Paul Pikel has a new video that explains how to style a Podocarpus bonsai. His pal Cosmo loves to watch him work especially when he’s preparing a tree he hopes to display at the Epcot Flower and Garden Show. Podocarpus is a common shrub in Florida so maybe you’ll want to try your hand at styling one of these too.
Click on the YouTube link below to watch.
I haven’t done a Daiza carving for quite sometime, and today I felt motivated to do so. Using Rosewood I carved this little Daiza in a couple of hours. It still needs a lot of refining and a nice finish. However it really made this rock look good.
Daiza Rough Carving
Sometimes it’s hard to represent nature in a bonsai due to un-natural cuts. However with a little work you can create dramatic aging of your trees to look very natural. My Blue Alps Juniper had a lot of branches removed with the thoughts of adding jins to help with the over all look of the finished bonsai. I really enjoy the color contrast of the reddish bark, bluish foliage and the white jins.
I had removed these branches last year, so the wood was completely dried, and ready for carving. The following images represent the before and after carving. Please keep in mind that Lime Sulfur will be applied after the final carving to bleach the wood white. I used a Dremel tool for the carving and sanding of the jins.
Jin #1 before
Jin #1 After
Jin #2 before
Jin #2 after
Jin #3 before
Jin #3 after
I have been looking for a new podocarpus to replace the one I sold a couple of years ago. However the search has ended. As I was visiting Mike Rogers I noticed in his nursery a podocarpus with all the features I was looking for. Great nebari, nice movement in the trunk, and lots of carving to do. Plus it already had nice branch placement, what a bonus. The reason I loke carving on Podocarpus is because hen the tree is finished, the contrast between the dark bark, white jins, and dark green foliage can not be beat.
Pre-bonsai podocarpus
The tree is about 36″ tall and will need a lot of work to get the basic structure set. I plan to let this tree sit during the growing season and then this fall put it into a bonsai pot. Better start saving now, it’s going to be a costly one.
Close up of nebari
Pay no attention to the weeds, I really need to start pulling those before taking pictures. But there is a nice jin on the left side and a wide root spread overall.
Close up of podocarpus top
Just look at all the jins!!! That is a carvers heaven. I just can’t wait to see this tree when it’s finished. The colors and textures will be amazing.
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