by Zach Smith | Sep 4, 2015 | Bald Cypress, Care, Flowering, Hawthorn
We’ve just about reached the last gasp of growth for 2015. Summer always takes a toll, sometimes more sometimes less. But our main goal is to endure, and prepare our trees for the coming dormancy while anticipating 2016.
I’ve put everything on sale for Labor Day, just in case there’s something you’ve been eyeing but couldn’t quite pull the trigger on. This is not the best time of year to acquire new trees, but with sufficient time for them to complete food storage it’s actually not a bad time to get something you really want.
Here’s my last bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, from the 2015 offerings; it hasn’t quite found a home yet. The trunk base on this one is 4″ in diameter, and it tapers rapidly to the chop at 23″ above the soil. I’ll probably do an initial styling on this tree next spring, but at this point I’m not at all sure what style I’ll be going for. I’m thinking flat-top. Maybe you’ve got some ideas. The sale price on this tree is $295 (includes shipping), which I think is great for a tree this size. If you’re interested, just click on this link to access our Bald Cypress Bonsai page.
This riverflat hawthorn, Crataegus opaca, is one of two I have for sale. This species is much less plentiful than the Mayhaws I usually find, and you just can’t beat the bark!
I’m developing this tree into a broom-form style, which will reflect the typical hawthorn shape in nature. In 2016 I should be able to complete the primary branch structure and begin working on the secondary branching. The new apex is developing just as I need it to. If you look closely you can see the smooth tapering from base to where the original trunk forked off – and where I made an angled cut to the smaller leader – then into the new apical shoot that grew from a trunk bud this year, which was cut to a side shoot to make a still slimmer leader. There are a couple more years ahead for fleshing out the crown of this tree, but there’s really no difficulty in getting this accomplished.
This tree is on sale for only $160 (price includes shipping) at our Hawthorn Bonsai page. The trunk base is 1.75″ in diameter, height to the tip of the new apex is 18″, and the tree has good radial surface rootage. It’s a mature tree, as shown by the bark, estimated age 30 years. A great addition to any collection.
Our Labor Day Sale runs through Sunday the 13th.
by Zach Smith | Aug 29, 2015 | Bald Cypress, Care, Wiring
This bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, was one of the last two BC I collected this past February to bud out in spring. Unsurprisingly, the growth was sluggish throughout spring and into the first part of summer. It didn’t bud as prolifically as BC usually do, but it was alive from top to bottom and that was enough for starters. I’ve collected trees that didn’t start out strong, but which picked up tremendously in year two. I figured this would be one of them.
As summer progressed, I noticed that this tree was gaining strength. It’s now even got roots growing out of the drains holes. And while it didn’t have as many branches as you’d normally expect, I decided it was destined to be a flat-top anyway so it didn’t matter. Today it was time to start training this tree.
The first decision I had to make was regarding the appropriate leader for this tree. As you can see in this closeup, I have two good candidates. After studying the tree for a few minutes, I realized clearly that the best choice was the one emerging from the right-hand side of the trunk. Why? One of the key factors in bringing out the true art of your trees is drama. What this means is, the bonsai that has a static appearance does not inspire. For example, trees that completely lack trunk movement are very difficult to make into impressive bonsai. It can be done, but usually it’s by going with a broom style design (one of the most difficult to achieve). In the case of this BC, by avoiding the branch that shoots straight up from the front of the tree, I know I can make something dramatic out of this specimen.
Here’s the tree after I selected my leader and removed most of the branches I have no use for. I’ve also wired the primary branches and the new leader. The bonsai is taking shape.
Now I’ve done the necessary bending to shape the branches and take the leader where I want it to go. Notice that my first bend in the new leader was back toward the trunk. This is exactly what needed to happen. The second bend was back in the original direction. I also twisted the leader slightly in order to allow me to wire and position the secondary leader of the flat-top.
Here’s the final result. I’ve trimmed back the low branch, left the high vestigual branch long to thicken, made an initial angle cut at the trunk chop, and done the shaping in the crown that will ultimately complete the design. I’ve deliberately allowed the leader to extend, for a taller and more graceful specimen.
I expect to add another vestigual branch or two next year, but I’ll have plenty of buds to choose from in spring.
What do you think? Do I have a nice flat-top bald cypress in the works?
