Elms | Bonsai South

Water-Elm #35 Initial Styling

by Zach Smith | Oct 13, 2018 | Care, Elms, Pruning, Styling, Water Elm, Wiring

Water-elm #35 was slip-potted this past weekend. I put off styling and especially trimming because the lunar cycle wasn’t favorable to pruning for growth. It also gave me the opportunity to gauge how well the slip-potting went. I can tell you, the tree did not skip a beat.

This is an exciting clump-style bonsai to be. The trunks have just enough “wildness” in them to not look contrived. At the same time, the interplay works. About the only thing I don’t really like in this clump is the direction of the smallest trunk at the back of the tree. But that can certainly be fixed.

In this photo you can see the fix on that back trunk. A piece of 4 mm wire and a little bending, and I’ve got that trunk right where it needs to be. Now its movement is in harmony with the rest of the trunks.

I’ve also done the styling on the front fork of the main trunk, and the right-hand fork of the trunk to the right of the main trunk. The tree is starting to take shape.

Now I’ve moved over to the left-most trunk. (By the way, this trunk appears to be emerging from the main trunk but it’s not. There’s a stub behind the main trunk of an earlier trunk that died back. The small trunk is an off-shoot of that one.)

You may be wondering which trunk of a clump-style tree needs to be worked first, which second and so on. There’s really no hard and fast rule. I usually apply the certainty approach: I work on the trunk and branch-set, with the overall composition in mind, that I’m most certain about. Tougher styling issues come later on. Often the tougher styling issues become a lot easier once you get to work on what you’re most confident in.

Now I’ve moved to the back fork of the main trunk. One key principle with your main trunk is that it’s going to have branches and foliage higher than any other. The work you do has to be done with this in mind. So in working the back fork, I know this foliage will be at the very apex of the bonsai.

By far the most challenging of the trunks of this bonsai is the one pushing up through that forked trunk in front of it. It’s really snugged in close to the forked trunk – in fact, it touches it. So the challenge with it is to place the branches where they can get sunlight. It wasn’t particularly hard once I got to this point with the tree; as I said, by working from a point of most certainty to least, by the time I got here the right branch placement was relatively obvious.

Now, I do have an issue I’ll need to address in spring. That left-hand fork of the Y-shaped trunk to the right of the main trunk is very tall. In order for the foliage to survive, horticulturally speaking, it’s got to have its share of sunlight. But with other trunks crowding it, a fact that is not going to change, it must stay tall. That makes for an awkward situation, since the trunk heights in forests and multi-trunk specimens range from highest-thickest to lowest-thinnest. There’s just no way to make this happen with respect to this fork of the Y, so I have to decide whether it’s worth breaking the rule. I don’t have to decide today, but I will have to decide next year.

After a little tweaking of branch positions, this is the final shot of the day for this Water-elm bonsai. Hasn’t it come a long way since I first showed it to you?

I’m really looking forward to starting the refinement process on this bonsai in 2019. Water-elms grow fast, so I expect to have at least tertiary ramification by next summer. This is going to be an outstanding Water-elm bonsai.

Let me know what you think of this specimen. Leave me a comment below.

Water-Elm #35 Video #2

by Zach Smith | Oct 6, 2018 | Care, Elms, Potting, Styling, Watering

This is one of the Water-elms I collected on August 4th. I really liked the natural but artistic look of the clump (not all clumps are worth working on, trust me). I knew I could make something really special out of this one.

In two months’ time this tree has put on so much growth that I know the root system will allow me to slip-pot it without any concerns. And that gives me a head-start on its development as a bonsai.

Here’s how I did the slip-potting. One of the things to keep in mind when you’re collecting trees is the bonsai pot that lies in the future. The roots of the tree must fit that pot, and that means not only the radial roots but the tap root as well. Be sure to chop it short enough so that the tree fits “comfortably” in the pot. You don’t want to do that chop but once.

The pot I put this tree in is a beautiful handmade piece by Lary Howard.

I’d love to know what you think of this bonsai to be. Leave me a comment below.

Water-Elm #53 Video #2

by Zach Smith | Sep 29, 2018 | Care, Elms, Potting, Styling, Water Elm

I posted Water-Elm #53 Video #1 on September 9th. Since that time, the trees have grown out very well, so much so that today I decided I could risk slip-potting them. There’s always a risk in doing this, but I’ve found over the years that the risk is very low. So check out the video below.

