Hawthorn | Bonsai South

Spring Work – Parsley Hawthorn

by Zach Smith | Mar 3, 2018 | Care, Hawthorn

Spring is upon us, and that means a lot of things need to happen all at once and quickly. This includes developmental work on trees collected in prior years. The Parsley hawthorn below (Crataegus marshallii) is a case in point.

I treated this specimen as I do everything I collect. The trunk was chopped straight across, at a point on the trunk where I could continue and enhance the taper in order to make the bonsai seem realistically like a larger mature tree once it’s finished. These chops are all sealed when the tree is potted, by the way, regardless of species.

If you look more closely, you’ll see an additional development step I’ll be taking. The leader made a fork for me, on its own, with a thicker longer side and a thinner shorter side. The rule is pretty much always to cut to the thinner one, which produces more taper. I’ll do that today along with the carving I have planned.

Also notice that during the original harvesting of the tree, there was an additional upright secondary trunk that was thicker than the one I retained. I chopped it at the time of collection. Notice that I left the so-called branch collar when I did this. If you examine your larger trees, there’s some tissue that accumulates in circles around the branches emerging from the trunk. This is how the tree protects itself in the event it loses the branch. The collar routes sap around the branch. If you remove it when collecting a tree, you run the risk of dieback down the trunk at the spot where the collar was removed.

Did I succeed in preventing dieback?

There are shoots that emerged beneath the collar, so the answer is definitely yes. That means I can safely remove the collar now.

Here I’ve removed the thicker fork of the leader.

Now, using my knob cutters, I’ve carved an angled transition area below the new leader. You can also use a Dremel®, but I find the knob cutters work faster.

Always smooth the edges of your cut. This helps keep the cut area healthy, plus when it starts rolling over the callus will be smooth and look natural. I used a carving knife for this. Again, I could have used a Dremel, but frankly the knife is easier to control when you’re making this precise a cut.

Same procedure here. I used my knob cutters to nibble the collar down, then the carving knife to smooth the edge. It should heal nicely.

And that’s all for today. The tree will be allowed to grow without further work until later in the spring, when it’ll be time to remove the wire I put on last year. I need more thickening in the leader, of course, but I can manage that process by letting it grow out and cutting it back two or three more times. At some point, additional carving will be done to the angled cut I made today. But that probably won’t happen until next year at least. Let me know what you think about today’s work. (Use the FORUMS page so everyone in the community can learn. Just scroll to the top of your screen for access.)

Note:

Comments are closed. Remember to use the new Insider’s Club Form to post your questions and comments. This helps everybody learn and help and this is where I am now posting responses to your inquires and comments. (You’ll find the forum by scrolling up; it’s on your right.)

I Love This Tree, It Just Keeps Getting Better

by Zach Smith | Nov 12, 2017 | Care, Collecting, Hawthorn, Styling, Wiring, ZPC

My great Riverflat hawthorn, Crataegus opaca, is finishing up year six in my care.

The leaves will be off the tree soon, but just as the deciduous tree gives us different looks throughout the year I like this in-between one too.

For those of you who haven’t worked with collected trees yet, this photo above (the earliest one I have for this tree) is very instructive.

While you may have the impression that the tree came from the wild just like this, except for the wire that’s obviously on some of the branches, I can tell you it did not. When I collected it, all of the branches that held foliage were higher than everything you see on this tree. I chopped it dramatically. Why? Because bonsai is all about scale and proportion. I wasn’t going to bring home a 10-foot tall tree; there wouldn’t have been any point in doing so, because you don’t make a bonsai out of a 10-foot tall tree.

So where do you begin, and how do you “calculate” what you’re bringing home to make into a bonsai?

