Fall’s Here – Not Much Color, But We Take What We Can Get

by | Nov 17, 2018 | Care, Elms, Styling, Wiring

This Cedar elm, Ulmus crassifolia, is showing about as much fall color as I can usually expect from the species. It’s not much, but I like it nonetheless. I washed the trunk today, and wanted to do just a little trimming and put wire on that low right branch. Everything else has grown well, and I got a lot of corky branching this year. My goal with this tree is to use grow and clip as much as possible, as I refine the branch structure. All in all, I’m pleased with the two years’ worth of training this tree has gotten so far.

For those of you familiar with Cedar elm, this will come as no surprise. Check out the healing on that chop! Cedar elms roll scars over very quickly. In fact, this wound will likely close in the next growing season. I need to do a little carving to ensure it’s all smooth. I’ll do that either now or in spring; it won’t matter which.

I trimmed out some interior shoots that had formed at the base of branches – this is common with many species – and removed others that have no place in the final design. And that unruly branch on the right makes more sense now (but I’ll let it grow out next spring in order to thicken the base more.

As often happens, turning this tree has given me an alternative idea about the best front. I’d love to hear what you think about the two choices. Leave me a comment. I’m pretty sure a repotting is in the cards for 2019.

There’s more work to do on the tapering transition, of course. I’ll let a shoot in the apex run in 2019, and that will cause the base of the new apex to thicken up very nicely. That should make the transition nice and smooth by next fall.

Water-Elm #38 – “Big Hoss” – Made It

by | Oct 25, 2018 | Care, Elms, Water Elm

This Water-elm, “Big Hoss,” is one of the biggest I collected this year. We brought it home on August 4th. I cleaned it up, chopped back the roots enough to fit the eventual bonsai pot, and potted it up. Then I waited.

It took a few weeks, but a tiny bud appeared near the base. When I say tiny, I mean it took a magnifying glass to verify that it was actually a bud and not some tiny red insect. But I was a happy camper. Bud appears, bud swells, a leaf emerges, shoot appears, shoot gets longer, and you’re off to the races. Only that’s not what happened. That first tiny bud just sat there, and didn’t budge. I checked every day, hoping to see that bud swell. Nothing. And that continued for many weeks. I was pretty much convinced the tree wasn’t going to make it. But I’ve learned through the years to be patient, because you just never know.

Well, right at two months out of the ground, one day I was inspecting that bud and wouldn’t you know, it had begun to swell. A sign of recovery! The bad news was, the warm weather was just about over and that isn’t what you need to promote growth. But hey, you take what you can get.

Water-elms often begin their recovery from the ground up. Sometimes they begin at the top. Usually once the budding begins at the bottom, you’ll soon spot a bud near the top of the tree. That didn’t happen right away with this specimen. It did produce a shoot on the sub-trunk, which told me the tree was alive a third of the way up. But I kept on waiting for the rest of the trunk to show me something.

Today I finally saw that bud near the chop that told me the whole trunk is alive. So Big Hoss is going to be a part of the Bonsai South Collection.

Here are some notes I made today. Big Hoss is an impressive tree, but it comes with a design challenge. The hunky sub-trunk emerging a third of the way up the tree is thrusting toward the viewer. While it’s not exactly an “eye-poke” branch, it does insist on the viewer’s attention and could easily be a distraction from the overall composition rather than a feature.

In this side view, you can see the sub-trunk a lot more clearly. I left the smaller fork coming off the sub-trunk, but as I’ve studied the tree I’ve become convinced it really can’t play a part in the final design. I’m going to have to work with the main part of the sub-trunk, and bring the foliage mass off to the left-hand side of the tree once it grows out.

Next spring, when the tree pops all of the trunk buds I’m expecting, it should be a lot easier to envision a solid design. Stay tuned!

But for now, let me know what you think of this Water-elm by leaving a comment below. I’m really looking forward to the possibilities.

