Colorado’s Literati Piñon Pine

[Colorado]

This slender and elegant piñon pine was collected in spring 2021 by my good friend @Hartinez and myself. We collected it on Danny’s property in New Mexico near the Sandia Mountains. Well, Danny took the lead on collecting it and I tried not to screw anything up too bad

Such a fun road trip!


I put it in a wood box with pumice for 2 years. I fertilized it fairly heavily during that time and it grew very vigorously, pushing new buds all over the branching.

This spring I repotted it into this oversized bonsai container. I’d like to get it into a smaller pot eventually. In any event, it grew very vigorously again this year so this past weekend I decided to go ahead and set the initial structure on the tree. Great way to spend Saturday morning on Labor Day Weekend!

Before the work:


Initial design:


Put it back out on the bench and tweaked the branches a bit more:


I am really enjoying this preliminary design. In due time, I’d like to jin one or two of those lower branches. That part of the tree feels a bit congested right now. However, since it was repotted this spring I wanted to be very conservative with the amount of foliage reduction at this time. I only removed maybe 10% at the most.

Looking forward to working with this one more in the coming years! The piñon foliage is SO nice!


Craggy bark, too!

 

[Nybonsai12]

the trunk, the design, the foliage all very nice! Has a good looking future.

 

[Hartinez]

Looking real nice my friend! Gotta get you back down here soon as I’ve got the piñon collecting down pretty well at this point.

 

[Colorado]

the trunk, the design, the foliage all very nice! Has a good looking future.

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words!

 

[Colorado]

Looking real nice my friend! Gotta get you back down here soon as I’ve got the piñon collecting down pretty well at this point.

Spring 2024?!

 

[Hartinez]

Spring 2024?!

Plan on it!

 

[Colorado]

Here’s a pic from the other morning. We had a light and warm(ish) snow shower come through. I’ve been protecting this tree in the garage when it gets below 25F, in an abundance of caution. I’ve heard many local club members claim that piñon are not fully winter hardy here in a container, but I am skeptical. In any event I don’t really feel like rolling the dice with this one and plus it’s not too heavy

 

[Hartinez]

Here’s a pic from the other morning. We had a light and warm(ish) snow shower come through. I’ve been protecting this tree in the garage when it gets below 25F, in an abundance of caution. I’ve heard many local club members claim that piñon are not fully winter hardy here in a container, but I am skeptical. In any event I don’t really feel like rolling the dice with this one and plus it’s not too heavy

View attachment 519959

Bollocks. Not cold hardy in a pot sounds like pure conjecture

 

[Colorado]

Bollocks. Not cold hardy in a pot sounds like pure conjecture

Haha, yes you and I have discussed this! I had a little nursery stock pinion for about 3 years before I sold it and I left that one outside all year and it never seemed to skip a beat.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

Here’s a pic from the other morning. We had a light and warm(ish) snow shower come through. I’ve been protecting this tree in the garage when it gets below 25F, in an abundance of caution. I’ve heard many local club members claim that piñon are not fully winter hardy here in a container, but I am skeptical. In any event I don’t really feel like rolling the dice with this one and plus it’s not too heavy

View attachment 519959

Lovely

 

[Dabbler]

I like it - If it was mine I might cut the lowest branch off

 

[Colorado]

This tree is doing great this year, pushing candles all over the tree.



I also removed the lowest branch on the left, as it was not structurally sound and making that area look a little congested. I want this tree to be more light and airy.



Branch removed


Now I’ll just let the candles harden off, and then come back later this summer and do some pruning of unnecessary shoots (3s) and some re-wiring.

 

[clem]

hello, why don't you pinch the candles ? because your pine is too weak ?

if it was mine, i'm pretty sure i would cut the branch in opposition which comes out of the interior of the curve ->


I'm not sure, but maybe doing this, to highlight the vertical jin (focal point) and to lighten the green masses on the trunk, which is very thin ->


just "my2scents" ^^

 

[Colorado]

hello, why don't you pinch the candles ? because your pine is too weak ?

if it was mine, i'm pretty sure i would cut the branch in opposition which comes out of the interior of the curve ->
View attachment 550099

I'm not sure, but maybe doing this, to highlight the vertical jin (focal point) and to lighten the green masses on the trunk, which is very thin ->
View attachment 550100

just "my2scents" ^^

Hi Clem! I always appreciate your input, you have a great eye for design.

I hadn’t thought about cutting off that branch, but I will definitely have to think about it in the future.

Right now I am not pinching the candles because the tree was just collected in 2021, and then repotted into the bonsai pot in 2023. I don’t think it is full strength yet. However, I do think that I will pinch the candles next year in 2025.

Thanks!

 

[Hartinez]

Hi Clem! I always appreciate your input, you have a great eye for design.

I hadn’t thought about cutting off that branch, but I will definitely have to think about it in the future.

Right now I am not pinching the candles because the tree was just collected in 2021, and then repotted into the bonsai pot in 2023. I don’t think it is full strength yet. However, I do think that I will pinch the candles next year in 2025.

Thanks!

I do agree with Clem on this one TJ. If literati is the plan, you got too much foliage at the moment! BUT. Before you remove any branches, I’d wait for them to thicken up a bit more, giving you a healthy jin option. Last thing you want is a puny 1/8” Jin.

 

[clem]

I'm glad you like my input @Colorado

After reflexion, i think it is also important to consider letting a "depth branch" in your project. Maybe i cut a depth branch in my virtuals, which isn't a good idea ^^

If there isn't any depth branch on your actual front, maybe turn it 180° to have a new front with branches that create depth. For example, the 1rst branch of your actual front goes forward, if you turn your tree 180°, this branche will become a back/depth branch. It is a choice that we often see in Japanese trees because a 1rst branch that comes towards the viewer is quite "agressive" but, sometimes, we can also see Kokufu level trees with a 1rst front branch, like this one ->


Another tree, from ABE familly, with a 1rst branch that goes towards the back, to create depth ->


A last one, styled by Kimura, with a 1rst back branch ->

 

[Colorado]

Worked on this piñon over the weekend with my friend @e~b ! I wanted to give it a more airy, literati feel. I rewired the tree (for the 2nd time now), removed some of the really strong terminal tips on the strong branches, and removed a few smaller unnecessary branches and shoots. I am really happy with it!



Here is another pic from farther away which shows the scale a little more. It’s a very tall tree at about 48” from the bench to the top of the tree.



Cheers!

 

[Hartinez]

Worked on this piñon over the weekend with my friend @e~b ! I wanted to give it a more airy, literati feel. I rewired the tree (for the 2nd time now), removed some of the really strong terminal tips on the strong branches, and removed a few smaller unnecessary branches and shoots. I am really happy with it!

View attachment 567500

Here is another pic from farther away which shows the scale a little more. It’s a very tall tree at about 48” from the bench to the top of the tree.

View attachment 567501

Cheers!

Looks good bro! Needs a nanban next spring!

 

[e~b]

It was awesome to see your design come to life with this one. Managed to make it airy but keep a level of depth. Looks great!!

 

[Colorado]

Bollocks. Not cold hardy in a pot sounds like pure conjecture

Well, I am going to find out this year … We got about a foot of snow last night and it’s still coming down!