First of all, let’s think height. Most bonsai are not more than 48″ tall. There are good reasons for this, not the least of which is you can’t lug around a tree that size very much. Don’t get me wrong. I love big bonsai. But I also love not having back trouble. So I limit the number of really big bonsai I maintain. With that in mind, let’s figure that our average bonsai is going to be around 20″ tall. A 20″ tall bonsai ought to have a trunk that’s about 2-3″ across, at the soil surface or above the root crown. When you go out to lift a tree from the wild, you want to zero in on those trees you can work with in order to create good proportions from soil surface to apex. That means a tapering trunk to produce the forced perspective you need. And you have to be prepared to build a quickly-tapering leader near the apex. My rule of thumb is that I’ll chop the trunk at a point where its diameter is half what it is at soil level. This works beautifully.

The next thing to consider with a newly collected trunk is the branch structure.

You’re going to need one, of course. Deciduous trees are pretty good about producing trunk buds. These tend to appear at points where leaves originally appeared as the seedling was growing up. You can’t see those dormant buds anymore, most of the time, but they’re there. With a little luck, you get some new shoots to work with. In the photo above, you can see the result. This is what you build your branches out of.

I’ll post more updates on this tree in 2018. The one thing I’m waiting for is flowers. It takes time for a hawthorn to produce flowering spurs in a bonsai pot. I like to think I’ve gotten that far. There’s been very little hard-pruning of this specimen this year, as it’s reached a good stage of maturity as a bonsai. So I’m hopeful about flowers. But time will tell.

I added the first photo above to the Progression on this tree. It’s becoming a really interesting story.

Don’t Ignore Problems At This Time Of Year

by Zach Smith | Oct 29, 2017 | Hawthorn, ZPC

As the growing season comes to an end, we have certain chores we do to prepare for winter. Deciduous trees are either in full color or already dropping foliage. Watering needs decline from two or three times daily to once every few days. Cold frames are getting filled.

It’s the ideal time of year to ignore problems that may have cropped up during the growing season. Some are easier to see than others. In the case of this Riverflat hawthorn, I spotted this issue last weekend when I turned the tree to examine it.

If you look closely, near the base of the carved out chop area you can see what looks like a bullet hole. When I first spotted it, the giveaway was a little sawdust. I immediately thought it might be a boring insect going to work. I had previously treated this area with PC Petrifer® wood hardener, in order to ensure the carved area remained hard as it weathered.

It would have been easy to just ignore this problem until spring. But that’s not a good approach to take. Often you ignore a problem right through the timeframe when you can do something about it. At that point it’s often too late. I’ve been guilty of this before, and I like to think I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t ignore these problems any more.

I first took the step of pouring some Bifenthrin® pesticide into the hole, in order to kill anything that might be down in the wood.

Today I got out my Dremel®. A problem area like this needs to be addressed, first by carving down to durable wood (if possible).

Here’s the result after just a bit of carving. I’ve smoothed down the area surrounding the hole. There wasn’t any evidence of any insect present, which was a relief. So if something stopped by for a chew, either I killed it right away or it decided to move on.

By the way, when you’re carving any sort of chop, uro or shari, be sure they’ll shed water when you’re done. If you examine this carving work closely, you’ll see I designed it specifically to ensure this happens. You don’t want standing water on dead wood.

The next step is to paint the carved area with PC Petrifier.

This is a great water-based wood hardener. Here’s what it looks like. You can order it online.

Finally, here’s the early fall portrait of this fine Riverflat hawthorn. Six years in training now.

Let me know what you think.

How About What This Hawthorn Did?

by Zach Smith | Oct 6, 2017 | Care, Flowering, Hawthorn, Potting

Riverflat hawthorn, Crataegus opaca, is one of my favorite species for bonsai. They take well to pot culture, grow roots fast and have small leaves. When old enough, they get a nice rough bark. What’s not to like?

I grew this specimen from a cutting struck in 2015. By the end of 2016, it had really taken off. The trunk base was 1″ across, and the leader had extended to 6′. Really awesome.

I had planned to make some layers from this tree in 2016, but I never quite got around to it. One thing I did do is move it to a large growing tub. I did just a little pruning, otherwise it was just food, water and sun.

