Bald Cypress Progression

by | Dec 28, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Pruning, Styling, Wiring, ZPC

Zach’s Personal Collection

bald cypress

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Bald Cypress

 

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bald cypress

Updates are in date order beginning with the first date Zach began documenting the progression.

2015

This Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) came home in 2015, and I knew from the start that I was keeping it for my personal collection. A BC of this size, 6″ trunk (6″ above the soil), will invariably take about 10 years to reach a “finished,” showable state. So as of the end of the 2019 growing season, I’m halfway there.

2016

I got really good growth the first year the tree was on my bench. That encouraged me to defoliate in July of 2016. In this photo, you can see the progress in building a new leader. This must be done properly, or the tree will look unnatural during winter dormancy.

2016

Here’s a closeup to show you the new apex building process, which includes growing a new leader and controlling the powerful rolling callus that BCs typically produce.

2017

Here we are at the beginning of the 2017 growing season. I’ve got a good branch structure going, and my new apex is poised for further thickening. Again, this process is going to take a number of years and can’t be rushed.

I’ve also got the tree potted into a training pot. This will slow the growth, of course, but I’ll still be able to accomplish all of my plans for this tree.

2017

Two months later, the tree is full of foliage and continuing strong development.

2017

Another defoliation in early July. It’s easy to see how much the branches and leader have thickened since the beginning of the year (two photos above).

2017

Here’s a head-on view of the tapering transition point, showing how well the callus is filling in. At the top you can see the “shelf” of wood I left when making the year two chop. This is to prevent the callus at the top of the wound from growing too rapidly and thereby producing a reverse taper at the transition point. The shelf will be carved down either at the end of this growing season, or the beginning of the next.

2019

This closeup, from February of 2019, shows an adjustment I made to the transition point on the left side. The callus did its thing as it was meant to, but there was a bit of a bulge where I didn’t need it. The solution? Carve it down. That makes it look much more natural.

2019

Time for a root-pruning, as the tree has been in this pot for a couple of years now. Many collected trees will re-root with great vigor once you’ve taken them from the wild. It’s a normal response. BC commonly do this.

Note: I don’t defoliate cypresses in the year they get root-pruned.

2019

The tree is root-pruned and back in its home, ready for the 2019 growing season.

2019

This shot was taken in June of 2019. The growth is not quite as vigorous as I’d like, though it isn’t bad. In situations like this, you make sure the tree gets enough fertilizer. I’ve also seen some occasions where BC will get chlorosis, and this specimen looked like it could use some iron. I’ve always found that works well, usually within a few weeks.

2019

A few weeks later, and looking better.

2019

This shot is from December 27th, 2019. I’ve removed the wire from earlier in the season and cleaned up the trunk. The state of development is very pleasing to me, though of course there are still some years ahead before this tree is showable.

With that said, there’s a significant flaw in the design of this tree that I need to address now, before it becomes too hard to do so. Can you spot it? I took the opportunity to write an article illustrating the advanced training technique I used to correct this flaw. If you’re interested in learning more, send me an email and I’ll be glad to forward it to you (it’s in pdf format).

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Huckleberry #5 – Summer Work

by | Jul 21, 2019 | Blueberry, Care, Pruning, Styling, ZPC
You’ve been following the development of this Huckleberry bonsai-to-be for the past year or so. This is where the specimen stood just over one year ago, in July of 2018.
And here it is in February of this year. I had done some carving on the trunk chops in order to begin creating the tapering transitions that will be necessary to a good design.
Voila! Five months later, I’ve got myself a Huckleberry bush. They do try to grow the way God intended them to. Our job as bonsai artists, however, is to direct the growth so as to create a believable tree form. So here I go.
At each stage of your bonsai’s development, you need to assess your progress with certain chores. This photo illustrates the thickening of the new leader on the left-hand trunk. This is excellent progress. It won’t be long before the tapering transition is just the way I want it.
Here’s where the right-hand trunk stands. I left two potential leaders, because I wanted to have the option later on depending on how the tree looked. I couldn’t make up my mind at the time, in other words. Don’t be afraid to leave yourself options. You don’t always have to know the answer right then.
So down in the bottom of the tree, on the right-hand trunk, I’ve got this first branch. I left a shoot near the base in order to thicken the base of the shoot I want. As is common with Huckleberry (and other species), I got another shoot near the base but it isn’t coming off the main shoot so it serves no purpose.
This is a routine chore you will need to do on pretty much every tree you grow. And you need to be diligent about it, or the unwanted shoots will sap energy from the growth you want.
Here’s another chore you need to attend to. Notice that there’s a very strong shoot growing almost straight up near the base of this branch. Again, I left it on purpose and now it’s done its job of thickening the base of the branch. But I can’t leave it any longer, or it’ll sap energy from the branch and I could lose it.
Whack.
It’s also the time of year for unwiring whatever you haven’t already unwired. You can see I’ve got some biting here.
A lot of the trimming has been done, but there’s still more to do. This is the time when you want to remove downward and upward growing branches (for the latter, leave those you still need to use for thickening purposes). Bring in the profile of your tree, and selectively remove sub-branching that isn’t going to be part of the design.
And this is the result for today. What you may notice is that after each round of trimming, the tree looks a lot like it did after the previous round. But if you look closer, you’ll see branches and leaders that have thickened nicely, and ramification that will ultimately form the foliage pads. It takes many rounds of “grow and clip” (this technique is used regardless of whether or not you wire your trees) to achieve the goal of a well-designed bonsai. Let me know what you think of today’s work.
If you think you’d like to give Huckleberry a try, here’s a specimen I collected this year that will be available in 2020. Pretty cool twin-trunk, eh?
And a smaller single trunk specimen, which got some design work earlier in the season.

