Just jumped in with my first few!

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brockw82

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Any critiques? The first is a Contorted Hinoki Cypress from garden stock - needs some filling in after cut back, but has nice roots and the foliage is interesting. The Weigela is from my yard - didn’t fit with the landscape. Third is a Cotoneaster and the first one I tried, needs to branch out.

Let me know where I should improve and thanks!
 

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Constructive where you should improve comment: Soon….you’ll learn more about good wiring methods. You did give me a good smile though.…and a bit of an eyebrow raise. Your wiring is……well……quite unique.

Welcome aboard.
 
No comprende Contorted Hinoki. Probably a Golden Mops and if Chamaecyparis, back-budding unlikely.
 
I think your first chore and trial will be tree survival.
 
Greetings, traveller! Nice to see you here, in the TinyForest! The Woody Dwarves (pa-is) would like me to dive right in to help “clear the air” and alleviate your own confusion to the reactions...

Well... wiring is a largely-intimidating procedure, and you jumped right in.. THIS is good. However.. the REASON wiring is CONSIDERED to be intimidating is that there are many things to consider when applying and many of these things are learned through experience only.. so you ARE getting experience... but there are, “Lots of ins and outs, lots of information to bounce around in the ol’ mind”.. soooo just look for some wiring instruction.. there are many great books, online articles and youtube videos pertaining to the subject.., SOAK UP AS MUCH LEARNIN’ as you can!!!! And then you can critique yourself and understand a little bit... I do admire your spirit.. and if you can be patient.. and take advice, you will do WELL. 🤓

About the shapes...

Not that they are “bad”...They are not visually offputting..there are just MANY things you’ll discover on your own journey that you will “avoid” next time... once again, I recommend reading/watching MUCH bonsai material... soak in the knowledge... listen to the wise folks here, too.

Nice trees! They look like your first trees... be proud of what they are now.. but MORESO... what you will learn from them.

Pleasure to make your acquaintance.

🤓
 
Not sure what to say about that.

One thing I do is draw out what I want things to look like in a new situation. That helps guide me in my design….

…then nature takes its course.

Cheers
DSD sends
 
Lots of nice info from the folks here already!

Way to dive in!!
One thing I could add, would be to acknowledge that straight branches will not help your design. I.e. the right branch on the cotoneaster. Looks much too thick to bend and too thick for scale. You have nice buds popping towards the trunk. Cut back to a bud emerging outwards to create movement and taper.
welcome.
 
brockw82 said:
Any critiques? The first is a Contorted Hinoki Cypress from garden stock - needs some filling in after cut back, but has nice roots and the foliage is interesting. The Weigela is from my yard - didn’t fit with the landscape. Third is a Cotoneaster and the first one I tried, needs to branch out.

Let me know where I should improve and thanks!
Click to expand...
Eckhoffw said:
Lots of nice info from the folks here already!

Way to dive in!!
One thing I could add, would be to acknowledge that straight branches will not help your design. I.e. the right branch on the cotoneaster. Looks much too thick to bend and too thick for scale. You have nice buds popping towards the trunk. Cut back to a bud emerging outwards to create movement and taper.
welcome.
Click to expand...
Thank you! I agree, its just going to look empty when I cut it. Need to become more patient and accept they don’t grow overnight.
 
@Forsoothe! Here's that contorted Hinoki. C. obtusa 'torulosa nana'. One of seven different C. obtusa cultivars I picked up from Mountain Meadows last year. All I did this spring was transplant it into a pumice mix in an Anderson flat to see how it (and the other hinokis) handled NC weather conditions. The tree has not been styled or pruned - this is what it looked like at the nursery. Full sun until about 1PM. Afternoon shade (though bright indirect light).

c-obtusa.jpg
 
The first thing to know about wiring bonsai is that wiring does not make a bonsai. It is only to change the shape of the tree so only wire when you need to bend parts to alter the shape.
Second thing for wiring is that it should be neat and unobtrusive. Your wiring will be on display for at least a couple of months and possibly a whole year. We would rather people see our tree first and maybe notice the wiring afterwards.
Bonsai growers have developed methods of wiring that are both effective and unobtrusive. It is worth learning and practicing some of the better techniques but if you don't care how it looks then whatever works is OK.

The next item is aesthetics. The idea of bonsai is to create a tree that looks really attractive and there are a number of guidelines that can help us make our trees look much better. Many of those guidelines are shared by other visual arts like photography and painting.
Generally avoid straight bits where possible.
Try to have taper in both trunks and branches.
Proportion in height, width, depth and visual weight is important.

You are already realizing that bonsai is one art form that takes time because we work with living material and must fit in with their natural cycles. Don't try to rush the trees to 'finished' bonsai. Use the time to learn and observe. Also try not to be put off when the first efforts don't turn out quite as well as you had imagined. Practice will gradually improve the results.
 
Glad to see you here. Make sure you don't take any of the comments too seriously. Most people are trying to help.

Your cypress is kind of styled as "twin trunk". Most twin trunk trees have the second trunk towards the bottom so you have a pretty high spilt. I would take one of those trunks and move it to a right angle and have that be your first branch. You can always shorten it later.
The tree is also fairly straight. Another thing you could do is to wire it for more motion through the trunk. Convention says that branches should be on the outside of bends.
I found that using actual bonsai wire makes a ton of difference. Way easier to bend and work with than conventional wire.
Good luck!
 
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