Hugh brought his Scot’s Pine to my place today for styling. This was a recent purchase from Willowbog Bonsai and had a little main branch placement at some point in it’s past.

We had removed the old needles last Friday night and most of the prep for wiring had been done.

We wanted to show off the amazing bark and deadwood that the tree had to offer. A lot of the foliage was leggy and will need to be chased back over the next few years. With that in mind, we wanted to set the main structure of the tree but also wanted to leave most of the branches in place to keep the vigour for back budding. Some reduction took place and a number of unwanted branches were removed.

This was Hughs first time wiring and he showed a good aptitude for it. I did notice that by the end he had a ‘lets get this over with’ attitude 🙂 We have all been there when wiring. For some reason I find myself getting rather fond of wiring[never thought I would say that].

This is it after a few bottom branches had been wired.

And after wiring.

Hugh was happy with the result. I would consider a few alterations at some point. As they say, there’s always options 🙂 The bottom branch may be optional, a choice for Hugh at some point down the line. Once the image fills, there are several other branches that can be removed, but, as it sits, I think it’s a good start.