I wonder why Thuja gets a bad rap....

[fourteener]

Thuja will always get a bad rap until the powers that be appreciate them for what you can do with them instead of comparing them to a tight fisted juniper. The foliage is a pain to deal with, that's the other aggravation. It's labor intensive to keep them in check. That being said they are twisted gnarly and very old and some real specimens can be found. The larger the tree, the easier it is to deal with the foliage. Here's a few of mine I've collected...



Tired spring foliage









There's a couple here in my shohin display. I'm wondering if treating them like a maple that you repot every year might be something to consider. They are prolific rooters, maybe knocking them back every year to contain their aggression would be helpful. I might try that on a smaller one and see what the impact is.

 

[Stormwater]

Thuja will always get a bad rap until the powers that be appreciate them for what you can do with them instead of comparing them to a tight fisted juniper. The foliage is a pain to deal with, that's the other aggravation. It's labor intensive to keep them in check. That being said they are twisted gnarly and very old and some real specimens can be found. The larger the tree, the easier it is to deal with the foliage. Here's a few of mine I've collected...


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Tired spring foliage

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There's a couple here in my shohin display. I'm wondering if treating them like a maple that you repot every year might be something to consider. They are prolific rooters, maybe knocking them back every year to contain their aggression would be helpful. I might try that on a smaller one and see what the impact is.

nice display, curious how many hours of direct sun does this get?

 

[fourteener]

Almost all day. The small trees face south. I have no trees around my fenced in area that offer any shade. I live in a cool climate and can get away with pure sun all day.

 

[Stormwater]

Almost all day. The small trees face south. I have no trees around my fenced in area that offer any shade. I live in a cool climate and can get away with pure sun all day.

Thanks. Cool area. Passed there on my way to the boundary waters (well before my bonsai days). Must be some wicked yamadori that way.

 

[fourteener]

Thanks. Cool area. Passed there on my way to the boundary waters (well before my bonsai days). Must be some wicked yamadori that way.

It's hard to find pines, that's my favorite. But there are a lot of mangled Thuja as well as White Spruce and Tamarack to be found! The Boundary Waters is a special place!!

 

[Cosmos]

Thuja will always get a bad rap until the powers that be appreciate them for what you can do with them instead of comparing them to a tight fisted juniper. The foliage is a pain to deal with, that's the other aggravation. It's labor intensive to keep them in check. That being said they are twisted gnarly and very old and some real specimens can be found. The larger the tree, the easier it is to deal with the foliage. Here's a few of mine I've collected...



Tired spring foliage



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There's a couple here in my shohin display. I'm wondering if treating them like a maple that you repot every year might be something to consider. They are prolific rooters, maybe knocking them back every year to contain their aggression would be helpful. I might try that on a smaller one and see what the impact is.

These two are amazing. Especially the dancing one.

I feel like the template on your first one is something that can be replicated with nursery stock, on a slightly smaller scale perhaps, given they rarely have trunks wider than 2-3 inches. How wide is the deadwood trunk at the base?

 

[Vance Wood]

The Thuja as a species are very difficult to control. You have to do things to the Thuja that are unique to the species and then the tree does not alway respond the way you want and or expect.

 

[Cosmos]

The Thuja as a species are very difficult to control. You have to do things to the Thuja that are unique to the species and then the tree does not alway respond the way you want and or expect.

What are some good (free) resources about pruning and maintenance?

 

[fourteener]

What are some good (free) resources about pruning and maintenance?

I’ll tell you what I do...

1. The cord foliage that likes to grow up needs to be pruned back hard. Those extensions ruin everything.
2. The growth that extends in triangular form, I always pluck it to look like the half circle of an Hinoki.
3. Eliminate any frond growing up or down, work with the foliage that grows horizontal.

That’s what I do.

 

[Cosmos]

It's been growing for 7 years, and had gotten to about 6 and a half feet tall. I cut it down to roughly four feet in late May (Terrible timing, I know now but didn't then). Along with trunk chopping I would say I got rid of about 70 percent of it's growth.

Question for everybody: what would be the best time to do significant reduction to the main trunks of a hedge-type Thuya from a nursery?

 

[Josh Barg]

Styled mine today. The design looked a lot better in my head, it kind of turned out like a big E. What are your thoughts if I were to remove the two lower branches?

