by Zach Smith | Aug 13, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Pruning, Styling, Wiring, Yaupon
I love fast-developing trees. Some species and styles naturally lend themselves to rapid progress. The flat-top Bald cypress is a perfect example of this phenomenon.
This specimen was collected in Winter 2019, and here’s how it looked after the initial styling in early June. Not much to look at, but you can see where I’m going.
This is where you can take a flat-top BC in two summer months. The basic structure was established at the initial styling. From that point, there are two main chores that must be done. They aren’t hard to do, but sometimes they conflict with one another. Chore number one is vigilant control of the crown structure of the flat-top. What does this mean? BC is powerfully top-dominant. If you don’t keep a tight rein on the growth in the apex of the tree, the leaders will quickly overthicken and ruin your desired proportions. Following that initial wiring, if you don’t step in and wire the secondary branches while pruning (“cooling off”) the leaders, you won’t be happy with what happens next. The second chore is somewhat more passive: you let the lower branches run, and encourage any strong shoots that grow straight up (you can see this on the two lowest branches). These branches need to get thicker, but the top-dominance saps energy from them and there’s little you can (or should) do about it. All you can do is manage what’s going on. In year two, it gets easier to balance energy as the crown gets more finely developed and its growth rate slows.
This is the Dwarf yaupon I styled just last month. You probably remember where I started with it – essentially a hedge shrub that had been cut to some lines. So it got a big haircut and some wiring.
Yaupons grow very well in summer, so I knew this specimen would fill in quickly. This is just over a month later, and I had to trim away a lot of extra shoots before I snapped this photo. One thing to keep in mind about Yaupon, you need to wire the branches while they’re relatively tender. Once they get stiff, wiring and bending tends to produce broken rather than shaped branches. Not what you want. Summer can be one of the best times to make great strides with certain species. I hope this has given you a reason to brave the heat!
by Zach Smith | Jul 4, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Elms, Flowering, Potting, Styling, Wiring
I potted this small Cedar elm earlier this season. It’s been growing away, minding its own business. Recently we had a couple of storms and somehow this tree got picked to be blown off the bench. It stayed in the pot and no branches were broken, but the second time the tree got a bit disturbed in the pot. I secured it and set it back on the bench, though not facing the same way as before. I’ve been looking at it ever since, and finally thought there might be a better front.
Is this a better front? I think it has possibilities. What do you think?
July 4th is also a good time to defoliate Bald cypress. I don’t typically defoliate BC in year one, and that’s the case with this one. However, it’s also time to do some summer styling work. I’m making a flat-top out of this specimen. I created the branching and leaders earlier in the season, then waited for more growth. I got just what I expected.
The first step today was to reposition the leaders. What you’ll find if you create a flat-top cypress is, the leaders do not want to lie flat! So you have to fight this fight until you win. It usually takes two or three rounds of wiring. Here I was able to pull the leaders down.
And the final step for today was to wire a couple of secondary shoots and position them. This is very important to do at this time. It’ll pay off before the end of the growing season.
I seldom work with azaleas. Their horticultural requirements are a good bit more difficult for me to navigate, especially considering the large number of deciduous specimens I have on my benches. The Satsuki azalea “Chinzan” is different. In fact, I have found casually that this variety will take a tremendous amount of neglect. I’ve had the “mother plant” to this one for almost a decade now, and it grows each season and blooms its head off whether I pay any attention to it or not (it does get watered, of course). A few years ago I separated this smaller specimen from the mother plant, and proceeded to set it on the bench and neglect it. Chinzan didn’t care. So today I figured it was time to see if anything could be done with it.
Here’s a shot of the uninspiring base.
And here’s what I made out of it. One of the things I love most about bonsai is that you truly can make nice specimens from less than stellar material. In fact, this is what we artists bring to the whole endeavor. That plant two photos above was most definitely nothing to write home about. This small bonsai is no masterpiece, but I think it makes a credible bonsai. What do you think?
by Zach Smith | Jun 29, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Elms, Potting, Pruning, Styling, Sweetgum
You’ve been following along as I’ve developed this Cedar elm, starting in 2017 when it was first collected. The tree is filling out well, and the ramification is getting tighter with each pruning/pinching. All in all, time and technique are working their magic. But … I have come to the conclusion that this pot is not quite right for the tree. I love the color and the shape, but it’s a little too small. So time for a change.
This Lary Howard oval is just the right length, and the color is tough to beat. I think this improves the tree a great deal. (It’s available at our Cedar Elm Bonsai page.)
Here’s another Cedar elm I’ve featured a time or two. This photo was taken just over a year ago.
It’s been a great year for this tree. As with the first, it’s filled in beautifully and is ramifying with each pruning. The growth is strong, as you can see.
And here we are after the haircut. When you’re developing trees at this stage, it’s best to just take your shears and cut to shape (Walter Pall calls it hedge pruning – I’ve been doing it for many years, but now it’s getting popularized, which is good.)
Here’s a nice twin-trunk Sweetgum I collected in 2018. I left the tree alone to grow and get a strong root system, so that this year I could make something out of it. And I did. It was potted a few weeks ago.
Here we are, recovered from the potting stress. The tree is putting on nice healthy foliage, so I’ll focus on pinching to manage the shape of the tree. By next year, I expect to have a real winner with this one.
