by Zach Smith | Dec 17, 2016 | Care, Collecting, Oaks, Potting, Pruning
It’s that time of year, time to start collecting next year’s crop of trees. Today I lifted this Water oak, Quercus nigra. When you venture out to collect your own trees, you’ll make decisions all the way from selecting suitable specimens to preparing them for potting (or if you prefer not to collect your own, here’s how it’s done).
We always start with the obvious: is this tree collectible? But what does that actually mean? First of all, the tree needs to be of a suitable size at its base. Depending on the size of your intended finished bonsai, this might be less than 1″ all the way up to 10″, give or take. This Water oak has a base of 2″, perfect for a medium size bonsai of about 16″ height. The next thing that happens, at the same time by the way, is sizing up the trunk itself. Does it have any taper? Any movement? Does it fork low enough so that you can cut to a tapering trunk line? Ideally, you will collect a tree that has a more or less complete tapering trunk line all the way to the start of the crown. With this specimen, I think I see just what will work.
Pop quiz time: if you were lifting this tree for development as a bonsai, where would you chop in the apex to create the best leader? The answer is below. In the field I will usually make this decision on the spot. If I can’t, then I preserve my options and make the decision later.
This is a good juncture in the lifting process, when you get to see what roots you have. In this case, I’ve hit the jackpot! Not only do I have a good fibrous root system right out of the box, I have more than one level of radial roots to choose from. It’s common to drop to the lowest set, provided you don’t end up with a reverse taper. That gives the biggest trunk base.
Here’s a case where I went with the upper level of radial roots. They just looked better to me, and I didn’t lose much in the way of basal trunk thickness. So I have a 2″ trunk base and great radial roots. What’s not to like?
I also made that critical cut into the apex of the tree. It’s given me great taper.
And now it’s potted up and ready to overwinter. As with most collected deciduous trees, I’m left with a trunk and that’s it. But seldom will you find a tree in the wild with a compact, complete branch structure that looks right. But that’s all right. When you start with a good, bare trunk, you have complete control over the design of your bonsai.
In 2017 I expect to make great strides in developing this tree. I’ll post updates next year.
by Zach Smith | Dec 11, 2016 | American Elm, Care, Collecting, Elms, Hackberry, Sweetgum
I’ve written often about developing bonsai from the ground up. Today, following our first couple of freezing nights for the year, we warmed up enough to make working outdoors pleasant. Here are a few bonsai-to-be that I’ve been growing in the ground for a while. Today it was time to do the next round of chopping.
Here’s an American elm, Ulmus Americana, that I’ve been growing for a few years from a volunteer. American elm grows quickly in the ground if left alone to grow. From a seedling it grew strongly in the typical upright fashion. Last year I chopped it back hard – you can see the chop point in this photo – and then selected the strongest leader and put some wire on it in order to create just a little movement in the trunk. Then I just left it alone; I did remove the wire once it started to bite.
Here’s the tree from another angle, after I cut off the other leaders that had emerged from the chop point. I could have left multiple leaders on this tree and grown it in the classic “vase-shape” style of the American elm in nature. But instead I opted for a more typical informal upright style.
Now, as you can tell this new leader loses it taper pretty quickly once it leaves the original chop point. This is all right – I needed the leader to thicken sufficiently to produce a nice tapering transition. But if I don’t chop the tree again now, I’ll lose that transition.
I left the leader extra-long here, but it is cut back enough to prevent loss of taper. Next spring I’m going to get buds all up and down the leader, at which point I’ll select one and cut the excess off. For now I’ve done all the needs doing.
The trunk base is 1.5″ and the new chop is at 8″ from the soil. When I cut back again next year the new chop point is going to be around 4″ from the soil.
I’ve shown you this Sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua, before. This past year I chopped back the main trunk line to about 12″ from the soil, and allowed a low branch to take off in order to thicken the base. Boy, did that work! I got a base of 3″ by doing this, and the new leader literally took over the tree growing about 8′ tall. We’ve reached a point, however, where I had to put a stop to this. By allowing the new leader to continue growing, the main trunk line would begin to weaken and could possibly die. So today I felt it was a good time to eliminate the sacrifice trunk.
A closeup of the trunk base, from the other side.
