• Saturday, May 30th, 2009
My trees rarely, if ever are brought into my house. Only on very cold nights in the winter will I bring them in for a few hours. However last night my wife made a great dinner and I thought that the trees would set the mood. It never fails to amaze me just how big my trees are. On their benches they look so much smaller, but on a counter top or shelf they look huge.
Hallway Nitch
The Bunjin cypress really needs a good trimming, however the light green against the dark brown gives a really nice Zen feel.
Living room accent
I really wish I could keep this tree in doors all the time. It just fits so well and looks great in that corner.
TV Stand Bonsai
Probably the worst place to place a tree because the heat dries out the bonsai so quickly. However it looked good for the night.
Upshot of Cypress
Bonsai at sunset
The other night it had just finished raining at sunset. The color off the wet screen behind it set this beautiful picture up.
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• Thursday, May 28th, 2009
It has been raining here in Central Florida for a couple of weeks now. I think we’ve had enough for at least a little while. Even the tree won’t drink anymore. Look at this water droplet sitting on top of a Bald Cypress leaf.
Drop of water on Cypress leaf
Hasn’t anyone heard of moderation?
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• Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
I am not one for doing “instant Bonsai”. It’s really just not my thing. However I was asked a few weeks ago to participate in our club event called the three ring circus. I displayed the results of the program in an earlier post, but I wanted to show the tree I had to work with.
Shimpaku Juniper Pre-bonsai
As you can see there were about four trunks all going in different directions, and to make things worse all the foliage was at the end of the branches.
Raffia and trunk line
The trunk line wasn’t obvious by any means, but the way the base of the tree flowed, it just seemed to want to be a cascade of some sort.
Semi Cascade Shimpaku Juniper
After a lot of bending this was the results. I hope to get one more picture in a bonsai pot to really show the propoer angle, and maybe a few more bends.
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• Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
Over the past few days I have worked to wire the secondary branches of my Blue Alps Juniper, and I have the scars to prove it.
Wired out Blue Alps Juniper
This is the results of my efforts. My goal this time was to truly performs a John Naka style wiring. I wanted to shape the branches from wide to narrow at the tims and from a side view from think to thin. I think I was able to achieve that.
Top view - Blue Alps Juniper
Here is an angle that you don’t normally see, but it is an important one. When I do my wiring the health of the tree is the most important issue. I try to move the branches so that the sun light is not blocked by another branch. You need to do this or the branch will die. Nice to see a nice full canapy, although I have a little bald spot in the middle that I need to cover over.
Before picture of Blue Alps Juniper
I needed to show the before picture so t hat you can see the dramatic difference. There was a lot of health new growth on this tree, and you can’t beat the blue color. I plan to stay on top of this tree and control the growth. I also want to shorten the left branch to bring the whole tree in closer to the trunk. Right now it seems a bit long which makes the trunk look thin.
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