Welcome Home… Now Get to Work!

Kishu Shimpaku grafted on Sierra Juniper

It’s great to be home!  Though once I got home, there wasn’t much time for a vacation and I got right to work.  Combination of work and rebuilding the Bonsai business has kept me very busy and I know that many of you have been itching for a new post.  Sorry for such the long delay and thank you for your patience!  Now that things are starting to come together and I’m figuring out my schedule, I’m able to get in front of my nice new computer and get the posts rolling again.

First off, how do you like the new look of the website???  I decided to go with something more simple and clean to start off my professional bonsai career.  I moved the links into its own page which you can select in the menu bar above.  I have also updated my, “About Me,” page  and will expand on the, “Services,” page with cost and specific information about the services.  That will be coming soon.  Other than that, everything on the site is pretty much the same and easy to view and navigate as before.

So some of you are wondering what the picture of the shimpaku above is all about.  Well, let me tell you the story, because it all started before I even left for Japan.  Lets begin three days before the above photo was taken…

Before (October 3, 2010)

Sorry for the poor photo quality.  It’s actually a picture of a picture since I couldn’t find the digital copy.  Anyways, here is a photo of the tree before I worked on it back in 2010.  This is a Sierra Juniper trunk with Kishu Shimpaku foliage grafted on.  The grafts were done by Boon Manakitivipart over 15 years ago at about the time he came back from his apprenticeship in Japan.  He had purchased this tree at the first GSBF Lake Merritt auction.  The seller was Maz Imazuma, one of Boon’s earliest Bonsai teachers.

After the grafts took and were allow to grow, Boon went through the tree and bent the main branches down and left everything else to grow.  Fast forward to 2010 and I find this tree in front of me needing to be cut and wired.

At the time, I was getting ready for my apprenticeship to Japan and Boon suggested that this tree would be good practice before I leave.  This is one of the biggest trees I’ve ever wired at the time and I was excited!  After about three days of wiring, I was tired but satisfied.

After (October 5, 2010)

It was a grueling three days but I finished the job.  This was the tree’s second ever styling.  The tree still has a way to go but it’s a good start and I was looking forward to seeing the future development.  At the time, I have never spend so much time wiring a single tree.  I think I wired almost every branch!  After wiring, I felt such a connection to the tree that I asked Boon if he would be willing to sell it.  He laughed and said, “really?…  okay, ask me again when you’re done with your apprenticeship.”  We both laughed and the tree went back on the bench in his garden.

2013…

Now it’s 2013 and I’m back from Japan.  Time to revisit the tree!

2013

The tree was re-potted in 2011 and I Boon had thinned it and removed some branches.  It’s mainly been allow to fill in more and some new branches have been developed.  Since the tree was still at Boon’s house when I came home, it is now the newest addition to my collection.  ;-)  This tree is 44 inches (111cm) tall including the pot!  The tree itself is 37 inches (94cm) tall.

Juniper Work in Summer

Now that the tree is relaxing at my house, I decided to do some work on it.  Summer is a good time to go through the tree and remove old discarded foliage and some pruning.  Wiring can be done at this time too but I’ve decided to let the tree grow the rest of the year and then wire it in the Winter.  Lets look at the details of this tree before we get to work.

Here is the tree’s right
Here is the tree’s back
Here is the tree’s left.
Here is a close up of the deadwood at the base of the tree.
Here’s the upper part of the trunk.  In the past, some of the bulk wood was removed and there are tool marks still present.  I’ll have to go through the tree and clean those marks up in the future.  Lots of work to do!
Here is a close up of the nice green Kishu Juniper foliage.  I like this foliage for its dark green color and density.  It’s easy to work on a tree when it’s growing well.  :-)
Just a peak of the underside.  Lots of branches huh?  Oh there’ll be more in the future!
Here is a shot of the old grafts.  Other then the bump at the graft points, we can’t really tell it was grafted anymore.  There is a new technique being used now that doesn’t create the bump.  We’ll talk about that in a future post.  ;-)
Because the branch structure is still looks young, there will be some shorting of the terminal ends and continued development of the side branches.

A Question About the Front

One of the things I was thinking of doing to the tree in the future design is to tilt the tree to the left.  No firm decisions have been made yet but I feel that the balance of the trunk to foliage mass would work better, though much of the foliage has a way to go.  What’s more interesting is the two following pictures below.

So I also thought about rotating the front of the tree to the left and using this as the front instead.  Doesn’t the trunk look so much bigger?

Of course, then on the other side, the trunk looks so much skinnier.  Which do you prefer?  Thick or thin?  This looks like the original front back in 2010.

Lets Take Care of Business

This Shimpaku is female so there are some berries on the foliage.  As I went through the tree, I made it a point a remove them.  Trees will spend a tremendous amount of food to grow fruit so removing them will help redirect the food to the foliage instead.
I then went through the tree starting at the top and removed some of the old foliage.  Here is a small branch before I cleaned it up.
Here is the same branch after I cleaned it up.  This will help extend the terminal end of the branch and allow more light into the interior and lower areas of the tree.  This is a technique I can use to help promote faster tip growth.  I used a small pair of scissor to do this.
I also went through the tree looking for areas that had too many branches growing from the same point.  As you can see in the photo, there are three branches growing from one area.
I went ahead and removed the center branch.  Now there is plenty of room for the remaining branches to grow and this helps create a much cleaner looking branch structure.
Here’s an example of one foliage pad before I cleaned it.  Can’t see to much of my hand underneath all that.
Here’s what it looks like after I cleaned it.  Now you can see more of my hand!  Note that I didn’t cut any of the terminal ends because I wanted more extension of the tips.  If I were to cut the tree back and the terminal ends, this pad would be even more open.
Well there you have it.  After about 3 hours standing on a crate and cutting, this is what the tree looks like.  Now that more light can get into tree and the old foliage isn’t slowing down the growth tips, I expect more growth during the rest of the Summer and Fall.  Next year, the foliage mass will be just as dense again but larger overall.
Here’s the before photo again so that you can compare before and after.  The change is subtle.

The next time I work on this tree will be this coming winter.  In the mean time, I’m going to feed the tree well and allow it all to grow.  I’m also going to look for a large pot for this tree (not easy).  Stay tuned for that!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Thank you everyone for following the blog and welcoming me back home!  It’s great being home and I’ve worked with so many great people already!  Thanks for reading and I’ll keep the post coming.

To Great Bonsai and Having Fun!!!

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