Old Juniper gets a major styling

This Juniper is closing in on 40 years old, and has gone through a great deal of changes since it came into my hands as pre-bonsai material about 4 years ago.   Found a great deal of deadwood on the tree to turn into Jin and Shari work this go-around.  Cleaned it up; some more work to be done on it but this is it for the weekend.  Will soon pay more attention to the pads and also to cleaning the trunk up a little better.

How it started; quite leggy and have not given it the attention it needs to piching..

Found a healthy live vein runing down the back, allowing for the exposure of some great deadwood down the front and worked it into the existing Jins.

Close up, still some carving to do and cleanup, nice living vein down the left here.

Parked the tree for now  Fired the deadwood some, and a good deal of wiring and pinching all over.

Tropical Bonsai of 6+ years still doesn't have a species!

This is literally the 2nd pre-bonsai material I ever bought back in 08, back when the passion was flying and the knowledge was....  Yah..    :)

I didn't even realize quite at the time that I'd picked out a tropical species.  It almost didn't make it's first winter as I debated bringing it inside or not..  Finally I did and it happily survived, now getting routine escapes inside from October to March.

The species..  Well I have looked around and I think I've identified it once or twice, but never actually put a pic of it and the species in a blog post to help me remember..  Maybe now with Google+ someone can help me out in the community..  :)

I wired the branches this spring, and will be taking them off in Fall when it comes inside.  will continue to wind the ranches down to give it this current 'drooping' effect.  Normally, the branches all grow 'up' so this in itself is a bit of a test and possibly a strain on the tree.  Will see how things go, my wife likes it at least..  :)

Smaller informal style Privet Bonsai - a bit dainty

This little tree has nice movement to my eye, and will heal quickly the sore from the cut I made to give it that 'curve' motion.  Another of my test subject privet bonsai that actually has some small potential.

These pics being almost 2 weeks old;  I've had endless rain here the past 2 weeks, the growth showing now is about double what this pic shows.  The tree is doing well in it's first pot after moving from a small 1/2 gal planter.

Another Privet Bonsai gets it's first pot

I have used privet to test my bonsai knowledge over the years, and although not the best tree/bush for presentation, it has many attributes that make it a good species for learners;  it grows like nuts (it's classified as a weed), roots like mad and puts out alot of growth for you to play with.  Hardy, and springs bad furiously in springtime, usually holding a significant number of leaves through the winter.  Best of all if you live in more humid areas, or namely the southeast US - it's likely in your back yard or along your fence line...  :)

I'm working on alot of other species too, but my larger and more interesting privet are all up for pot moves right now, so they get some air time..  :)

Even though this is currently a 'side' I think this will become it's front next re-potting or pot change it has.

This is a pot that I made from one of my pot creation sessions a few years ago.  I dig the crackle pops in the glaze that was used.  (I have it around here somewhere)

Rose of Sharon Bonsai getting used to new pot

This rhododendron 'Rose of Sharon' is pretty interesting..  They exhibit large lovely purple flowers in the late summer into fall.  This one last season started to show flowers which I promptly clipped so as not to direct any energy into them.  Recently moved into this as it's first bonsai pot from a 2 gallon planter pot, I've let it grow out a bit as it gets itself rooted and happy.

Next spring..   Time for a haircut, and I think next Summer/Fall a flower show if I do things right.

Looking a bit wild - but getting well rooted and stable for it's haircut next Spring.

Example of the leaves dwarfing due to living in a pot;  the leaf I am holding is from another tree of the same species that grows outside my house as a decorative flowering bush (this tree started as a sapling that survived a mowing, and then caught my attention....)   :D

This pot is another of my friend Aaron's creations.  3 legs that appear as tree trunks that wind around it with thick branches into the darker green of the rim as it's leaves. 

Privet Bonsai loses a trunk, seems happier

Finally back with a few things to share, I'll start with this Privet Bonsai that I've featured a few times over recent years as it's been a 'test' tree for many learning bonsai activities for me (learning how to transfer into a bonsai pot, pot fertilizing, carving and natural aging, wiring )  Now into the final stages of refining branches, and a final pot selection on the horizon (something a little more shallow to show off the nice trunk the tree has).

