Before & After

[MACH5]

Shohin Tanuki. I sold this tree over the summer. Before is right after creation. Afters are a little over a year later.

Rob

Rob, love what you did with this Tanuki! Nice and beautiful compact design. Great job as always!

There are so many great examples in this thread from so many of you! It is truly inspiring!! WOW!

For those down south (Dorothy, agraham, etc) your tropicals are simply off the hook!!

 

[cascade]

Torulosa juniper:

Before



After ( without trim)



Best,
Dorothy

 

[Poink88]

Willow leaf root cutting

Here are 2 willow leaf roof cuttings on 1 pot.

First pic taken about a month since planted (note the tiny little buds along the cadmium area)
View attachment 41410
2nd pic after 6 months...
View attachment 41409

 

[october]

Arborvitae bunjin. Since these pics were taken, the tree was put into a much smaller pot.

Rob

 

[mcpesq817]

JWP
before...

and then after wiring...

Wow John, this is spectacular. One of my favorite trees that I've seen on BNut. Great job!

 

[MACH5]

2004 and 2013:
View attachment 41188 View attachment 41189

I went back and I had to give this tree another nod. From the incredible humble beginnings, Brian is turning this maple into a work of art only to keep getting better with time! As a maple lover, I must say my hat is off to you!

 

[sam]

2000 year old juniper at mansei-en

collected shimpaku from hokkaido in saburo kato's garden. purportedly 2000 years old. this tree was recently featured in Bonsai Focus, being styled by masahiko kimura for the first time.

best wishes, sam

 

[jkd2572]

collected shimpaku from hokkaido in saburo kato's garden. purportedly 2000 years old. this tree was recently featured in Bonsai Focus, being styled by masahiko kimura for the first time.

best wishes, sam

View attachment 41411

Do you have a before pic? This is kind of about that.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Do you have a before pic? This is kind of about that.

Before, around 1990 after root grafting and shoot grafting to bring foliage closer to the trunk:

 

[cascade]

Procumbens nana:

Before



After



Best,
Dorothy

 

[Dav4]

Collected Rocky Mountain Juniper. First pic as purchased, second pic after first styling, third pic from this year (5 years later).

 

[amkhalid]

A black pine I worked on during my vacation at Aichi-en in Dec 2011. One of the coolest learning experiences I've had. First, I worked all day mading the best I could of the tree. Then after dinner Peter Tea came in and made his improvements, and finally the nursery owner Mr. Tanaka came in and made the final adjustments.

I would say Peter's design looked the fullest and most finished, but Mr. Tanaka made the important decision of pruning to simplify the branch structure, sacrificing the current appearance in favour of a long-term improvement to the tree's structure. Something we can all learn from.

Before

After my attempt

Enter Peter

Peter's stunning improvements

Enter the Boss

Final product

 

[fore]

Wow John, this is spectacular. One of my favorite trees that I've seen on BNut. Great job!

I agree, simply stunning John! Is the entire trunk a jbp stock and only the branches have been grafted on?

 

[fore]

Collected Rocky Mountain Juniper. First pic as purchased, second pic after first styling, second pic from this year (5 years later).

Great job Dave slimming down the deadwood, a more feminine and fluid looking tree now.

 

[MACH5]

Collected Rocky Mountain Juniper. First pic as purchased, second pic after first styling, second pic from this year (5 years later).

Great styling work Dave! I like how you changed the planting angle so radically. In the third pic, are you looking at a new front and do you intend to keep it as full?

 

[MACH5]

A black pine I worked on during my vacation at Aichi-en in Dec 2011. One of the coolest learning experiences I've had. First, I worked all day mading the best I could of the tree. Then after dinner Peter Tea came in and made his improvements, and finally the nursery owner Mr. Tanaka came in and made the final adjustments.

I would say Peter's design looked the fullest and most finished, but Mr. Tanaka made the important decision of pruning to simplify the branch structure, sacrificing the current appearance in favour of a long-term improvement to the tree's structure. Something we can all learn from.

Before

After my attempt

Enter Peter

Peter's stunning improvements

Enter the Boss

Final product

Great progression amkhalid! That is one of the toughest lessons to learn in bonsai. Many times is not what you have in front of you, but what you'll have in the future. Thanks for posting this!

 

[Dav4]

Great styling work Dave! I like how you changed the planting angle so radically. In the third pic, are you looking at a new front and do you intend to keep it as full?

This is one of those trees that never looks good in photos. With the new planting angle, the canopy of the cascade is at least a foot or more in front of the pot...the perspective effect makes the canopy look HUGE compared to the weight of the pot, but the difference is really much less severe. Its got about the right amount of foliage on it...just needs to be tidied up and refined a bit more.

 

[october]

A black pine I worked on during my vacation at Aichi-en in Dec 2011. One of the coolest learning experiences I've had. First, I worked all day mading the best I could of the tree. Then after dinner Peter Tea came in and made his improvements, and finally the nursery owner Mr. Tanaka came in and made the final adjustments.

I would say Peter's design looked the fullest and most finished, but Mr. Tanaka made the important decision of pruning to simplify the branch structure, sacrificing the current appearance in favour of a long-term improvement to the tree's structure. Something we can all learn from.
QUOTE]

Exquisite tree! You know, as far as pines, I find my interest is equally divided in terms of looks of the actual trees. By this I mean, I love the formatted or text book (cookie cutter look), but equally love when a tree has some sort of out of the ordinary movement or wild curve/curves. This is usually found in yamadori. You sometimes see a tree that doubles back on itself or has some serious, nature made bends in the trunk. However, the foliage is in all the right places. To me, this makes for a very interesting bonsai. This tree has that, the upper part of the tree is all twisted, yet it is still in balance and has foliage in all the right places.

Rob

 

[amkhalid]

Exquisite tree! You know, as far as pines, I find my interest is equally divided in terms of looks of the actual trees. By this I mean, I love the formatted or text book (cookie cutter look), but equally love when a tree has some sort of out of the ordinary movement or wild curve/curves. This is usually found in yamadori. You sometimes see a tree that doubles back on itself or has some serious, nature made bends in the trunk. However, the foliage is in all the right places. To me, this makes for a very interesting bonsai. This tree has that, the upper part of the tree is all twisted, yet it is still in balance with foliage in all the right places.

Rob

I agree, and we did our best to try and "frame" the insane twists in the top of this tree. Funny enough, I remember Peter saying that, although this tree was collected, the upper part of it was dead straight and young so it was bought at auction for next to nothing. The crushing compaction of the tree was done by Mr. Tanaka many years ago.

The twistiness made wiring this tree really, really difficult.

 

[Poink88]

... Mr. Tanaka made the important decision of pruning to simplify the branch structure, sacrificing the current appearance in favour of a long-term improvement to the tree's structure. Something we can all learn from.

Amen! Thanks for sharing.