’s this guy from the front, on the day of collection.

 

And the back view, day of collection.

If you’re looking for that big statement BC for your collection, you can’t go wrong with this specimen. It’s now for sale at our Shop page. The price includes standard shipping, and the tree will go out this fall.

Change Of Design For Spekboom

by | Jun 19, 2021 | Care, Jade, Most Recent, Pruning, Styling

change of design for spekboom

the bonsai files

Sneak Peek

Have you ever had a tree that was completely designed, and then the design just stopped working for you. That’s what happened to me with this Spekboom.

Change of Design for Spekboom

In September of 2020 I repotted this Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) into a large pot, as it had outgown its original container and I wanted to grow it into a large specimen. The style of the tree has been the so-called boom-form, from just about the beginning. It’s not a bad design. Unfortunately, over the past several months I found myself not liking it as much as I should.

I haven’t done anything to it since its repotting, so here we are in the middle of June of 2021 and the tree is in what I call the “Sideshow Bob” phase of growth typical of Spekboom when you don’t keep after it. I’ve been studying it and studying it for months, and I finally came to a decision – the design needed to change.

I started by removing that back fork in the trunk, which was carrying the lower levels of foliage in back of the tree. That sort of thing works for a broom-form tree, but not for an informal upright (my planned design).

Here I’ve edited more of the superfluous structural branching, seeking the lone trunk line I need for an informal upright specimen.

 

More trimming as I make the final decisions on where the trunk needs to go.

Found it! In this photo it’s easy to see where that trunk line was hiding all along.

 

Don’t forget my rule – always cut more than you think you need to cut. I may still have too much on that left-hand branch, but it’s got a good structure and I’m confident it’ll work once the tree pushes new buds where I want more branches (well, I’m counting on it, we’ll see).

Let me know what you think of this change. I personally like it a lot!