As you'll see if you just go back a few posts in my blog, this used to be a dual trunk tree.  I literally came home one day to find the entire 2nd trunk with all withered leave in a days time.  No suffering from lack of water or from too much - it just decided to go on it's way..  Well I cleaned it out and trimmed out the roots that had fed it.  I could find nothing outstandingly wrong (no bugs, no dry roots and no old clays as I'd bare-rooted this tree long ago..).   Sometimes..  Nature happens and that is ok and part of what we celebrate with Bonsai.  :)

So here are a few pictures of it now.  The trunk hollow is a bit bright as I did just apply lime to help protect the wood some and help give it that aged look.  2-3 weeks in the elements and it will look much more naturally blended.

Bit more trimming of the upper branches, and will pull things down a bit more next season.  A few guy wires are already in place.

The back where the other trunk was - carved away and left for now.  I plan to drill into it and connect this end with the main trunk opening to allow for a view through, and to help with water drainage out of the hollow.

View up the hollow.

Trimming aggressive growth to fill out the back side, and laying the foundation for future ramification.

This neat brick pot was made one evening a few years ago (08 or 09) during a pot creation evening with my best friend Aaron.  It's thick, and was made to resemble a aged brick wall where many bricks had fallen out of the cement holding them in.  I call it my 'aggressive starter pot'.  It will receive a new renter soon as this tree moves into something a little more shallow next springtime.

Still here - Holiday update

As many of my fellow friends of the bonsai hobby (lifestyle for those of us with too much material!) know; sometimes there are spans of times where a lot is happening and there are endless things to share..  Then there are times where your trees are taking a bit of a rest;  growing out, getting healthy, getting thicker, healing from pot transfers - and the likes.

This spring promises to be a neck reddening time for me.  I have so much material ready for re-potting, so many things ready to go from planters into their first bonsai pot; so many things to transplant from the ground that I've been nursing from seed for the past 3-4 years - into their first planter pots.

It's going to be passion re-ignition all over again.  :)

Happy Holidays to everyone; travel safe, hug your families tight, and I'll see you in a few months!

Jason

Privet Bonsai Spring Maintenance

Haven't had much time to work on bonsai, however this Privet deserved a visit from the scissors.  Going to clean up alot of the free growth, and partially defoliate to reduce leaf size to spur further back-branching and ramification of the crown/apex.

 Before work begins, looking a bit wild.

Trimming and defoliation complete. 

 

View of the hollow I'm working on over time to carve into the main trunk. 

San Jose juniper bonsai - big steps forward

This is a San Jose Juniper; it's nursery stock tree that I've trained since last summer.  This is her first major working since initial reduction and making a few branch decisions; it looks to be going the way of windswept, the branches all have natural movement from left to right.  Difficult to find a path for this one, time will tell (alot of time!) if I'm going the right way or not.

The tree's initial history can be found here.

Here's where things are after a few hours work today.

As always, poor man's measuring stick (lighter).  If you view the tree's history above first - you can see the large amount of new growth it's showing this spring.

 

Some carving to do at the bottom.  I want to save the branch on the right and turn it into a large jin to resemble a 3rd trunk that has 'failed' in the tree's past.

There we go, a little Dremel action.  The dremel is a new toy I got for Christmas, I have a few wood carving bits for it - enough for me to learn the basics then figure out what other bits or tools I may need.

 

Closer view.  Not completely finished, but it's still 'damp'.  I'd like nature to dry things out and do some of the weathering on her own.  It's a good start for me, I think. 

So..  Time to get some motion into these large branches.  Time to bring things closer in!

A few hours later.

Little more of a turn to the left - I think I like this as the front a bit better.  Will have to reduce the right trunk jin a little to accommodate the new front, since it crosses the trunk from this new angle.   Time to let this tree rest until Fall, then do a little adjusting of wire; remove some add more, etc.   Next season if all goes well I will continue working on the 'top' which right now is pretty vacant!    Not too worried about moving this into a pot yet - not until I"m happy with the design, and get a decent apex on there and the pads a bit more appropriate for the size of the tree.

Tree Story: This tree's protective bigger sister succumbed to the strong howling winds of a cliff side where they both perch.  Now with the winds hitting this tree directly through the crumbling remains of it's once protective neighbor, the branches bend, or break away in the tree's struggle not to join it's sibling.

