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.
Well it has been a long time since I’ve worked on my trees, and even longer since my last post. What a crazy year it has been. I can’t believe we are already well into the holiday season. although it is a really good time for me to get caught up and prepare for a busy bonsai time in the coming months.
This weekend I spent some time with Mike Rogers who helped me with a couple of my trees. One was a podocarpus that I had bought from him last year. During the year due to a watering issue I lost the growth on the top of the tree, but left me with tons of deadwood. The problem however was that the deadwood was too long and needed to be reduced. Mike has developed a method to address that.
As you can see there is a long stright section that is rather boring and doesn’t add any interest. I fthe section couldn’t be removed the great spread near the top would have to be removed because the overall tree would be to tall.
Mike’s solution is to cut the section off and drill a 1/2″ hole into the base of the driftwood. The other end is carved into a peg that slides into the hole.
The hole is filled with wood glue and the section is held in place for 30 minutes
After the glue dries and the wood is carved you can’t even tell the 4 inch section was even there. Amazing stuff!
I haven’t worked on a Podocarpus ever since I displayed one at Epcot 3 years ago. Alothough I have been trying to find a replacement for that one in my collection I have had a hard time finding good material to work on. Last year I found this one at Mike Rogers’ Nursery and had to have it. Over tha past year though, I have lost a lot of upper branches and now it turns out that the entire top is dead.
Podocarpus Pre-Bonsai
But deadwood means a great carving project to address in the future of this tree. I already have an idea of what I want to do. I need to establish the branches and structure of this tree first. First things first, let’s get that tree out of the nursery pot and into some bonsai soil to give this tree a kick start.
Upclose look at the trunk and nebari
The base of this trunk is wonderful, lots of different fronts to the tree so plenty of options for development.
Prior to root pruning
The roots of this tree weren’t great, but at least I didn’t need to prune much off to get it into this bonsai pot. The soil mix was also pretty poor for drainage, too much sand. It will really flourish in my bonsai mix
Podocarpus initial potting
Well it doesn’t look much of a Bonsai at this point, but this years goals are simple. Get the tree to develop better roots, and put out new branches. I may get lucky and be able to chose a few branches, but the styling won’t occur until late this year or next year. Just need to keep it alive and happy.
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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