Olive Bonsai - Shakan Style

[Dorian Fourie]

I have a friend who emigrated to New Zealand from South Africa in Nov 19. He asked me to take over his bonsai collection and one of the trees was this olive yamadori that he had dug out in the Eastern Cape. I wasn't too sure on which direction I would take it as the lower branch was really thick and I was trying to think of a way that I would be able to incorporate it into a design.




Even though the trunk is very thick at the bottom, if you look at it from the side it is very narrow so that has to be taken into consideration when deciding on the final style.



I decided to leave it till the following Spring before I would look at what style I will convert it too.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Lockdown happened due to COVID and we were only allowed to restart our bonsai meeting at the end of September. I decided to take this olive with to the meeting to get some more options on what style would work and then to do some initial styling on it. It had grown strong and healthy over the previous year so I was very happy that I could eventually move in a direction.

At the meeting, I asked a few of my trusted bonsai friends on their thoughts on how to proceed.


We looked at doing a very large and tall literati but decided against that as we felt that it was just too big to really get the proper literati feel. We thought about an informal upright but again after positioning the bonsai in numerous positions, it just didn't feel right. Then one of the other members walked past and mentioned that he had seen a Shakan Style Bonsai and looking at the movement of the trunk, it could work. I moved the tree around and after a few discussions between us, we agreed that it will definitely be the right style for this tree. I cleaned up the roots and repotted the tree into the desired position.


We had decided that it is best to shorten the lowest branch and then work it down into a Jin. Because it was so thick we had to get the chainsaw out and cut it back down to size.


After that stump was removed, we were happy with the progress we had made so far

 

[Dorian Fourie]

We got stuck into cleaning up the unwanted branches and wiring the ones left into place



After the meeting it was carefully brought back home because due to the size, it had to lie sideways in the back of the car. I had to make sure that it hadn't shifted around in the pot and I gave it a good water to ensure that all the soil had settled properly around the roots.



The following day, I moved it into my garden and onto my bonsai benches. Now to let it grow and develop.

 

[John P.]

Wish I could find a wild form olea with those little leaves here in the States.

 

[Soup Dragon]

Wish I could find a wild form olea with those little leaves here in the States.

You could plant an olive seed, but it's a loooong wait.

 

[leatherback]

Good call removing the big branch!

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Wish I could find a wild form olea with those little leaves here in the States.

You might not have the olives but you have a great variety of species that I would love to get me hands on. We are lucky to have quite a few regions here in SA where you can get great olive yamadori.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

You could plant an olive seed, but it's a loooong wait.

Absolutely. I think I would be long dead and buried before it is even 1/3 of the size of this. We believe that this is well over 100 years as the bottom branch we cut off had over 70 rings on them.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Good call removing the big branch!

Agree. Now I will work it down to a Jin. I am very inexperienced in this but I have a few friends that will assist on this. It will fit in nicely if the carving is done properly

 

[John P.]

You could plant an olive seed, but it's a loooong wait.

Gotta love Brent at Evergreengardenworks coming through with the wild form olive!



Next to a longer-leaved cultivar:

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Gotta love Brent at Evergreengardenworks coming through with the wild form olive!

View attachment 335145
View attachment 335146
Next to a longer-leaved cultivar:
View attachment 335147

Nice. Good small leaves.

Now plant it in the ground and leave it. It is going to take many years.