Japanese Holly shohin.

[edprocoat]

This is my japanese Holly shohin, all trimmed, wired and ready for spring. It was more of a round ball canopy but it had great branching hidden so I cut off a major branch on the front side to open it up to show of the trunk, which was a hard decision for me as it was about 1/3 rd the foliage.


Lil' Holly by edsnapshot, on Flickr

I like it as it is, but I am open to ideas. I wish I had gotten the dark rust colored pot, I think it would have went better with the tree, but I thought the cream one would have went better at the time!

ed

 

[edprocoat]

Oh Man !! This is actually a Ilex Schilling holly! I don't even know if there is such a thing as a Japanese holly, I was thinking about a japanese boxwood I seen when I wrote this thread late last night and twice wrote it as a japanese holly, the old brain cells are dwindling each day. I wish I knew how to change the title before somebody slams me with " thats not a japanese holly you idiot!"

ed

 

[october]

Hi Ed,
Aside from letting the tree rest for a while. There are a couple of things you might need to do from a horticultural standpoint. The apex consists of many branches that are pretty thick. In time, leaving this many branches at the top will gradually create a reverse taper. This is due to too many branches in one area that the tree will be sending it's energy to. You may notice that the area right underneath the apex will be getting thicker and thicker. I would keep maybe 2 of the younger, thinner apex branches that have some small branches coming off them and cut the rest off. If you have a choice, you always want to pick the younger, thinner and healthier branches in situations like this. The reason is because in time, the thick branches will only get thicker. If they are already too thick, as the years go on, they will become out of scale with the rest of the tree and ruin the imagine.

It is all about balance throughout the tree. Trunks should be thickest at the bottom and thinner at the top. Branches should eminate from the trunk being thicker and then taper to the ends. Side branches as they go up the tree should become thinner.

As far as styling. You may want to make the branches more horizontal.

I hope this was helpful,
Rob