by Zach Smith | Sep 8, 2019 | Care, Ficus, Maples, Oaks, Styling, Wiring
I love working with unusual species, and making bonsai that defy the normally accepted rules for design. Here are a few examples of current projects.
First off is a Red oak, Quercus nuttallii, that I collected in East Texas a couple of years ago. (East Texas lies at the extreme western end of the range for the species). This is another example of a tree that decided to only bud low on the trunk. I let it get strong last year, and this year chopped the trunk way back. It’s nothing to write home about at present, but I have a leader I let grow that was cut back hard earlier this season. My original thought was to just grow it out. However …
Considering how big the leaves of a Red oak are, it struck me that making a shohin bonsai out of this specimen will absolutely fly in the face of bonsai orthodoxy. Imagine a tree only 8-10 inches tall, with pretty big oak leaves. That’s got to be something pretty cool, if I can pull it off. the base of this one is 2.5″ across, so it’ll taper pretty dramatically when all is said and done. I’m thinking it’ll make a nice statement.
I’ve blogged before about edible fig, Ficus carica. I made this one from a cutting a couple of years ago, and it’s now grown into a decent shape. The base is up to 1″ at the soil, and as you can see it produced a good bit of fruit this year. I may pot it next year, if I think it’s ready.
Edible fig is one of those species you can’t make much headway wiring. It’s best to just prune them to shape – with the understanding, of course, that they decide which branches to keep and which to shed.
I’m posting this Boxelder (Ash-leaf maple), Acer negundo, with trepidation. I know, it’s a terrible species for bonsai and I don’t hesitate to share my disdain for them. At the same time, what’s bonsai without a challenge? So I lifted this one in August(!), and defied it to live. Naturally it did. Had it been a prize anything else, it would have audibly croaked as I lifted it from the ground. But not Boxelder!
If you’re going into bonsai no man’s land, you have to go all the way. So I wired and pruned this survivor. Now I ignore it till either the wire bites in or next year, whichever comes first.
Let me know what you think of all this.
by Zach Smith | Sep 1, 2019 | Care, Oaks, Pruning, Styling, Wiring
I love oak bonsai. Oaks are, in fact, among the best deciduous species available for bonsai. They take to pot culture well, backbud well, have great bark, and many species have small leaves. What’s not to like? Here’s a Water oak I lifted this summer in order to make way for some landscape modifications. Though it didn’t but all the way up and down the trunk, it did give me enough to work with.
Chop, wire, shape. This specimen isn’t much to look at, but I can grow out the leader next year sufficiently to make the transition at the chop look realistic. From there it’ll just be a matter of creating a branch structure.
Here’s another Water oak that budded even lower on the chopped trunk. The base on this one is so nice it’s worth growing out. The project should take four or five years, but it promises to be fun.
The first step is to chop back that long leader, so that this coming year I can build another section of the trunk. Doesn’t look like much of anything, does it?
I first showed you this oak back in February. When I first lifted it, I was convinced it was a Water oak. As the tree grew out, the leaves kept getting bigger and bigger. I’m now convinced it’s what we call Red oak commonly but is officially Nuttall oak (if further research produces a different result, I’ll update you).
The growth has been outstanding this year, so much so that I’ve had to cut it back four or five times. The only problem with the growth, however, is that it’s been mostly concentrated in the upper half of the tree. It did produce a late bud lower down the trunk, so that’s worth taking advantage of.
First a little trimming to bring the height down.
Making use of the low back branch in order to put some foliage where I need it. When this branch fills out next year, it will be a critical help to the design.
Same thing for that first left side branch – wire and position. A nice tree form is taking shape.
A little wire on a branch in the crown, a final trim, and I think I’ve got a nice oak bonsai in the making. Let me know what you think about this tree. Personally, I really like it. I think the leaves are going to reduce well-enough to make it believable.
by Zach Smith | Aug 18, 2019 | Care, Oaks, Privet, Pruning, Styling, Wiring
You’ve been following the development of this Water oak (Quercus nigra) since last year. The tree was collected in February of 2018, but failed to bud except in one spot. The obvious answer was to make bonsai lemonade out of that lemon.