 

[0soyoung]

meh.

It all emphasizes an arrow straight trunk - just not interesting. Two ways to deal with this is to position foliage across it, in front. Then one sees some trunk, oooh some foliage, some tr unk, and then the apex. The second is to carve and hollow out the trunk like it was an old, old tree.

The other thing is that straight horizontal branches just don't work. They would go downward and then out if it were an old tree.. The last pic/virt could be interesting, but what looks possibly interesting to me is that apical branch Is there some reason why you are hiding it behind that (presently) boring trunk? How about the back being the front?

 

[Josh Barg]

meh.

It all emphasizes an arrow straight trunk - just not interesting. Two ways to deal with this is to position foliage across it, in front. Then one sees some trunk, oooh some foliage, some tr unk, and then the apex. The second is to carve and hollow out the trunk like it was an old, old tree.

The other thing is that straight horizontal branches just don't work. They would go downward and then out if it were an old tree.. The last pic/virt could be interesting, but what looks possibly interesting to me is that apical branch Is there some reason why you are hiding it behind that (presently) boring trunk? How about the back being the front?

Thanks for your input. I chose this as the front because to me it worked best with the lower branches. If I remove them I think I wold play with the idea of another front. The top branch that creates the apex does have the most character which I would try and emphasize a bit more since the trunk is so boring. I do like the idea of hollowing it out as well.

 

[Shoshin Mundo]

If anyone has any White Cedar post em up...

Also, I just noticed that Ryan Neils Live stream is on Thuja in 2 or 3 weeks. I will have to watch that 1 or 6 times.

Here is perhaps my favorite tree in my collection.... a Thuja that I collected in spring 2016. The after picture was a couple of weeks ago since then I have started working the foliage more.View attachment 158242 View attachment 158243

Stunning find. You've done some lovely work to that tree. I've just picked up my first Thuja and I'm looking forward to working on it. Just waiting for a dry day here in the UK...!

 

[f1pt4]

These are some Thuja's from some of our club shows. You may have seen some of them at the US Nationals in the past as well.

I'll only post 10. There's more. You can find them by searching this forum for our show photos.

The last one was donated last year by the owner, to the Montreal Botanical Gardens and was restyled masterfully by I believe Eric Auger. I do not have a photo of it, but I saw it and it looks incredibly powerful.

 

[f1pt4]

Here's one I collected in fall 2018. Photos from fall 2019. Going to get initial styling this year at some point. Photos aren't great. They were taken right before being put away for the winter. Looking forward to this one waking up.

@mattspiniken you can't be the only one with a tusk!

 

[Wilson]

These are some Thuja's from some of our club shows. You may have seen some of them at the US Nationals in the past as well.

I'll only post 10. There's more. You can find them by searching this forum for our show photos.

The last one was donated last year by the owner, to the Montreal Botanical Gardens and was restyled masterfully by I believe Eric Auger. I do not have a photo of it, but I saw it and it looks incredibly powerful.


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I remeber seeing the last cascading tree at one of the Toronto shows, super impressive tree!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Thuja occidentalis 'Hetzi's Dwarf' - this is nursery stock, note that for nursery stock has good taper. 'Hetzi's Dwarf' seems to want to spread wide, rather than up. Bought from nursery going out of business for $35. It probably had been in the nursery pot for over 10 years.

as purchased 2016


First styling 2017 in Anderson flat


Letting it grow and settle in June 2019


NOt sure what "style" I will do with this. Natural form for these when growing in lower Michigan, deep sandy soils, is a "candelabra". This to some degree has that going on. I'm mainly going to try to bring the foliage in. But to get the back budding I need, I'm letting it get full, and vigorous.

 

[MACH5]

Here are a couple of mine. The second one down will be styled this spring. I also have a bunch of small collected ones that I planning to do a rock planting with. I am hoping this spring.

 

[River's Edge]

I love them, I'd be at a loss as to maintaining the foliage though. I'd love to collect one but they all grow north of me, that leaves me with lowes stock. I'm sure I could turn a lowes landscape thuja into something .. okay-ish. But I have zero experience with these trees. Treat the growth tips like juniper?

Foliage development is similar to Hinoki cypress. Great article outlining some Bonsai practitioners approach in the ABS magazine Volume 53 Number 2
for those who are interested in the latest techniques and discussions.