Starting a Shohin Common Juniper from Scratch

In April 2013, an old friend in my village who heard I had a passion for small trees gave me this tiny common juniper seedling, which he had collected while walking in the hills. It was bare rooted, when he gave it to me and I wasn’t sure that it would survive but I potted it into a 4 inch pot in a mixture of akadama and moler clay and watered it every day

To my surprise, not only did it survive but it thrived and by 2016 it was beginning to look like a solid little tree. The next picture shows how it looked at that time in a 6 inch clay pot.

In the spring of 2016, the root system had filled the pot in the previous picture, so it was potted up again into a larger one.

It continued to grow strongly and by 2018 it was ready for some work. With a plan begining to form in my head I cut back the lower branches and wired some movement into the main trunk. The next picture shows how it looked after this work.

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to put the plan into action and start this little tree off on the road to becoming a future shohin bonsai. The foliage and bark was striped from the upper part of the trunk and the newly formed deadwood was wired to hold it in its final position until the wood dries out.

The remaining foliage was thined and wired and a few weeks later the roots were cut back to fit it into a suitable shohin sized pot. This is how the tree looks at the moment. It will need a lot of care and attention in the coming weeks to ensure the remaining roots don’t dry out.

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Spring is here at last

After last years long cold winter, which went on until May in the hills of southern Scotland, immediately followed by the hottest summer on record; far from ideal growing conditions for small trees in small pots. I’m pleased to

say that this year spring has returned when it should do, and even though it can still be very cold at night, most of my trees are beginning to awake from their winter sleep. The tougher species are all outside now in the display area and on the benches but most of the shohin trees are still inside the greenhouse.

Many of you will have noticed that I haven’t posted on the blog for a while. There are a number of reasons for this but the main one is that with advancing years I am not as able as I was to spend  long days outside, working on trees in the winter chill and yes I could do it inside but I have always preferred to work outside in natural light.

In the past few weeks, Gerry and I have resumed our regular meetings and much has been achieved in that time. Re-potting, re-styling older material and the first styling of new material, which I’ll be posting about in the coming days

As a taster of what is to come, here is a picture of Gerry’s big Kaho Azalea. It’s been in this cheap Chinese pot since he acquired it 5 years ago. This tree is almost show ready but it really needed a better quality pot.

After years trying to find something suitable, we came across this lovely green oval by Reihou, quite recently. This is how the tree looks now in its new pot.

Here’s a reminder of how it looked when purchased, 5 years ago.

Some Trees in Development

This post is looking at progress that has been made this year on trees I have been developing during my weekly sessions with Gerry.

The first is a Blaauws Juniper That was given to me as raw material by Philip Donnelly of Belfast Bonsai in 2015. It had a lot of thick branches that grew off the main trunk at awkward angles. The first job in 2016 was to cut it back to a simple outline retaining the one branch that was suitably positioned for the future development of a bonsai. This is how it looked at that time.

Since this initial work I have been feeding the tree with high nitrogen fertiliser to promote strong growth in the foliage and I have also begun to create some jins from the branches that were removed and a shari on the main trunk. This work was done in stages over the past 12 months as the pictures will show.

In the future, I intend to reduce the apex by about half and I hope to develop the tree as a semi-cascade.

The next tree is Gerry’s large hawthorn. It has good movement and taper in the trunk but at the start of this year it had very few branches and we hadn’t decided which side would be the front. We decided to plant it in a large box to push out lots of new growth. This is how it looked at the start of the season.

This is how it looks at the moment after a full seasons growth in the box. The first picture shows what will probably be the new front

The third tree today is a literati pine which was wired for the first time in August 2015. This proved to be a mistake as the weather following the initial styling was very hot and the tree suffered losing several  branches. This is how it looked at that time.

It was rewired today having had 2 years to recover and the front is now at the opposite side

This was the original tree in 2011

 

Shohin Juniper Rigida; 3 Years Development

This shohin Juniper Rigida belongs to my friend Gerry but I have been closely involved with its development over the past 3 years. I have had difficulty maintaining the health and vigour of this species in the past but this one is quite different. It has grown with strength  right from the start and it responds well to interventions like re-potting and wiring. This is how it looked in 2014 when he acquired it.

I gave it an initial styling in 2015 and it was potted on into the larger pot you can see in the next picture to build up some energy in the roots.

As we looked at this tree we were happy with the styling but the planting angle wasn’t quite correct; it needed more of a tilt to the right. Early in 2017, the roots were trimmed and the tree was re-potted at the correct angle. This is how it looked at that time.

Today, I trimmed back the foliage and wired the tree for a second time. I also transferred it to a nice pot by Peter Krebs. This wasn’t strictly a re-pot as there was virtually no root disturbance. This is how it looks at the moment.

 

Raw Material for the Future

During Gerry’s visit last week, we potted  some of our raw material into wooden boxes to help with their development. I worked on trident maples that I acquired as a mini forest planting a few years ago. I am growing them in large shallow boxes to develop the nebari and it seems to be working well.

