Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
After watching Ryan Neil work on a Utah juniper for three hours last night, I decided to get motivated and do the first styling on one of my collected California junipers that I have been staring at for five years. This is personally my largest tree, because it hits the upper limit of "I can lift it by myself" just barely.
I collected this particular tree out of the desert a couple of hours east of where I live. I initially had it in a galvanized washtub, but eventually moved it into this large bonsai pot. (Note the garbage can lid it is sitting on for scale). I kept babying it in the hopes that it would get stronger, but as it grew stronger it also grew tall and lanky.
It initially had three live veins, but over the years the two smaller ones in the front of the tree weakened and died. So I knew that in order to style this tree I was going to have to bring the trunk down - WAY down - so that it followed the dominant line of deadwood to the left.
So this morning, after all this time, I got the tree set up and started testing the trunk to see how easily it would bend. I had my raffia soaking and was ready for some wrapping... when I realized that I was going to be able to bend the trunk without wrapping it; one of the potential benefits of letting it growth long.
So three hours later here I am:
The height of the tree is now approximately half of what it was when I started.
I tried not to remove ANY foliage in this first styling, and left the branches extra long (which is why there is so much foliage mixed in with the deadwood on the left of the design - it is actually two large branches). My hopes are the branches and trunk, now that they are exposed to direct sunlight, will bud back and ramify. Everything needs to tighten up. I also have a lot of deadwood work ahead of me - cleanup and just a little bit of reduction.
I collected this particular tree out of the desert a couple of hours east of where I live. I initially had it in a galvanized washtub, but eventually moved it into this large bonsai pot. (Note the garbage can lid it is sitting on for scale). I kept babying it in the hopes that it would get stronger, but as it grew stronger it also grew tall and lanky.
It initially had three live veins, but over the years the two smaller ones in the front of the tree weakened and died. So I knew that in order to style this tree I was going to have to bring the trunk down - WAY down - so that it followed the dominant line of deadwood to the left.
So this morning, after all this time, I got the tree set up and started testing the trunk to see how easily it would bend. I had my raffia soaking and was ready for some wrapping... when I realized that I was going to be able to bend the trunk without wrapping it; one of the potential benefits of letting it growth long.
So three hours later here I am:
The height of the tree is now approximately half of what it was when I started.
I tried not to remove ANY foliage in this first styling, and left the branches extra long (which is why there is so much foliage mixed in with the deadwood on the left of the design - it is actually two large branches). My hopes are the branches and trunk, now that they are exposed to direct sunlight, will bud back and ramify. Everything needs to tighten up. I also have a lot of deadwood work ahead of me - cleanup and just a little bit of reduction.
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