I was convinced this composition would turn out well. What I didn’t expect was just how outstanding it was going to be. This is probably the best work I’ve done all year.

Let me know what you think. I’d love any comments you might wish to share.

Here’s the result. The interplay among the trunks is just amazing. I can’t wait to really get into the detail work this coming spring.

This pot, by the way, is an exquisite handmade piece by Lary Howard.

Let me know what you think. I’d love any comments you might wish to share.

Water-Elm #39 Video #2

by Zach Smith | Sep 23, 2018 | Care, Elms, Pruning, Styling, Water Elm, Wiring

This is Water-elm #39, the day it came home and was potted up. I published Video #1 once the tree had started pushing new growth. It grew so rapidly that today it was time to do an initial styling.

Here’s the step by step process I used to create the initial design of this tree. I think the result is terrific. I’d love to hear any comments you may have on it.

What I Do When They Grow Really Fast

by Zach Smith | Sep 22, 2018 | Care, Elms, Styling, Water Elm, Wiring

This Water-elm, Planera aquatica, was collected on August 11th of this year. It’s a really nice triple-trunk specimen, as you can see. It came back from collection quickly, and has thrown foot-long shoots. It’s certainly a strong tree. So what would you do about that?

Well, there’s no doubt I could wait until Spring 2019 to begin styling this specimen. But I can get a head-start on the design if I style it now. You may wonder if this will put the tree at risk. The short answer is no. The longer answer has to do with the characteristics of the species, plus the growing environment in the area where I collect them. Here’s the story.

Let’s begin with the most recent dormant period for this tree. It started in December of 2017. That’s not unusual for down south; our growing season begins in late March to early April, and then runs for 35 weeks give or take. But … not for these Water-elms. You see, up until early July this tree was under several feet of water and (of course) leafless. Back on April 1st, it was under almost 20 feet of water. This is because the collecting area is seasonally flooded to promote wildlife, especially ducks. So while most everything is growing away from April into early July, these trees are waiting for air and sunshine. Once they emerge from the flood, they start pushing growth. Then I come along and lift them, just a few weeks after they’ve managed to put on their first flush of growth for the year. I’ve always thought it was nothing short of miraculous that they can recover from all of this. But not only do they recover, they grow like weeds all through the high heat of our brutal summers. In fact, that’s when they seem to grow best (as long as you give them plenty of water).

So given all this, you can see why I have no problem styling these specimens now. I’m simply taking advantage of their natural summer vigor.

The first step today is to carve down the area inside at the base of the tree where there was a fourth trunk (that didn’t add anything to the design, so I removed it). That went fairly quickly with knob cutters and a couple of hand-carving tools.

The next step? Remove conflicting and low shoots that don’t serve any design purpose. Remember, on your multi-trunk, forest and clump-style specimens you don’t want shoots growing into the middle space between/among the trunks, as this is not horticulturally sound. These branches will tend to weaken and die, not to mention the fact that they do not allow you to establish depth of view by obscuring sections of the trunk you want to show. So out they go. Note: as you get closer to the crown of the tree, you do want branches filling in the space between the trunks. They have to be positioned just right, of course.

I began the styling work on the left-hand trunk, and I worked my way from base to apex. I also kept to the principle that less is almost always more in bonsai. Just enough branches to express the tree.

Next I moved to the right-hand trunk. Again, the branches were edited to give me the essence of the tree. There’s also, if you look closely, coordination of branch positions between this trunk and the left-hand trunk. This means I avoid having branches emerging from the same level on the respective trunks.

And finally, I worked the back trunk. You’ll notice that the back trunk features the lowest branch of this group. This is an important principle to follow when you’re creating multi-trunk and forest plantings. The low branches in the rear of the composition provide visual depth, which is critical to believability.

The left-hand trunk is currently taller than the one of the right. This will be adjusted down as the tree continues to grow. I only had one shoot on the leader, and I left it long to ensure it maintains its strength as the tree continues its recovery. In time, the right-hand trunk will be the tallest, as it’s got the thickest trunk.

As far as specs go, the base on this tree is 2.5″ across and it’s going to finish up right at 18″. I’d estimate the age at 40 years give or take. It can be placed in a bonsai container next year. A glazed round will work perfectly.

Finally, while this tree is of very high quality it’s not quite a Bonsai South Collection tree. So if it speaks to you and you’d like to add it to your collection, it’ll be available next spring. Shoot me an email if you’d like first dibs.