And finally, a real crowd favorite is this Bald cypress forest. It’s been through some tough times, but I think I’ve got it on a good path to what will ultimately be a fine forest bonsai. Here it is last weekend (getting a bit shaggy, as BC do).
It’s BC defoliation season, and here’s what happened today. The only tree I left alone is the smallest of the replacement whips, which is lagging a little behind the others in strength. I should have a nice fresh set of foliage on this forest in about three weeks.
by Zach Smith | Jun 22, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Styling
I started working on this Bald cypress last year. It’s progressing very well, as you’ll see when you compare these photos with the one from last year I included below. We’re into summer now, and you can generally count on cypresses to take on a “shaggy” appearance. Growth slows, and the mature foliage starts to droop. The way to cure this problem is to defoliate the tree. I plan to do that next weekend (it’s a Fourth of July tradition!). For now, I did some clean up so you can see how the structure of the tree is coming along.
Here’s a closeup of the leader, which I’ve allowed to run this year. Notice how fast it’s thickening up!
Here’s a shot from the opposite side. Notice how the callus is starting to roll. I just made this year two chop earlier in the season.
I’ve cleared out all the interior foliage and removed the unneeded shoots and fronds from the trunk. The structure is much easier to see.
And finally, here’s a shot of the tree from almost a year ago. Isn’t it amazing how much the tree has changed! Take special note of the size of the leader, compared to where it is today. Let me know what you think of this tree. I’m in hopes that it’ll be ready for a bonsai pot next year.
by Zach Smith | Jun 9, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Collecting, Elms, Potting, Sweetgum, Water Elm
Here’s a nice, slender Bald cypress from this year’s crop. I had planned from the start to hold the tree and make it into a flat-top style. It’s grown out enough now that I can do the initial styling on it.
About 20 minutes later, this is what I ended up with. It’s a good start. I’m going to get a lot of vigor in those two leaders, so I can’t afford to ignore it for long. When you’re making a flat-top, the thickening leader(s) can get away from you very quickly.
The flat-top style for BC is the fastest to make. The reason for this is, you’re playing to the tree’s natural habit of extremely vigorous apical growth. So you basically cut away just about everything but one or two leaders. The tree wants to get very tall very fast, so it pumps everything it has into those leaders. Which is another way of saying, in about three weeks I’ll be unwiring and rewiring the leaders, and wiring the secondary branches that will have grown.
We’re still in Sweetgum collecting season. Yesterday I lifted this nice specimen. It’s got a lot of character considering it’s not all that old, maybe 10 years. The trunk base is 2.5″, and it’s been chopped a few times along the way by the unwitting road crew.
This Bonsai South Collection Water-elm got its first bonsai pot yesterday, a very fine Lary Howard piece. The tree grew naturally this way, all I had to do was cut away everthing that didn’t look like a bonsai. It should continue to develop quickly this year.
And finally, another Bonsai South Collection Water-elm.
You come across trees in the course of your bonsai avocation that just have that special something. For me, this is one of those. Just a great natural specimen. The branching is of course under construction, but should develop rapidly.
What really made this bonsai for me was when this exquisite Lary Howard pot came available. Every great bonsai needs a great pot. It would be hard to beat this composition.
Let me know what you think of all these trees.
by Zach Smith | May 16, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Chinese Elm, Styling, Wiring
This is a run of the mill Bald cypress seedling (about 3 years old in 2017) that I decided to play around with in July of that year. How about a windswept cypress, I thought? So I wired it from bottom to top and stuck it in a Byron Myrick oval I had on hand. The base of this tree is about 3/4″ at the soil, and it’s about 22″ tall.
A couple months later I decided to turn the tree around. Now this does not make for an awe-inspring bonsai, no matter which way you turn it.
The thing to keep in mind, however, is that time does every bit as much to make a nice bonsai as we do. This doesn’t mean we don’t have to employ sound design principles. What it does mean, however, is that while you’re employing sound principles (and maybe an unsound principle here and there), the tree gets older. Unless you do something to harm the health of your specimen, it is going to get older just as surely as you are. More age is never a bad thing in bonsai.
So here, in 2018, I’ve performed the master stroke of eliminating extra branches. Only kidding. There’s no mastery in that stroke. It’s what’s called trying to figure out what this tree ought to be. The tree, I hasten to add, remains silent the whole while.
Okay, here we are in May of 2019 and I’ve discarded that whole windswept idea. Does that mean you can’t have a windswept Bald cypress bonsai? Not at all! I just think that this quality material is not suited to it. As a flat-top starts to take shape, this tree looks a lot better.
Here’s an important detail. Notice in the photo above that one of the crown leaders is crossing your field of vision and sweeping back toward the right. This is simply a vestige of that original windswept concept. In this photo, I’ve moved it back into a harmonious position.
But … there’s still something not quite right with this specimen (though it’s gotten a lot better).
And this is it. The trunk was configured in what is called the “C” shape, which is a very difficult trunk shape to work with (sort of like the “S” curve Chinese elms I despise). So I had to correct this problem. Now the tree actually looks like something with a future, even though it’s been made from quite ordinary material. At five years’ age, and the trunk base now at 1″, only time and some proper technique are required to make this a very nice bonsai.
Let me know what you think.
This tree is available for someone who’d like to continue its development going forward. The price is $175 delivered, and it goes to the first one to email me about it.