Huckleberry #5 Styling Work

by | Mar 2, 2019 | Blueberry, Care, Pruning, Styling, Wiring, ZPC

This Huckleberry, Vaccinium sp., was among the first of my trees to leaf out this spring. Not only that, it put on a nice bloom as well. Today I decided to do more editing and a little wiring in order to get my design in place. Granted, the tree looks good in its natural growth state, but keep on reading and you’ll see how seemingly subtle changes can really make a design pop.

Working from the bottom up, I first tackled the low branch on the right trunk and the two lowest branches on the left trunk. With just a little wiring and branch movement and positioning, I’ve made a big change in how these branches contribute to the overall design of the future bonsai.

In this photo, I’ve wired two branches on the right trunk, one that comes toward the viewer and the other a back branch. Again, they’ve been given some movement and positioned in spots that add to the design.

In this photo you can see that I’ve selected my final leader on the left trunk. This involved removing a final piece of the trunk stub with a couple of small branches, then wiring and positioning the leader.

Here I’ve wired a final branch on the left trunk that provides foliage in back, and brought it horizontal. It’s in a great spot now.

The final challenge for the day was selecting the leader on the right trunk. I actually have two choices: one, a thicker branch growing in the right direction; and two, a longer selection emerging from behind the trunk. I don’t have to make a final choice now, so I wired the longer one and put some movement in it, just in case it ends up being THE one. It all depends, frankly, on how strong it grows this year. I need it to be a lot thicker than it is now.

Let me know what you think of this Huckleberry. I’ve excited to continue working on it this year. It should be ready for a bonsai pot in 2020.

Crape Myrtle Repotting

by | Feb 17, 2019 | Care, Crape myrtle, Potting, Soil, ZPC

It’s been two years ago that this Crape myrtle, Lagerstoemia indica, got a new pot and some much-needed design work. The tree has been happily growing (and blooming in summer) in its Byron Myrick custom pot. But as with all bonsai, sooner or later you’ve got to repot. Crape myrtles in particular are going to need this to be done more frequently than most species. Why? They grow roots more vigorously than just about any other species. So in order to keep them healthy, they need attention every couple of years.

But first, the tree has gotten rangy on me and it’s got to be taken back in. This is one of those chores that many bonsai enthusiasts either fail to do or don’t do to the degree it’s needed. For those of you who’ve been at it for a long time, you know what I mean! It’s hard to make yourself prune back hard. But it must be done.

Next step: pull the tree from the pot. You can see how successful this Crape has been in filling its pot. We’ve got the telltale circling roots. They grow to the edge of the pot, then they circle. Happens every time, which is another reason we have to root-prune periodically.

Notice the new white roots that are growing. This means the tree is going to be pushing buds very soon.

How much root should you take off? I like to remove roughly half the volume of root. Here’s what that looks like.

Another view. In addition to removing root around the edges of the mass, I’ve also removed some from beneath. The tree also needs some fresh soil in the bottom of the pot.

I cleaned the pot and replaced the drain hole screens, then put a layer of fresh soil in the bottom.

Now the tree is placed in the pot. You may notice that I’ve turned the tree slightly. This helps fill a gap between the first right-hand branch and the apex, which I actually created by pruning a sub-branch off the first left-hand branch that had been used to fill in behind the tree. I decided this branch looked funny and needed to go.