The base of this tree is 2.5″, and the height to the tip of the crown is about 24″.
by Zach Smith | Aug 25, 2015 | Bald Cypress, Care
In Part 1 of this article, we briefly explored the concept of artistic design first as it may be expressed by the landscape artist, and then expanded that same concept to bonsai design. In bonsai, our goal is to make a small tree look like a much larger and older tree, and standing at a distance despite the fact that we view the tree from a relatively short remove. Because a bonsai tree is, first and foremost, a tree, in order to make a believable representation of nature we have to mimic trees in nature. Thus we first addressed the design factor that can be described as a non-static (asymmetric) stability. That is, the tree stands majestic as it firmly grips the earth by way of its root system. This evokes emotion in us; and it should. We know that many trees possess lifespans far in excess of our own. Some provide food for us, many provide food and shelter for wildlife. We use them to build shelters and warm our homes. It’s only natural to have respect for trees. So to render such an important life form in miniature is quite a feat. Making the miniature tree, the bonsai, accurately represent its much larger counterpart is, in fact, high art. To do this, we can rely on certain design principles which if properly executed will give us the result we desire.
This post addresses the second design principle of making a miniature tree look like its counterpart in nature: making it look taller than it really is. In order to do this, we need to take advantage of another basic design technique, namely, perspective. If you’ve ever done any drawing or painting, you’ve learned that mimicking the three-dimensional aspect of nature on paper or canvas is done by rendering objects that are farther away in a smaller size. The easiest way to picture this is the classic railroad tracks that run off into the distance, as in this image:
These tracks run for perhaps a mile into the distance, but this is conveyed in a very short space by the phenomenon of the tracks appearing slimmer and slimmer as they rise toward the top of the image. What’s more, our brains when viewing this image have no problem grasping them within the context of the landscape they reside in. In other words, we have no problem at all seeing vast distance in this image. So given this, is it possible to achieve the appearance of vast height in a short space? The answer is a definite yes. Take a look at this photograph of a bald cypress bonsai:
The overall height of this bonsai from the soil surface is 29 inches. The base of the trunk is about 3 inches in diameter. At the point where the leaders emerge from the main trunk, the diameter of the trunk is 1.5 inches. I’ve drawn lines to roughly mirror the tapering of the trunk as it rises to the sky. You can see that not too far above the apex of this tree, these two lines will merge. Compare that with the image of the railroad tracks above. Have I achieved a nice degree of perspective in this bald cypress bonsai? More importantly, can you visualize it as a 100 foot-tall tree?
This, then, is the second key design principle for creating believable bonsai. A tapering trunk fools the mind because it gives the impression that you’re standing near the base of a very tall tree. Just as the landscape artist conveys distance or height by use of perspective, the bonsai artist does exactly the same thing by creating trees whose trunks are thicker near their bases than at their apexes.
But this is just one use of perspective to achieve this goal. As you might imagine, a rising trunk on a bonsai that tapers should be mirrored by tapering foliage masses. This is not the case with a flat-top style bald cypress, which achieves this goal differently. What is typically done is shown in this riverflat hawthorn in development:
In this case, the perspective lines show much more clearly how the eye is taken up the tree through tapering foliage masses in order to give that impression of height. Notice also the tapering of the trunk of this tree, even though somewhat subtle, is sufficient to create the impression of height. If you were told this tree stood 80-feet tall, you’d be inclined to believe it.
Finally, there’s one more feature of this hawthorn that is designed to make the tree seem much taller than it is. Notice that in the lower part of the tree, the branches are less plentiful than in the upper part. This is another way to fool the brain. If you walk up to a tall tree in nature, you can clearly see the individual branches in the lower part of the tree but as your eye moves up the tree all you can see is a lot of branches seemingly crowded together. And this is actually how trees grow. The closer to the sunshine, the more plentiful the branches and foliage of most trees. To build your bonsai this way only makes sense.
And so, with our second design factor understood it’s time to move on to our third factor: making your tree look older than it really is. To be continued …
by Zach Smith | Aug 15, 2015 | Bald Cypress, Care, Pruning, Wiring
Here’s where we left off with this bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, a couple of weeks ago. I had made mention of the fact that defoliating a healthy bald cypress in early July leads to a new flush of fresh growth within two or three weeks. It’s common for BC to get ratty looking foliage in mid- to late summer. While this doesn’t cause any permanent harm, it’s pretty unattractive. So why not do something about it? So on this developing flat-top style tree, I went at it hard July 4th weekend. By August 1st the tree had thrown lots of new strong shoots, and was ready for its next round of work. So after some fine wiring and judicious trimming, we had this result.