Anyhow, that's the story and I'm sticking to it..  :)

Juniper Blaauw prebonsai material strikes a pose

This little nursery tree has been with me approx 2 1/2 years, slowly getting worked here and there until I felt it was time to move into a 'training' pot that I specifically created for it some time back.  It's a good 8-10 years from being presentable in any fashion however I like it's deadwood areas and trunk movement - again another 'training' tree for me of a juniper species, with deadwood to play with..  If the green survives and can pad out as I've wired, it could in the future be an interesting tree to view.

'The Log' training pot I made in 2009 for this tree.  Things have come a long way on all fronts (pottery and bonsai skills, as well as application of said abilities, thank goodness). 

Signed it and threw in a 'bonsai' in Japanese on the left.  Plenty of drainage on this one all the way down the center.

 Lots of new growth, the living veins on both sides of the deadwood are quite healthy.  Species is 'Juniperus chinensis blaauw' sometimes called 'blue juniper' due to it's tint of blue, which becomes very obvious during the cold months,

The trunk looks rough, it will get cleaned up some soon.   Poor tree is begging for some good soil (here it comes, 40% crushed lava rock, 40% fired clay particle, 20% sharp builder sand).

 Reduced, repotted, deadwood cleaned up slightly just so I can identify it better (carving still to really be done).  Still looking for the front.

Another angle before work begins.  Hmmm..  Still not showing a good front - but I think I know where it is now after a few spins. 

After thinning and wiring, I believe this is the front; with a slight turn to the right from here.. 

This will become the back. Now I'm starting to see 'someone' in this pose the tree is striking, can you guess who it is yet?   :)

Close-up of the 'front', you can see the deadwood decently on the trunk here after a slight clean-up.  Now that I have my front, I will carve into this side some to help with the taper and to blend better into the living veins, at the end of this season.

Had thought about going literati if I took the top off, it's still an option I suppose.  Here's a view w/o the top to get an idea.  I would bend the bottom right branch back 'up' some and get it slightly back above the main trunk chop line.

Another angle.  Once the guy wired branch becomes stable, I will add a bit more movement in the bottom to follow the lines of the trunk.  I sort of like this angle, gives the tree a sort of 'Travolta' pose going on..  :)

Another direction w/o the top if I went literati style down the road.   Travolta w/o his left hand?   Maybe I should keep the top and form it like this if nothing but for the discussion the pose could bring?  :)

I think this is the front for now.  A view if I left the top off and went literati.

Yep, time to set it aside in the shade for a month or so to allow the roots to take off, then out into full sun for the summer.  I think this tree has earned it's name, 'Travolta' for sure take a look here to see the pose in action!

Privet enters into a new future as Bonsai

This Privet soon-to-be-bonsai has been collected for about 14 months.   Right after collection I moved it into my garden in the ground, with a large flat brick underneath the root ball.   It's a single trunk, will be 'informal' style tree.   The many privet I have collected, I use as training trees before I move into more common (and less hardy in comparison) trees.  However some of the Privet - are pretty interesting in their own right (down the road more likely).

Here you can see it has a pretty decently flat root base as is.  Time to bare root all this famous 'Georgia Red Clay' and good soil I used around the root ball when I first collected.

All clean, lots of good roots here.  Time to reduce the root ball's height so it can fit into a pot snugly. 

The pot.  Training pot for sure, it will go into something smaller in the future.  The soil.  This mix is approx. 30% oil-dry (NAPA product, 100% fired earth), 20% coarse builder sand, 40% lava rock, and 10% organic sphagnum moss.  (Need a little organic for Georgia's hot summers..)

Happily potted up, some wire through the drain holes to hold it in place.  Time to take it inside and do a little more work. 

I think this is the front that I will use for now. 

Quite a trimming (generally safe for Privet, they grow like mad and I sealed all cuts well).   Poor man's measuring stick (the lighter).    

A pic from the rear, the nabari look decent from here as well.   Could go either way, will see which side strikes best for the lead to a final apex.

Close-up of the nabari from the rear. 

Close-up of the trunk/nabari from the current front. 

From the ground up, it's 12 inches, 6.5 inches to the main trunk 'chop'.  Approx 2.25 inches at base with 1.5 inches being main thickness of trunk to the 'chop' line.

Lots of fun with this project, I have many more privet to unearth in the near future.  Maybe 1-2 more before this spring gets in full gear, many more next spring for certain.