I’ll come back and wire that right-side branch (which I had coaxed from a bud this past year), then pull it down and into position.

The tree placed on top of the layer of soil I put in the pot. I’ve made sure it sits at the proper level in the pot.

The final step of the repotting, filling in with soil.

I like the tree with this front, so until next repotting time this is the composition.

Now, you may have recognized that this tree does not exhibit the ideal design. There’s a slight curve to the trunk, taking it from left to right. If we’re following the standard design principles, the first branch should appear on the left side of the tree. Then second branch right, third branch in back, and so on. However … there’s also nothing saying you can’t break rules. I think this is most true when you’re maintaining a venerable old bonsai. This tree has been in training for about 30 years now. Should I remove that lowest branch because it’s on the wrong side of the tree? Not on your life! It can take a very long time to get your branches to the right thickness, and that right-hand branch is right at half the thickness of the trunk where it emerges. The relative proportions make it look very natural. Also notice that as you move up the tree, the branches get progressively less thick but remain proportionate with the trunk thickness. From this standpoint, the tree certainly complies with the rules. So to me, this is a very pleasing bonsai and looks its age.

Let me know your thoughts on this one.

It’s Go Time – Trees Are Waking Up

by | Feb 10, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Potting, ZPC

I first noticed it last weekend. Bald cypress is one of the first species to start pushing buds in spring or, technically, late winter – all it takes is some unseasonably warm weather. Well, that’s just what we’ve been getting, with temperatures reaching 75-80.

This BC, which I collected in Winter 2015, is happily budding now. Well, that creates its own problem since this specimen needs to be adjusted in its pot. When I first went to this training pot, I turned the tree just slightly thinking it would look better. Turns out it didn’t, because it diminished the appearance of the spreading root base. It’s clear with the pot turned just a bit. So any root work that needs doing has to be done now, since the tree has decided it’s go time. Go time for me, too.

Go time also means it’s time to make necessary adjustments to ensure the tree is developing properly. Of particular importance is the new apex of the tree. I have grown the apex from a trunk bud, beginning in 2015. The technique is fairly simple, you grow a leader by letting it run most or all of the growing season, then you cut it back drastically and repeat the process to ensure you get the taper you need in the apex itself. I’ve done this a few times now with this tree, and slowly but surely I’m getting there.

But there’s a problem. Notice how below the transition point there appears to be a “shoulder” where the original trunk chop becomes the new leader. This doesn’t look right, and I need to correct it this season.

Here’s another view. The problem is on both sides, which is due to the healing that has taken place since the year two chop was made. The rolling over process has gone very well, but an unwanted side effect is this abrupt-looking change of trunk thickness.

The solution? Carve it down. This immediately makes it look smoother and more believable. Is it perfect? Not by a long shot. But it does position the development such that as the base of the transition point thickens further, the taper from original trunk chop into the new leader will look very natural.

This is what it looks like after both sides have been carved. Again, far from perfect but going in the right direction.

What about when the new cuts heal? Because they are “secondary” wounds, meaning I have wounded the scars of the original wounds, the rolling over will not be as aggressive as with the first one. So I should not have to repeat this technique again.

And now, on to the repositioning. This tree was initially potted in 2017, so it hasn’t yet filled the pot with roots. This is good: I won’t have to remove much root to accomplish today’s goal.

And the final result for today. Now the tree has its best foot forward. The root spread and fluting on this specimen is just terrific.

But guess what? There’s more.

This is a photo of the tree taken in February of 2015, almost exactly four years ago. Compare the root flare at soil level with the photo above. Isn’t it just spectacular? And even here the roots are buried to protect them. So when the tree gets its permanent home, I’ll lift it to reveal the whole basal flare.

Let me know what you think of this Bald cypress. I think it’s coming along really well.

A Portrait Of What We Work Toward

by | Dec 1, 2018 | Care, Hawthorn, ZPC

Riverflat Hawthorn #1

Trunk base 3.25″

Height 30″

Collected in Winter 2012, this tree is now seven years in training. In that time, I’ve been able to build the tree’s structure from a collected bare trunk, create the necessary tapering transition in the apex to ensure believability in the tree’s proportions, and achieve very nice ramification and leaf-size reduction. Earlier this year the tree was moved to a larger pot that is better suited to the size of the tree. And now, it has rewarded me with the best fall color in its time as a bonsai.

I couldn’t think of a better way to comment on this tree than to say it’s a perfect example of what I’ve been working toward my whole career in bonsai.

Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear from you.