A very old and brittle juniperus procumbens nana from a
run-down greenhouse that I call the 'Horticultural Holocost'. This
plant and the others purchased there in the fall of '95 were all
suffering from neglect and abuse for many years. This overgrown,
three gallon plant was overwintered, and then styled and potted in
one session in March of '96 as part of the 'Internet Bonsai
Workshop' conducted by Herb Gustafson via email. I guess you
might call this a 'windswept' styled tree. It needs alot of
refinement done to it yet, however even the smaller branches are
very brittle and resist wiring and bending. The shari on the
trunk is all natural, however from this angle it actually gives
the trunk an undesirable reverse taper. It stands about 10" high
from the pot and the current main branch was actually the smallest
of a 5 spoked wheel pattern of branches (when viewed from directly
above) that made up the original plant. Those are my 'buddies'
under the tree, just couldn't resist putting them there. |
Another juniperus procumbens nana. This one a 'semi-cascade'
style shohin. It's about 7.5 inches tall, pot included. This
was my third bonsai. It was purchased from a local nursery as a
smallish one gallon plant in fall of '94. Originally styled as a
'windswept', the little bugger got lost in the shuffle this summer
and grew wild. Using the now long and lanky main branch, it
was drastically changed and repoted to this configuration in the
early summer of '96. Next year will begin foliage refinement. |
Another fine selection from the 'holocost'. This time a more common
juniper (sorry I can't tell you anthing else, one of the tags dug
from the root ball said 'Hardy Mum' though). This is a
sort-of bugin style tree with a height of 22" above the pot.
I gave about a dozen of these plants (unstyled) away because I was
sick of looking at them. Every one of them only had foliage
(brittle as all-hell) on the top third of the trunk from being
jammed against each other for years. Initially styled and placed
into this plastic training pot in April of '96. Additional pruning
and wiring was done in fall of the same year. |
Another juniper (noticing any trends here?). This time a creeping
variety, and again from the 'holocost'. Originally in a one gallon
nursery can, I pruned it down to this and tipped it up about 90
degrees to achieve this planting angle. It's style eludes
description, however it has a 'style' all it's own. Stands about
8" from the pot. Almost all of those curves and undulations are
it's own, as you can see the wire around the trunk is much too
small to hold anything but the tip and branches. Initial styling
and potting in summer of '96, next year will see more work on
foliage pads. |
