From Semi to Full Cascade with a Cork Bark Japanese Black Pine

[GrimLore]

Here is how it looks today.

WoW! It also appears to defy gravity! How in the world does it stay on the stand?

Grimmy

 

[fredtruck]

The tree, by itself, doesn't weigh very much. The cascade pot is heavy, and with wet inorganic soil, the pot & soil combination maybe weighs 5 times as much as the tree. The pot is 12" square and 6.5" deep. Remember the tree is about 3 feet wide. The pot and tree together probably weigh close to 30 lbs., maybe more, but most of the weight is in the container.

So, it's planted! (Pun intended.)

The stand is made out of hard maple and is very strong, and not very light.

 

[fredtruck]

Finding the right stand for a large cascade pine has been a concern of mine for the last couple of years. Here is the one I'm working with right now.

 

[fredtruck]

I considered the picture above for a long time and concluded that the stand used wasn't the right one. Even though in the past I have not liked very tall stands for cascade bonsai, I felt that this particular stand worked well for my tree. The Ondae is about 3 feet wide.

 

[0soyoung]

I considered the picture above for a long time and concluded that the stand used wasn't the right one. Even though in the past I have not liked very tall stands for cascade bonsai, I felt that this particular stand worked well for my tree. The Ondae is about 3 feet wide.

View attachment 200872

Yes! Much better.
Stand not much wider than the pot seems to always be best with cascades. It also seems to me that the less 'cascady', the wider the stand (i.e., widest stand and pot goes with upright, 'as a rule').

 

[queenofsheba52]

Definitely like your newer stand choice.

Thanks taking us along on your journey!

 

[fredtruck]

Here's the latest iteration of the Cascade Ondae. Needles have grown out, but a little more than I like.,

 

[AlainK]

That's a great journey, Fredtruck.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[fredtruck]

This is a picture of the branching on part of my cork bark Japanese Black pine ‘Ondae’. The Ondae corks up extremely fast which means that the “tree structure” inside the cork, is not heavy-duty, or very strong. One result of this is that the Ondae doesn’t mind growing down, as in the full cascade style.Another result is that this tree can be wired with a lot of care. You can see here I wrap the wire loosely, but it must be anchored well because there are what I’d call “fulcrum points” where the wire must be a little tighter to work as support for bending.My Ondae was 9 when I bought it in 2009. It’s now 18 years old. The cork development is considerable, even at 18.

 

[fredtruck]

Here’s the Ondae Cascade, making its annual appearance. If you check the full-frame picture above from 2018, the needles are a bit shorter. Still a little too long.

 

[AlainK]

Still a little too long.

But a very nice tree anyway, I like it a lot.

 

[fredtruck]

For me, the main reason to do a cork bark Japanese black pine is for the bark itself. That is what sets the tree apart. With the cascade form, and the rather rigid requirement that the tree be photographed from the side, or perhaps a 3/4 view from the front, much of the advantage of the bark is lost because you can't see it. For that reason, I've started photographing the Ondae cascade from wherever I can to see the bark, like this picture:



This picture is a stereogram, because when you see it in 3D, the bark has real presence because of the depth.

 

[fredtruck]

When I describe cork bark Japanese black pine bonsai to friends and others who are interested, I usually tell them that the most important thing about these trees is the cork. In order to really see the cork, the artist has to make significant decisions about the main camouflaging element on the tree, the needles.

Usually, with most examples that is enough to make an interesting display. With the cascade format, this is also true because the most powerful corking happens on the trunk of the tree.

There is an exception. The Ondae cultivar of pinus thunbergii corticosa also features very heavy corking on the branches. With the cascade form, when the trunk swoops down at least on my tree, most of the corking is hidden because most of the branches are hidden by other branches due to the way cascade bonsai are usually designed. Cascade bonsai are set up to be viewed from the right or left side, in profile.

In the picture I’m showing here, the view is from the top elevation, somewhat to the side. Here you get a good view of all the main branches. Even in this picture, the view is compressed. To successfully untangle the branches, 3D is needed.