Water-Elm #40 Initial Styling

by | Oct 20, 2018 | Care, Elms, Pruning, Styling, Water Elm, Wiring

This may be the strongest of the Water-elms I brought home this year. The shoots grew so fast that I even had to pinch a couple of them so they wouldn’t get out of hand. At 1/8″ thick at the base already, there’s no way I can delay getting some wire on this tree.

Now, you’ll notice that this tree has produced all of its recovery growth in the top third of the tree (excluding some diehard shoots that cropped up near the base – not useful for the design I have in mind). This may seem daunting, but the good news is the slender and curving trunk of this specimen makes it ideally suited to a quasi-literati form. In this case “quasi” means the tree does not strictly meet the definition of what is commonly established as the literati style. It has gentle but obvious taper, and commonly the literati style will have little to no taper. Regardless, I’m confident I can make something really nice out of this raw material.

Just to give you an idea of scale, the trunk base of this tree is 2.5″ above the root crown. It was chopped at 22″. And the nebari is awesome!

Here you can see what I mean when I say these shoots are super strong. If I don’t get wire on them now, they’ll be even stiffer in spring.

It’s always best to work your trees from the bottom up. Here I’ve wired my lowest branch. In order to make up for the fact that my first branch is very high on the tree, I’ll need to pull this branch down. That also, incidentally, will add drama to the style.

First branch done, pulled down some more, and now I tackled the second branch.

Sometimes as you work your way up the tree the design gets easier, but this is not always the case. Since this tree has so many branches in such close proximity, finding a space for each one is a bit of a challenge. And the thing is, I need just about every one of those branches!

Now I’m getting closer to the finish line. The apical branch is easy. I decided to keep an original branch that came with the tree, but it needed some movement so it got wired and shaped. Things still look a little wild, but I’m almost there.

I’ve turned the tree so it’s easier to see that branch in back that was shooting straight up. There’s a spot for it, I just had to wire and put it there.

The final step for today was to trim the branches back to what will ultimately be the tree’s silhouette. For tall, slender specimens, you must be careful not to let them grow out too far as this makes the tree look juvenile. In order to maintain the illusion of age, height and size, tall slender trees need a tight silhouette.

I may or may not slip-pot this tree soon. Root growth should continue well into November, even though we’re starting to cool off. If I do slip-pot, I’ll post a follow-up blog.

Let me know what you think of Water-elm #40. Leave me a comment below.

Planning A Classically Styled Water-Elm

by | Oct 19, 2018 | Care, Elms, Styling, Water Elm

There is an ongoing debate in the bonsai world with regard to styling deciduous trees. It boils down to this: some artists feel that it’s not okay to style a deciduous tree in the so-called “pine tree style.” What’s the pine tree style? Well, that’s the classic bonsai shape, curving trunk and branches arranged in a spiral staircase pattern from bottom to top, with the top of the tree being pointed almost like a Christmas tree. Some pines in nature grow this way, but frankly most don’t. Regardless, the pine tree shape is anathema to many bonsai artists when used on deciduous trees.

I reject this whole line of thinking. Since most mature pines don’t meet the standard, and since most junipers are grown in the stylized pine tree style, as opposed to their natural shape, I say we can grow our deciduous trees any way we want. Bonsai, after all, is a representation of a mature tree in nature, not a tree in nature. It’s supposed to evoke a sense of a mature tree in nature. And in that regard, we find that the classic bonsai shape works very well.

A good client of mine has been looking for a nice Water-elm, and he opted for this specimen which has really awesome potential. As it is with many trees, however, you have to know where to look if you’re planning a classic shape. To be specific, you have to be able to find the best trunk line. One reason I collected this tree is that I knew exactly where that trunk line was. Can you see it?

For those of you who didn’t spot the trunk line right away, don’t worry, it gets easier the more trees you work with. The one key principle to keep in mind when studying material in order to find that perfect trunk line is this: movement and taper. (Is that two principles? Since they go hand in hand, and one without the other doesn’t work so well, I’m calling it just one.)