This is where we are today. My new shoots are now four to six inches long, and it’s time to give them a final trim for 2015. As the remainder of the growing season winds down, this new growth will harden off in time for winter. Next year, we get into serious ramification.
I also had the opportunity to correct something that didn’t look quite right to me following the previous session. The main left-hand leader looked a little bit long relative to the right-hand leader and my plan for the overall silhouette of the tree. I hadn’t noticed this until I photographed the tree back on August 1st. Which brings up another good bit of advice on developing your trees: take photos of it in its various stages. The camera will often show you flaws you just can’t see standing in front of the tree.
In this shot, you can see I’ve brought in the left-hand leader enough to restore the crown’s balance. This bit of tough-love, done now, will yield great results down the road.
by Zach Smith | Aug 8, 2015 | Bald Cypress, Care, Potting
Okay, while I admit to enjoying everything associated with bonsai, the fact is it’s not necessarily all hysterical fun. Sometimes it can actually get to be a bit of a drag. Don’t get me wrong, the wiring, pruning, pinching, unwiring, rewiring, and so on aren’t bad at all, but I’ll admit that I find repotting seldom puts a smile on my face. So every now and then, you’ve got to do something different and have some real oddball fun with bonsai. This past winter I collected my first crop of bald cypress cones from my own trees. I sold some and planted some for future projects. And then I saw a post on a forum where someone had simply potted up a handful of seeds and grew a forest directly from them. Why not do the same thing with bald cypress? So I had this small Chuck Iker pot sitting empty and wondered what I could make of the idea.
Here’s how I got started on April 11th of this year. Bald cypress seeds have a very high germination rate, so I figured from this cone I should at least get a good dozen or two trees to come up. My first half-dozen are waking up in this shot.
By April 25th, the forest was getting pretty crowded. Almost everything is still at bare seedling stage, with just the cotyledons showing.
And here we are today. Now that’s what I call bonsai fun! I haven’t done anything to this new bald cypress forest except remove the stressed summer foliage from the interior. My plan is to do nothing else until next spring, and at that time I’ll shear the forest into a nice triangular silhouette. I expect the crowded space will keep the trees from getting individually too strong. And that’s the really easy way to a presentable little forest.
By the way, the pot is 6.5″ in diameter.
What do you think of this instant forest? Leave me a note below.
by Zach Smith | Aug 1, 2015 | Bald Cypress, Care, Pruning, Wiring
You’ll remember this bald cypress I defoliated on July 5th. As I noted at the time, for established cypresses you can defoliate in early July in order to get a fresh new set of foliage for fall. Summer heat often causes stress on these trees, which shows up as browning or blackening of individual leaflets of the fronds. This happens in the interior of the tree, and though unattractive causes no permanent damage. Defoliating, however, eliminates the problem.
Here we are with this tree, almost a month later. Despite the extremely hot temperatures we experienced all through July, this set of foliage looks great. And as long as I keep the tree watered, this attractive foliage will persist into fall.
Another benefit of defoliating your bald cypresses in July is you get in an extra round of training. With trees that grow vigorously, such as cypress and American hornbeam, you can wire in spring, unwire in late spring, and rewire for summer. Strategic pruning is also done. Remember, the ultimate beauty of any bonsai is to be found in the intricate structure of trunk and branching you build. For collected trees, you start with a trunk and build the branching and crown. This bald cypress is a perfect example of this process. So the more “seasons” you go through, the faster you create the detailed structure that makes a trained bonsai.
In the tree at left, I have a whole crop of new shoots that are ready to be shaped in order for this bonsai to take its next step.
Here’s a close-up of the crown. You can see the result of the desire of the tree to reestablish its genetic destiny – massive height! But this is going to be a bonsai, so I can’t let that happen.
Thirty minutes later, here’s the next step in the building of this flat-top style bald cypress. Notice how I’ve reduced the expanse of the crown by wiring the individual secondary leaders and introducing the movement. This helps create the illusion of age in this tree, as time and growth bring the tree’s innate desire to get taller to an end. Once a bald cypress gets to 80-100 feet tall, there’s no more upward growth in it. So the tree settles down to mature life – which, incidentally, may last for a thousand years.
Finally, a closeup of the work I’ve done to complete this next step. Once these new secondary leaders are set and thick enough, I’ll be able to rely more on grow and clip to build the ramification that will ultimately make this a fine bonsai.
