I have been working on this tree for years now, and it is so close to being a finished bonsai.  This winter when the leaves drop I will wire this tree one more time, and it should be pretty amazing come Spring, if I say so myself.  It filled in this year in all thright places.  The canopy is sio full that the tree rarely even puts out shoots of the full sized leaves of its previous life.  As you know, all these branches were thread grafted from a dwarf variety of crepe myrtle.

Grafted Crepe Myrtle Filled in

I am still hopefull to get  some blooms this year, but it is late in the year and no buds are present.  I have had this tree pretty shaded this year so I think that effected the flowers

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I wanted to show an update of my little Black Pine that I have worked over the last year.  It has come a long way, added new branches and is doing very well.  This tree is pictured straight off my bench.  So there are weeds, a dirty pot, and a tree that really needs wired.

Shohin Black Pine

I hope to have it wired out in October, and will post a new photo at that time.

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I finally realized that I never showed the finished daiza carving for the Suiseki that I did a few months back.  It has been sitting next to my television for a long time and I just recently took the time to complete the sanding and apply a nice fish to it.  I still have a lot to learn but I think this is my best one so far.

Finish Daiza

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I have been working on this tree for over 7 years now, and frankly have become rather bored with it.  I seemed top heavy most of the deadwood was covered.  So this weekend I had the opportunity to partcipate in a Mary Madison workshop  Since she is the person I bought the tree from in the first place I couldn’t think of a better source for changing the tree style.

Mary Madison

I didn’t think the tree could be changed all that much because it had been pretty developed in the shape that is was for years.  However I would have let Mary do whatever she wanted to my tree, she’s not called the Buttonwood Queen for nothing.

Mary Madison styling

After a quick history of my tree Mary was actually able to recall collecting the tree years ago.  She didn’t waste anytime making suggestions and pointing out positive aspects of the tree.

Buttonwood after styling

At times the slightest of changes can make a big difference.  removing the first left branch did everything that I wanted the tree to be.  It now does not look top heavy, more deadwood shows and the entire look of the tree looks better.

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