Well, here’s the same tree almost a year later. Isn’t it amazing? I chopped the leader, but a new leader has taken off and extended to 6′ in length. Overall, the volume of growth has exploded by about tenfold. The base has gained another 1/2″ in girth, but the “body” of the tree is also much increased.

I have the same plan next year as I did this year. I will layer some additional specimens from this parent tree. That will also allow me to do some training on this one itself, which is just a couple of years from a bonsai pot if the growth rate keeps up.

Here’s one more shot, from the other side. I’m thinking this will end up being the front, but time will tell.

Parsley Hawthorn Literati – Going In A Great Direction

by Zach Smith | Jun 10, 2017 | Care, Flowering, Hawthorn, Potting, Styling, Wiring

Just over a month ago I decided it was time to do an initial styling on this Parsley hawthorn, Crataegus marshallii. There was never any doubt about the future for this bonsai-to-be – it was going to be a literati. The literati style is, for lack of a better term, the way for the bonsai artist to do the unusual with either less-than-stellar material or exquisite material. It may be the purest artistic expression available to us with our trees.

In the case of this tree, it met all of the “requirements” for the literati style: tall, slender trunk with only modest taper; graceful, character-filled trunk movement; a concentration of growth near the putative apex. The only think I had to do was bring out the best design for this specimen. After the initial styling, I thought it was another step closer to the goal.

As of today, the tree had put on another strong round of growth (six weeks’ worth).

Based on this, plus a gentle push on the trunk, I concluded that the tree had rooted sufficiently for me to get a little aggressive and pot the tree.

I don’t recommend this for less-experienced artists.

In time, you’ll learn what you can do and what species you can do it with. (I don’t always get it right myself.)

A little trimming and wiring was in order.

The tree gave me a nice sub-branch in the apex, which is actually going to end up as the final apex, so I simply wired and positioned it. I trimmed the low-left branch back, trimmed the high-left branch back and wired a smaller shoot on it and continued the branch’s movement.

Picking the right pot for your tree is always important. In this case, I had a great Chuck Iker round that just came in and I felt it had the size, style and color to suit this Parsley haw. Here in the south, Parsley haws will produce a nice yellow fall color. I’m anxious to see if I get some this year, because I think it’ll be complemented beautifully by this pot’s color.

This tree should resume growing in a week or so. I plan to post it for sale within the next month, so stay tuned.

A Few New Bonsai I’m Working On

by Zach Smith | Jun 4, 2017 | Collecting, Crape myrtle, Ficus, Flowering, Hawthorn, Potting, Pruning, Styling

I collected this Parsley hawthorn, Crataegus marshallii, in February. Though it was a decent piece of material, I knew there were quite a few years ahead of it in order for it to become a presentable bonsai. Then a thought occurred to me. That nice slender trunk emerging from near the base had a ton more character than the relatively straight main trunk. Wouldn’t that make a much better bonsai, and much sooner to boot?

Here’s the tree just recently. Allowing for all those shoots growing out, I’ve made just a few minor snips. Can you see where I cut back?

I cut back the three branches on the slender trunk, and then simply removed the thicker trunk altogether. Does this tree make a statement now? I think it does.

I’ve been making Edible figs, Ficus carica, practically since I got the parent tree from my mother. One I started about five years ago was a twin-trunk. I put it in the ground about three years ago. This year I decided to separate the smaller of the two trunks and pot into a bonsai pot. It’s a pretty nice starter bonsai, don’t you think? The trunk is 1″ in diameter and it’s 14″ tall. And it will fruit in a pot.

I’m very fond of Crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, as bonsai. Not only are they horticulturally simple to grow, they bloom profusely in a bonsai pot. This is a white-blooming variety that I made from a cutting last year. I was able to wire a nice Crape myrtle shape into it and go right into this Chuck Iker round. It’s 14″ tall. I would expect it to resume growth in a couple of weeks, and it just might go ahead and bloom this summer. Time will tell.

I’ll be posting these trees for sale sometime this summer. Stay tuned.

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