This is a very important photo. If you’ll look at the point where the trunk changes color from gray to green, you’ll notice just below that point there’s a circular bit of wood that forms a ring below the green part (which is the new strong trunk I need to get rid of). This is the equivalent of a branch collar. For those of you familiar with arborist work, when large branches are removed from trees they’re always cut just beyond the branch collar. Why? Simply to preserve the sap flow from the roots up past the branch. If you remove the lower part of the branch collar, you run the risk of killing off part of the trunk below the collar. In the case of this Sweetgum, I could kill all of the roots below this leader. So I’ll be careful to avoid this when I chop.
And here we are, in just a few minutes. Now I’ve got a great tapering trunk line on my Sweetgum. The original chop on this specimen was at 12″, so with a 3″ trunk base I can finish out this specimen at 18″ and have a perfect base to height ratio.
I don’t plan to lift this specimen until next May. I’ll post a follow-up at that time.
I collected this Hackberry, Celtis laevigata, in 2012. To be honest it was pretty ugly, more so when I got it home. But there’s always hope. So I planted it out a few years ago and just let it get established and start to take off. It’s been a few years, but I finally got strong growth in a leader and I’m beginning to think there may be something to this specimen after all – in a few more years.
A shot from the other side. Doesn’t look like much, does it?
Just a quick chop later, I think 2017 may see this specimen begin to look like wanting to be a bonsai some day. It’s going to take several more years, but that’s just part of the fun. Patient work. Grow and chop. Grow and chop.
And finally, the tree from another angle.
This specimen has a 2.5″ trunk base and has now been chopped to 8″ above the soil surface. In the spring the leader is going to push a number of buds, which will allow me to choose the next leader for growing out.
by Zach Smith | Dec 10, 2016 | Care, Flowering, Hawthorn, Sweetgum
Fall in the Deep South is an iffy affair. When we do get fall, it typically comes and goes in short order. This year we actually got perfect conditions for a nice season of color, a lengthy drought that ended around Thanksgiving. In the past couple of weeks we’ve seen our trees in the landscape produce nice yellows, reds and purples. Then the rains came, and those colorful leaves have been falling quickly. The gray, somber winter is just about upon us.
For the bonsai artist who loves deciduous trees, winter is actually a good time of year. The well-ramified trees get to show off their development. Those trees still in development get to show off where they are in the process, plus what they still lack. All in all, I love deciduous bonsai in winter. Here are a couple of nice examples.
This is my Riverflat hawthorn, Crataegus opaca, that I’ve been working on for five years now. You can see the state of ramification this tree has achieved. The final step in developing this bonsai is going to occur in the crown, which has come along very well over the past couple of years. I’m confident that by the end of the 2017 growing season, this tree will be “finished.”
This Sweetgum forest, Liquidambar styraciflua, was put together in 2015. In just two growing seasons, it’s reached a pretty nice stage of development. With the leaves just about off all of the trees, it’s much easier to see the state of development of the individual trees. This is important to any forest composition. While it might seem easiest to grow a forest as simply a mass of foliage, this will never fly with deciduous species. Winter will always rat you out. So today I was able to get “inside” the forest and do some strategic pruning. Each of the trees in this forest has its own structure, which I’m developing over time. It’s only going to take one more growing season to get this forest to the point where constant pinching will finish the development.
I’d love to hear of any experiences you might want to share with regard to your deciduous bonsai in winter. Just leave a comment below.
by Zach Smith | Dec 4, 2016 | Blackgum, Care, Collecting, Dogwood, Potting
We’re “enjoying” our second rainy day in a row. As bad as this might sound, there is some positive to it. If I had to pick the ideal conditions for collecting trees during late fall/winter it would be cool but not cold temperatures and a light drizzle. With these conditions, I know any tree I collect is not going to be moving sap. This almost guarantees I won’t lose the tree from drying out through a chop point. I also know the root zone is going to be moist if not outright wet. The soil is easier to penetrate, and once the tree is lifted the roots are not going to dry out before I can water them. So the bottom line is, though I may not be as comfortable as I’d like the trees will be much more so during their transition from the ground to my benches.
