I spotted this tree over on the IBC Forum. I’m not normally one for major curves in trees, but this one is very exciting indeed. Just click on the image to view the whole thread on the forum. The sketches showing a projected final image as also very good indeed.
Jose was kind enough to add me to his blogs list a while back, hence the serious amounts of Spanish views I get here 🙂
I thought I would share this new video he’s created. I just love the fast forward styling of the Juniper. There’s also an interesting pot choice at the end.
I just added this Post to the Club Blogsite: Hugh’s Juniper.
I thought I would add it here as well as it’s far too cold for me to venture outside and actually do some work on my own trees 🙂
You can read all about it over on the club site, but basically it’s this Juniper getting a long over due haircut.
Michael came over to my place yesterday to finish off some work we were doing to his cascade Juniper. This tree had been neglected for a few years and a few branches were weak and one had died due to a strimmer incident!
This is it before any work.
The main task to complete was to get the branch structure sorted. There where a few poor branches that needed attention. The tip of the cascade was very weak and straight and this was removed and replaced by the branch above. I also wanted to compact the apex and bring it over the base of the tree more. No fine wiring was carried out. We where not looking to create a finished image. The continued recovery of the health of the tree was more important.
Michael’s not new to bonsai and was keen for his own ideas and views to discussed. This became a great tree to talk through. In many place branches require back budding and in a few other spots we need extension growth. This is the tree after our work.
A shari startiung at the base can be taken the length of the trunk connecting with a few other deadwood areas.
Depending on health and if a suitable pot can be found, it may be repotted into a more suitable pot next year. Here is a pot virtual.
and with foliage added. Perhaps a tad heavy but you get the idea.
Before, after and virtual all together.
They are coming thick and fast, hot on the heals of episode 19, comes episode 20 looking at the creation of deadwood on a shohin Juniper and a Japanese Red Pine.
Here are a few of the trees worked on on Friday night. Some were styled some were discussed.
Phils Scots Pine before old needle removal.
and after…
Hugh’s Scots Pine after needle removal, shown from a few angles.
One of Ian B’s Mugo Pines grown from seed.
and after styling
and another one before.
and after
Michael’s Juniper
A little Yew I worked on.
and after, still work to do but ran out of time 😦
I thought I would mention this Spanish Bonsai Blog that I’ve been following for a while. I’ve just added it to My Favourite Blogs sidebar.
I understand that reading translated Spanish can be a bit of a chore, Google Translate is far from perfect! But sometimes its worth the effort.
If you click on the image link below you will be taken to a recent post about the collection of yamadori in Spain. It is an honest look at the devastation, dare I say rape, of collecting sites in Spain. I have collected yamadori myself, always in manageable numbers with permission. I understand the temptations to go mad and take risks with trees, I’m not blameless in this either. However, the wanton destruction of top quality yamadori as described here is totally unacceptable! Non-collectable trees should be left for everyone to enjoy in-situ.
This isn’t just a Spanish thing either, it’s happens everywhere when there’s money to be made. In my view, it’s bonsai’s dirty little secret. I have no doubt that some day, some news reporter on a slow news day will twig on to this and it will make National News. ‘Bonsai Butchers ruining the environment’, or words to that effect. What a sad day for bonsai that will be! 😦
I have a love hate relationship with this tree!! I collected it from a cliff face back in 1998.
After initial strong growth, this was the first styling.
Things progressed well. This is it in 2000.
I got an Ian Baillie pot made for the tree in 2003.
Then it all went ‘Pete Tong’ I had a disaster with a conifer fertilizer that killed 7 of my best trees 😦 A few others suffered but survived. This was one of them. I lost a few main branches at the apex. Needless to say, I wasn’t in any mood to photograph the tree at this point!
As with most Common Junipers collected from the wild, this one has ‘Rust’ Fungus. This became more dominant and I lost a few minor branches here and there.
It was planted in a wash hand basin in a very open mix. This was it in 2009. No styling since 2005. The lost apex branches are there for all to see 😦
I decided to put it back into its Ian B. pot. I kept the tree in the poly tunnel for the last 1 1/2 years and growth has been good.
Last week I lifted it out while I was reorganising things in the tunnel. Of course I forgot to put it back in! That night we had major gusts of wind and when I spotted it on the bench the following day it was at a new angle not selected by me!! I have now added a support and am giving serious thought it transferring it to a bigger pot for a few years. This is it now.
The birds where at their work again! This time they striped the moss off this juniper that I had repotted in the Spring. I was amazed to see just how many roots were showing underneath. This is normally a slowish tree to establish roots.
Over the last few months I have started having impromptu bonsai sessions on mid week afternoons with a few friends. This was normally the preserve of a Friday evening but there isn’t enough Friday evenings in a month 😀
My usual freinds attending these afternoon sessions are Stephen and Michael. However yesterday, Phil also joined us. He said he hadn’t had a day off work since April and wanted to play with trees.
Phil worked on the deadwood of this Juniper. It had been carved with power tools a while back but Phil wanted to change this to a more natural looking image by doing some work by hand. It had some basic shaping a few years ago but is now ready for a more structured wiring.
Front
Back
Before [well nearly before. We forgot to take a photo at the start]
After [ well, not quite as he’s still to finish it!]
This is what he left behind for me to clean up 🙂
I brought this yew in to work on. I bought it many years ago as a big garden centre tree in a tub. It got a little bit of styling but it’s health went down hill rapidly! Turns out it was full of vine weevil!! I killed them off but the tree was very weak. I put iy in the ground for about 8 years and it got a few clippings in that time. It still remained weak for much for this period. About a year ago it was dug up and put in this beautiful red tray [not] and has grown well this year. I’m trying to cut back on the number of trees sitting about the place and decided that if I do a little work on this, I might be able to sell it some time next year. Here is the before and after pics after todays work. Major pruning and setting of a basic branch structure.
It’s got 5 trunks if you count the dead one. For some reason I haven’t taken a photo of the actual new front. The tree needs to spin slightly more clockwise to bring all the trunks into view.With some filling out, and some added shari put on the boring straight sections on the trunk, it might actually sell 🙂
I’ll add Michael and Stephen’s work on another post.
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