You can experience good 3D by downloading this stereogram to your smartphone. Then, pop your smartphone into one of many stereogram viewing systems available today. I suggest Google’s Cardboard, which is extremely cheap and renders a good 3D image. Try it.

 

[fredtruck]

One lesson I keep learning repeatedly is that thinning the needles makes the cork on the Ondae cascade more visible. A moving point of view is also very helpful. I know that enthusiasts with a classic point of view will take issue with this, because they design trees with a fixed point perspective viewing position. But, then, my Ondae cascade is not a classic tree.
This point of view is close to the classic profile view of most cascade bonsai. The whole point of this series is to make the cork visible, which is the point of doing bonsai with cork bark Japanese black pines. Notice how a 15 to 20 degree rotation gives the Ondae a new look:


Almost all the cork is hidden in a traditional profile view. This series of pictures was generated by my experience looking at bonsai in actual bonsai shows. I almost never was able to view a tree from its designed perspective point.


Finally, this view of the Ondae has the best view of the cork, in my opinion.

If you are thinking about doing a cork bark Japanese black pine as a bonsai, remember that you don't have to cover up everything with the needles. Reveal the structure and the cork by thinning is a good way to go.

 

[0soyoung]

I think you are right about sparse foliage being a good thing. I just think there is too much of it. My eye is drawn to one tuft and then the next and the next and the next and .... I"m not really looking at the cork which I think we agree should be the point. Were it mine, I would explore removing much of it. Say remove everything but the very lowest branches as then the long corky trunk is emphasized visually, IMHO. Then I think the design takes one from those roots atop the pot, over the edge and down along that long corky trunk to a few branches holding bits of foliage. That seems dramatic to me, but it is also a big scary move. I would need to do a lot of plan, think, plan, think before I even got out my pruners.

Anyway, @fredtruck, I continue to this tree.

 

[Cadillactaste]

This is truly a stunning tree! That bark... but you've also done an amazing job with the ramification. Well done.

 

[fredtruck]

I’m showing the Ondae Cascade in this picture from a head-on point of view. In the bonsai world, this is not all that unusual, but in published images, the head-on view is in a distinct minority, in terms of numbers.

Why did I do this?

I did it because even though there is more obstructing foliage in this view than in the classic profile, you can still see a lot of the cork that I maintain is the point of doing a bonsai cork bark Japanese black pine.

Also, the branch structure on my tree is not conventional. The typical cascade branch structure has a single cascading arm. The Ondae has two descending arms. This fact alone shows a more flexible approach to the design and execution of trees than usually taken.

 

[0soyoung]

Interesting idea, Fred.

There's sort of a circle thing going on around the trunk that tends to focus attention on it.
It makes me want to see more of the trunk, though. But the feeling that less foliage would be better is gone in the view.

 

[fredtruck]

Interesting idea, Fred.

There's sort of a circle thing going on around the trunk that tends to focus attention on it.
It makes me want to see more of the trunk, though. But the feeling that less foliage would be better is gone in the view.

This tree, a cork bark Japanese black pine ‘Ondae’, was due for a repot. It had been at least 5 years since the original potting, so early one March morning, I began.

This is what the Ondae looked like before the transplant:

Notice the steep angle of descent the cascading arm had.

I had already chosen a new pot, which was a little deeper, but much wider than the old pot.

Somehow, in the new pot, the Ondae had lost its steep cascade. It didn’t take long to understand how this happened. In the old pot, over the years, the roots had gradually pushed the trunk higher and higher, and the angle of cascade became more and more drastic. In the new pot, a more “normal” angle of cascade was assumed.

The new angle presents some problems of clarity. Even though the cascade still goes below the bottom of the pot, the tree looks more like a semi-cascade, which is how the Ondae began its life as a bonsai. I also prefer the ratio of the size of the pot to the size of the tree in the first planting. I may plant it that way again, if the right pot appears. Time will tell.

 

[Lumaca]

Honest question: are the pictures supposed to be viewed with 3d glasses?