I’ve made it easy to see the trunk line I was planning by using green lines to follow the tree from soil to future apex. Notice that I’ve satisfied both parts of the trunk line principle, movement and taper. I can achieve this result by making two main chops, and those are shown in red. At the back of the tree is a secondary trunk, as thick as the primary trunk and straight as can be. That won’t work with the classic style, so it’s going to get chopped off. Then there’s the main trunk. While it has good taper, it’s awfully straight. I wouldn’t have any choice but to chop it back, but fortunately I have a smaller upright part-way up and I can make that second chop. Once this is done, “all” that will be left of this tree is the trunk line and a few small shoots. I’ll get more shoots, of course, once these chops are done in spring, and from those I’ll create my branch structure.

Here’s another view of the tree, and you can see that unusable trunk in back that’s got to go. Now, when you find yourself in these situations, you have to make the chops bearing in mind the potential for damaging your tree. If I don’t make this chop just right, I’ll either have a big hump in back of the tree that won’t look natural, or I’ll risk killing the trunk below it all the way to the soil. My goal is to make this chop in such a way that I get rebudding below the chop. If this happens, I’ll know that I won’t have to worry about dieback.

Here’s another view of the tree, from a different angle. I wanted you to see the trunk line and chops. Again, I get movement and taper by making these two main chops.

Now, you may be wondering about that final leg of the trunk as it makes its way to what will be the new apex of the tree. Don’t worry, I also have a smaller branch coming off this part of the trunk line that is smaller in diameter. I can cut back to it, or even chop the leader back and regrow the final apex. I’ll know better in spring when the work begins.

And finally, a quick sketch of where I think this tree can go. Notice that there are branches where both of the main chops will be made. These are critical to the design, and will allow us to achieve a classically styled Water-elm bonsai. I don’t know about you, but I won’t have any problem whatsoever with this approach.

Let me know what you think. Do you have a lot of practice finding your trunk lines? Have you gotten good at it. Leave me a comment below.

Water-Elm #53 Initial Styling

by | Oct 14, 2018 | Care, Elms, Pruning, Styling, Water Elm, Wiring

Here’s another case where slip-potting Water-elms as they grow out vigorously does not impact their recovery in the least. You can see the growth just kept on. So now that we’re in another good period for encouraging growth by pruning, I thought it was the perfect time to do the initial styling of this bonsai to be.

I started on the right-hand tree (this view is from the back). Working my way up from the base, you can see here that I’ve wired the two lowest branches. These are important in giving visual depth to the planting.

From the front view. I have now done the initial shaping and placement of the two low branches. The higher one came with the tree, so I merely put it where it will provide the most advantageous rearward foliage.

Here’s the right-hand tree fully wired, with branches positioned. A good start.

In this view from the rear of the planting, I’ve wired the new branch emerging from the rear of the main tree. Placing this branch and its eventual crop of foliage will be a bit of a challenge, since I have competition from the left-hand tree. But that’s a problem to be solved down the road. For now, it’s sufficient to put some shape in this branch and let it continue to grow and thicken.

Another view from the front. The main tree is starting to take shape.

Now I’m working my way up the main tree. Some of the branching that came with the tree is desirable to keep, at least for now, so I’m selecting branches, wiring and shaping with this in mind.

Now I’ve finished wiring out the main tree. The branches are placed in suitable spots. As they push new growth, it’ll become desirable to move from wiring to grow and clip. Water-elm is one of the best species for this technique.

Last but not least is the left-hand tree. Here’s a closeup showing the structure of the tree, which like the others is just terrific. And with this flush of shoots, designing the tree is really a piece of cake.

A few minutes, some wire, some shaping, and some trimming later, this tree has its initial design.

This is all that needs doing for today. Each tree has been shaped according to its natural design, and the three trees make a wonderful composition when taken as a whole. By this time next year, the tree will have at least tertiary ramification and will have reached a showable state.

Let me know what you think of today’s work. Leave me a comment below.