Oct 13 2011

Frankies Juniper

This Juniper was worked on last weekend. It belongs to Frankie but his son Phil is the main man when it comes to it’s care and styling. It was styled last year but not to Phil’s satisfaction. The extreme bend was proving hard to incorporate into the design with the current deadwood. A weak branch to the left had died. This photo shows the tree the the weak branch alive, just.

Now that the branch to the left was dead Peter Snart suggested that part of the deadwood should be removed and the bend bent down further with a clamp. This is it clamped down a little but the jin is stopping it going any further.

Jin removed, cranked down further and tied off with 2mm copper wire. Even this stretched with the pressure but there was no sign of any cracks in the bend.

This now opens up many new options for styling and creating an unusual tree, but that will have to wait for another day. Next step will probably to create a bend in the next section of trunk line to add more movement and bring the foliage back over the centre of the tree.

Oct 11 2011

A few other trees ……

… that were for sale or sold over the weekend.

Japanese Maple

Mame Juniper

Japanese larch

Scots Pine

Japanese White Pine

Sep 16 2011

Shohin Juniper

This was another sickly tree that I bought cheap early last year. This was it today.

This was the tree sitting on the previous owners bench in April 2010. The botton left branch was useless and when I got it home the top of the tree was badly cut with wire on the branches. Most of these would have had to be removed and regrown.

As it was cheap material and I quite liked the idea of a smaller tree, I opted to remove the whole apex leaving one branch. I put it into a bigger pot with grit to make up for the poor mix it was in.

Once through last Winter I transferred it into the current Walsall Ceramic pot. As you can see, the jin at the top has sprung back to a more upright position that will have to be altered again. The line of the shari will need improved. It’s a bit ‘out there’ in its style, but I like it. I will try and get a bit of definition into the foliage next time I work on the tree.

This was it a few months ago. The foliage had grown well since then.

Sep 9 2011

Matthew’s San Jose Juniper

This is my son’s San Jose Juniper. It was field grown from a cutting and I gave it to my son to try and add to his interest in bonsai. That’s still a work in progress!

This was it a few weeks ago. I had lifted it in for a quick record photo. I had plans to style it with Matthew at some point.

Then a few days ago this happened! Freak gust of wind and down it went..

The pot would have survived if it had missed the slate on the ground!

This forced my hand a little. I needed to get it into a new pot but wanted to give it a quick styling before I did that. My son wasn’t free to do it with me so I did a quick job on it yesterday and repotted it this morning.

I removed 2 branches.

and about an hour later..

I changed the front slightly to bring the second live vein into view at the base.

This still leaves me with the biggest problem on the tree, the long straight section on the trunk after the first bend. The shari makes this a rather stiff problem to bend.

I repotted it into the only pot I had available that suited the tree. It’s a little big but will be ideal for developing the tree further. This wasn’t a full repot, just a transfer with a little soil removed to facilitate the new potting angle.

and this is it with a little virtual foliage added.

I’m not overly struck on the tree but my son is happy. Next year, once the tree is established in the new pot, I might tackle it again and take drastic action with that straight section by splitting the trunk and using raffia and heavy wire, add some movement. If it wasn’t for the smashed pot I might have tried it now. Ah well, there’s always next time…

Sep 7 2011

Bugger!!!!

Very annoying!! I was standing about 10 feet away when a freak gust of wind caught this Juniper and launched it off the bench. It was my sons tree, I haven’t told him yet 😦

Luckily no branches were damaged. Big drop in temperature here today, is this the start of it?

Sep 1 2011

Stephen’s Juniper Update

I’ve posted on this one a few times this year:

Root Over Rock Common Juniper

Root Over Rock Juniper Update

Yesterday, Stephen brought this tree back to my place for a de-wiring! All ready starting to bite in since April.

We looked over tree and the amount of growth and came to the decision that it was time to prune back. Stephen had let the foliage extend to allow the branches to lignify enough to hold the weight of the new foliage. The foliage on this variety, ‘Repanda’, is quite floppy. As you can see from the progression photos below, it has grown well.

In April before work

In April after wiring…

In June with some new growth.

…and yesterday. You can see how the shoots have extended and are now strong enough to hold the weight. They are even beginning to point upwards. Stephen had pinched the apex a few weeks back as it was very over grown and the wire was cutting in.

and this is it after pinching and de-wiring. Some branches will need to be re-adjusted. The pinching wasn’t done too hard as we wanted to allow extra foliage on the tree for health and photosynthesis .

Aug 31 2011

Mario’s Wee Ones

You would think I had no trees of my own 🙂 As I have some of Mario’s bonsai to look after for a few years while he’s in Dubai, I gave them a check today to see how tight the wire was. Both his little White Pine and his Juniper needed to have the wire removed. Not a big job, here they are after wire removal.

The very top bit of foliage on the Juniper is a sacrifice branch that will be made into jin to match the rest of the tree once it has thickened sufficiently.

Aug 19 2011

My Bonsai – Mame Collection

Today’s addition to the My Bonsai Tab is a few of my smallest trees. This includes Juniper, Rowan, Cotoneaster and Ivy. Some I’ve had for many years and some are new. I do have others in training but are not much to look at for now. I’ll add them as they progress.

HERE is the page link, or just click on the image below to view.

I have recently added a few of my better mame trees to a tufa rock planting. As it comes together, I hope to do a Case Study page about it.

Aug 13 2011

Juniper Maintenance

I had a few mates around last night for some bonsai craic in my garage.

Before we got started on everyone else’s trees, I lifted in this Juniper of a pinching. It has grown really well this year after a repot and is quick to get out of shape if not maintained.

We had a little session towards the end of the night were 4 of us sat around a tree and talked through it’s good and bad points. This was really productive and enjoyed by everyone, beginners and experienced alike. It was amazing when Stan, new to bonsai, suggested a new front for this tree and I actually had to admit that it was a great option. God I love bonsai 🙂

This is it before.

and after pinching…

Jun 27 2011

Rigeda Juniper Deadwood

I finally got around to cleaning up the deadwood on my Rigeda Juniper. I defined the limits of the live veins, tidied it up a little with a wire brush and treated with two coats of lime sulphur diluted to 1:5 ratio.

This was after one coat of Lime Sulphur.

and after the second coat. I reduced a long heavy branch at the bottom left and shortened a few branches in the apex that had reached the desired thickness.

This is the back of the tree. The deadwood needs a lot of refining here to improve a very flat boring area. However there is one branch at the back that isn’t connected to the main vein and I wanted to avoid working in this area. To be honest it’s hard to tell where the live vein is for this branch. It may have a slight crossover from the front. Any way, no rush. Tree will be left now for the rest of the year to get used to my garden and my care.