I plan to make a shohin tree from this one, so I may begin chopping it back this week

The nebari on this one is beginning to look nice but I would like to see it grow much bigger. This one was potted up into a wider box.

Gerry wanted to pot a nice juniper prostrate that he brought back from Noelander’s.

It was in a peaty soil, which had to be removed.

This how it looks at the moment in its new box with a slight change in the planting angle.

Its an interesting tree with future possibilities from several angles of view.

 

Shohin Hawthorn Progession

I dug this tree from my garden in 2008 and planted it in a 12 inch pot to recover. It stayed in that pot until 2012, when it was chopped back and placed in the bonsai pot you can see in the first picture.

By the early Spring  of 2015 the trunk has been chopped back further and the roots are now housed in a smaller round pot. At this stage, I still wasn’t happy with the tree and had no vision for its future development.

Later that month, with an idea beginning to emerge I chopped the tree back once again. The following picture was taken later in the year when new buds had emerged and extended

2015 after pruning and wiring the new growth. At this stage I thought this side could be the front.

This is how it looks at the moment. I’ve done a little carving on the original V cut to make it look more natural. I’ve also shortened the thicker roots, planted it in a new pot and reversed the viewing angle. I like how this tree is developing now and look forward to seeing the ramification develop in the coming years

The New Season Begins

I have been a little slow in starting the midwinter maintenance of my trees  due to a cold and wet December. This is a view of my garden on Friday after a day of snow on Thursday.

Snow isn’t that common in the lowlands of Scotland, so when it comes you have to make the most of it. I took all of my shohin hawthorns out of the cold greenhouse and placed them outside on the bench to fully expose them to the freezing conditions. Why did I do this you might ask ? I normally overwinter them inside so that I can control the moisture levels in the pots but so far they have never flowered and the trees are at least 20 years old. I have read and observed on the hillsides near my home that hawthorns flower better following a harsh winter, so this year I am trying to expose them  to as much cold as possible without freezing them to death. It will be interesting to see if this makes a difference in the flowering period this year.

Anyway, the snow has gone now and the temperatures have risen to a degree where I can begin the winter work on my larch trees in development, in some degree of comfort.

The first job is to remove the moss from the soil and clean the algae from the trunks and branches using warm water and a toothbrush. Then last years growth can be pruned back and the trees will be rewired later in the week. Here are some of the trees I am working on at the moment.

I will post more pictures, in a few days, when the wiring has been completed. All of these trees will have to be re-potted this year but it will be another month before its warm enough to do this.

Big Larch – Second Wiring

This tree was wired and styled for the first time in February 2016. Regular readers will remember that it was cut back from a larger one in 2015

An earlier post that explains why the tree was cut back and started again can be found by clicking on the link. The intention of the first wiring was to set the primary branches and to form a new apex. The next picture, which was taken after the wire was removed shows how successful this has been within a single season.

All the unnecessary growth has been pruned off to encourage finer ramification and the tree has been rewired today. This is how it looks at the moment.

Pyracantha Stump Project 2016 Update

Today, I cut back this year’s growth on my Pyracantha. After 3 seasons in this pot, it is beginning to look less like a stump and a little more like a bonsai. When it was planted in the pot at the start of 2014, it didn’t have many roots, so next Spring I will remove it to see how the roots are developing. It still has a long way to go but it is beginning to make a pleasing image. The start of this project can be found by clicking the link to this earlier post.

This is how it looked in the Spring of 2015

and this is how it looked in the Spring of 2014 just after it was carved and re-potted

Early 2014, prior to carving and re-potting

Blaauws Junipers in development

Here are a few photographs of some blaauws juniper trees, which have joined my collection recently. Blaauws is my favourite variety of scale foliage juniper. It grows extremely well in our wet climate, is relatively problem free and the foliage colour is amazing.

The first was given to me, for free, last year by my Facebook friend Philip Donnelly from Northern Ireland. Since I have had it, its’ been re-potted into a good free draining soil mix and all the long heavy branches, which were growing too straight or at awkward angles to the lower trunk  have been removed. Unfortunately, that meant the removal of all of the branches except one, the weakest one. The plan for the immediate future is to feed it profusely to build up strength in the remaining branch.

This is how it looked after the branches were chopped off in June. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture before I chopped the branches

And This is how it looks at the moment

The second tree is one that I acquired at the start of this year from a local person that had died. This tree, which I originally thought may have been a shimpaku, had been left to its own devices since the passing of its previous owner. It had become very leggy and most of the inner growth had died back.

This is how it looked when I acquired it.

This is how it looks at the moment after lots of fertiliser and a season of growth

It’s beginning to back bud well. The plan for the next few years is to continue to feed it and slowly push the growth closer to the trunk

If I can get these trees to look half as good as the next one in the next five years I will be very happy.

And finally for today, here are some cuttings, taken 3 years ago from the tree above, which are now ready for some wiring to introduce movement in the trunks.

Before wiring

After wiring.It will be interesting to see how these turn out in the coming years.