Here’s the tree last November, after a good whacking. Because I had good taper where the transition was, I didn’t hesitate to pot the tree in this Byron Myrick rectangle.
Now we’re a year from the first photo above, and the branch development is clearly robust. I like the way the proportions of the tree are coming along. The only chore to be done today is to do some strategic pruning.
With a few branches taken off, and the overlong branches trimmed back, you can get a much better sense of where I’m going. I’ve left the leader alone, in order to continue to beef it up all along its length. That will be vital in making this a believable bonsai. I’m beginning to question the value of the low left branch in the final design, but I’m not willing to take it off yet. What do you think? Does it add to the design?
Here’s the next Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) that gets styled. I’m always amazed at how fast they grow.
I love it when I run across a specimen I can chop to make a short, fat bonsai out of. This one has a 1.5″ trunk base and is chopped at 4.5″. I can make the whole design in under 10″.
And one last privet for today. This one also has a 1.5″ trunk, but is chopped at 8.5″. It’ll make a nice 12″ tall bonsai. I collected this one and the one above on July 28th. I’m betting I’ll be wiring both of them next month.
by Zach Smith | Mar 3, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Collecting, Maples, Oaks, Potting, Pruning, Styling, Wiring
I started working on this Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, last year. The idea was to get a branch set going, and to select and position a new leader to continue the trunk to a final apex. This photo was taken on 12/28/18. Nice fall color, but the tree had grown itself into a mess while I paid attention to other trees.
With the tree already pushing buds and shoots, I have no time to lose in updating the wiring. If you haven’t experienced it before, wiring a Bald cypress when the buds are just on it is a very tricky proposition! You can’t help but knock off some of the tender buds. The good news is, there are so many just a little care leaves most intact.
The first order of business was to make the year two trunk chop to the new leader. I carved it smooth, ensuring that I had a nice angle on either side where the new leader will ultimately blend in.
You will also notice that in addition to wiring additional shoots to add to the design, I’ve also pruned them in fairly hard. Why? For now, it’s very important to allow the strength of this tree to concentrate in the leader. It needs to thicken at its base just as quickly as possible, in order to make the tapering transition blend in perfectly. I don’t want an obviously abrupt change of diameter in the trunk at this point. While it wouldn’t be obvious during the growing season, in winter you’d be able to clearly see it and it just wouldn’t look right.
As the season unfolds, I’ll have to pay special attention to the upper branches. Why? With BC, it’s all about getting tall as fast as possible. So the branches in the upper part of the tree will dominate all of the rest, unless I keep that from happening. So that means “cooling off” the growth near the apex.
This Water oak, Quercus nigra, came up as a volunteer on my property quite a number of years ago. I chopped it in the ground a couple of times, and It rewarded me by putting on a nice trunk with great movement and taper. I lifted it on 2/25/19. How about those radial roots? The trunk base is 2.5″, and it’s 19″ to the current tip of the trunk.
Assuming good recovery, I plan to add this specimen to the Bonsai South Collection as Water Oak #9. More to come on this one.
We’ve been following the story of this Swamp maple, Acer rubrum ‘Drummondii,’ for going on three years now. I’ve been waiting for signs of deterioration, but so far it seems to have survived collection. Here it is, leafing out nicely for the 2019 season. This should be the make or break year.
Yesterday I moved the tree to a new pot, a terrific piece by Lary Howard, which I think better suits it. I continued the plan of not disturbing the native soil at the center of the root mass. I also repositioned the tree in the pot; you may recall that originally there was a smaller secondary trunk on the right of the main trunk, which did not survive. So the repositioning was necessary.
Now for the real question about this tree: considering how tall it is, namely 28″ (trunk base is 1.5″ at the soil), does it qualify as a literati style bonsai? It’s way too tall to fit the normal trunk diameter to height guidelines, so the only thing left to consider is whether or not it can be considered as a literati. I really like the tree, tallness and all. The branches will be kept fairly sparse, and well in toward the trunk, as this is the only way it can really work to inspire an impression of age. If I let the branches grow out too much, it’s just going to not look right.