Blackgum, aka Tupelo, aka Black Tupelo, aka Pepperidge (Nyssa sylvatica) is a primary tree that can reach heights up to 100 feet. It has a very broad range, from the Deep South all the way to Ontario, Canada. It features furrowed bark similar to Sweetgum, elliptical or oblong leaves that turn a fiery red even way down here, and blue-black berries. Blackgum belongs to the Dogwood family, Cornaceae.
I’ve been wanting to grow Blackgum for bonsai for many years. Though we do have the cousin Swamp Tupelo down here, they aren’t easy to collect. About four years ago I got hold of a handful of seedlings so I could try my hand at the species. I potted up one, which didn’t survive its first winter, and planted out the others in order to thicken them up. At this point in time, I have two left. So the challenge is pretty obvious.
Today I decided to push the envelope again, and lift one of these specimens. Why not? We learn by doing.
Here’s the tree after it was lifted and the roots washed. The growth has been excellent. The trunk base is 2.5″ just above the root crown, and I chopped it at 20″.
Now, there was no way to keep all that root base – the tree wouldn’t fit right in a bonsai pot – so I sawed away most of it.
And the final two steps: the tree is direct-potted into this unglazed Chuck Iker round; and I chopped the trunk back to make the tree about 16″ tall. I envision a final height of about 26″ or so, and the tree may actually end up being a formal upright specimen. Formal upright is possibly the most difficult style of bonsai to get right – so keep your fingers crossed for me.
Finally, I have no idea how well this is going to work. I haven’t worked with Blackgum before, though I’ve wanted to for years. I don’t know how well they take to pot culture. But I figure it’s worth a try, given the positive qualities of the species.
How about you? Have you ever grown Blackgum? I’d love to hear of any experiences out there.
by Zach Smith | Dec 3, 2016 | Boxwood, Care, Potting, Styling, Wiring
The winter rains are terrible and wonderful. We have to have them. But they seem to follow right on the heels of the nice fall colors – which we don’t get much of here but we do cherish what we get – putting a big damper on the landscape. Still, we always look for something to brighten the mood.
I made this Japanese boxwood, Buxus Japonica, from a slew of cuttings I rooted a couple of years ago. It’s nothing significant, just a starter bonsai, but they all have to start somewhere. Boxwood species have a lot going for them. They’re evergreen, which means you’ll have something green through the winter besides your junipers and pines. Sometimes they get a bronzy color when it gets really cold. This particular species of boxwood is hardy to Zone 6, which means unless you’re in the northern plains states they do just fine outdoors all winter long.
Boxwoods have other great qualities. They always seem to produce great nebari, plus they’ll bloom in a bonsai pot, though the flowers are pretty inconspicuous. Wiring is easy, and they take shaping well – though once the wood gets really stiff you won’t be bending it ever again!
This photo is from mid-October. While this isn’t the time you normally think of potting up anything, boxwoods don’t mind. And they’ll even put on some new growth at this time of year.
Here’s proof. As you can see, every branch I wired, plus the apex, has new buds opening. Not only does this mean the bonsai has come through its potting experience, next year I’ll get tremendous growth and the development will be rapid.
If you’re looking for a nice starter bonsai for Christmas, you can’t go wrong with a boxwood. This one is available at our Miscellaneous Bonsai page, with more to come next year. The pot is a great piece by Chuck Iker.
by Zach Smith | Nov 20, 2016 | Care, Hornbeam, Pruning, Styling
American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana, is one of my favorite species for bonsai and a great choice for beginners. This particular specimen has been with me through six growing seasons now. This past year I repotted the tree, which gave me a good opportunity to do some work on the roots, and of course the tree responded as hornbeams always do. Here’s where it ended the growing season:
I let the tree grow out because it continues to need thickening of the branches, plus following the root-pruning I didn’t want to begin the pinching and refining process in the same year. This can be done starting next year.
This operation took me about 15 minutes. I removed all of the downward pointing branches and the crossing branches, and brought the profile of the tree inward. I also shortened the very long leader, which was allowed to grow unchecked to continue thickening the transition point as I build taper in the apex of the tree. I left this cut long, just to protect buds that are already apparent lower down on this leader. I’ll recut in the spring, and begin the process of finishing the very top of the tree.
Stay tuned for updates on this specimen in 2017. Also watch for new hornbeam stock, which should start appearing around March or April.
Comments are welcome, as always.