I’d love to hear what you think of it, and of course the other trees in this blog, so leave me a comment below.
by Zach Smith | Jan 20, 2019 | Care, Collecting, Elms, Oaks, Styling, Water Elm, Wiring
You may remember this Water Oak, Quercus nigra, from last summer. I slip-potted it at that time, as it had pushed a lot of growth and I knew the tree had plenty of roots to survive on.
But the story didn’t end there.
A couple of months later, I came to understand that the tree needed a drastic reduction. Here’s all that was left. There’s lesson on proportion here somewhere.
Yes, Water oaks have the interesting characteristic of holding a lot of their foliage through winter. Green foliage, too. so these leaves will persist until spring.
What’s wrong with this picture? Only subtle things. What’s the leader doing? Why is there an eye-poke branch near the prune point on the leader?
One piece of wire later, and both issues are resolved. I will let the leader run this year, which will thicken the whole thing up and make the transition smoother. I’ll also be able to build the crown of this tree, given how fast Water oaks grow. Stay tuned for updates later this year.
Continuing on with the “watery” theme, this Water-elm, Planera aquatica, was styled a few months back. It’s a good strong tree, but looking more closely there are a couple of obvious problems. Subtle problems, but something has to be done sooner rather than later.
For starters, that odd branch that I made into the leader following collection had a weird left-hand turn in it. Why in the world did I leave it on the tree? For the simple reason that I was hoping for new buds to appear on that very branch. Why? Because it would give me a leg up on building the new apex, since it was already about 1/8″ thick. Sure enough, I got two small shoots off that weird leader. It survived collecting.
The second problem on this tree is that original branch in back. Notice how it juts upward at an odd angle. It may not seem like a big deal, but just wait ….
So here’s what I did. The weird branch in the apex got pruned back. Now there’s a slender shoot that will grow out this year and continue the creation of the crown – which, by the way, will be mostly if not completely finished by the end of the season.
I also put some bigger gauge wire on that unruly branch in back, and simply pulled it down. See how much better it complements the positions of the other branches?
This tree will get a bonsai pot in spring. I predict that by the end of this year, it’ll be almost in showable condition.
Let me know what you think. Leave me a comment below.
by Zach Smith | Jan 19, 2019 | Care, Collecting, Hornbeam, Oaks, Potting
I acquired this American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana, from another collector last summer. It had been wired, a new leader grown out, then allowed to grow to get strong. Today it was time to make the next move with it.
I took the leader way back. It needs to thicken more at the base, but I want to be careful to create taper in it as it develops.
I also removed the strong upright shoot on the first right-hand branch, to make it less heavy. This branch will need to be kept “cool” this growing season. It’s not out of scale, but it has outpaced its brothers.
The last thing for today, carving down the chop area. I’ll be doing additional carving later on, but I needed to cut away some dead wood to get down to live tissue, to encourage callus formation.
I sealed this area, along with the cut point on the leader. Now I wait till spring.
I’ve had my eye on this Water oak, Quercus nigra, for a few years now. It’s suffered some mistreatment, hence the long shari in the upper part of the tree. I’m fine with that, it gives the tree extra character.
The trunk base of this specimen is 1.5″ at the soil, which is adequate to make a nice smaller specimen. I figured on going directly to a bonsai pot with it. There’s a risk doing this, of course, but I don’t mind taking some risks here and there.
There’s not much left, is there! But bonsai is all about finding the essence of your tree. You have to be brutal enough to take off everything that doesn’t add to the “tree-ness” of your bonsai. It’s often tough to make yourself do it, but with enough practice you’ll get right to the hard pruning. Your trees will be better for it.
I think the Byron Myrick rectangle really goes well with this oak.
If this one makes it, I should have plenty of new shoots to work with come spring, and by fall I expect this specimen should be filled out nicely. Water oak grows very quickly, and that makes it very good for bonsai – in fact, right up near the top of the oak list.
Let me know what you think. Leave a comment below.
