Rocky Mountain Juniper bonsai
One of the trees displayed at Bay Island Bonsai’s 13th annual exhibit got a lot of funny looks. It’s a Rocky Mountain juniper, Juniperus scopulorum.
Rocky Mountain Juniper
It’s not exactly “show-ready” as we like to say – the tree is only a few years out of the ground and branch pads have yet to be defined. The tree offers, however, a glimpse of how floppy the tree’s foliage can be and plenty of interesting deadwood. Maybe too interesting. The large piece of deadwood on the left looks like something an undiscerning artist found on the ground and affixed to the first tree they dug. It is, however, very naturally connected to the live part of the tree.
Old deadwood – evidence of an older, larger tree
If you look closely, you can easily discern the old deadwood from the new. The deadwood supporting the live part of the tree lacks the deep fissures evident on the big jin. In the photo below, the upper part of the deadwood is light in color with subtle fissures. This wood has been exposed to the elements for a while, but not for as long as the jin on the left. The lower part of the deadwood is darker in color and lacks fissures. This wood has more recently been exposed to the elements.
Older and newer deadwood
A few days before the exhibit, I cleaned the tree’s deadwood with a water gun and then treated it with a mixture of lime sulfur, water and sumi ink. This helped to even out the different tones of deadwood on the tree. A new pot and some bright moss completed the show prep.
Rocky Mountain Juniper deadwood
Moss
Why so much effort for a tree that’s not quite ready for display? Interesting deadwood, great age, and curious foliage contributed to the decision. Beyond that, the tree offers a great puzzle for aspiring bonsai stylists. In other words, what improvements can be made to the tree? There are plenty of alternatives. It’s the kind of tree I’d like to walk by in the garden for a while before making up my mind. Although I don’t know what exactly is in store for the tree’s future, I do know it will look quite different the next time I see it in an exhibit.
Displaying a shimpaku juniper
Bay Island Bonsai held their 13th Annual Exhibit this past weekend at the Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, CA. The exhibit featured a well developed shimpaku juinper.
Shimpaku juniper
Before reading any further, which way do you think the tree points – to the left or to the right?
When setting up exhibits, we often start by identifying trees that point left or right and put these at the ends of each row where they can point toward the center. Cascade and semi-cascade bonsai often end up at the ends of rows as they are strongly directional trees. With the exception of formal upright bonsai, most trees tend to point or lean a bit to the left or the right. When trees point to the left, we tend to place accent or companion plants to the right in the attempt to create balanced compositions.
The apex of the shimpaku pictured above points strongly to the left, as does the first branch on that side of the tree. My inclination was to display the tree on the right and place an accent plant on the left. Daisaku Nomoto, a bonsai professional visiting from Miyazaki, Japan, however, wanted the tree placed on the left. I winced at the suggestion, and appealed to Boon. Boon seconded Nomoto’s opinion. While we stood there discussing the matter, the tree’s owner set the tree on the right. This made sense to me and I liked the resulting display.
Displayed on the right with accent and scroll
At the end of the day, I found myself very curious about the direction of the tree. Maybe if the trunk or branches were arranged differently I could see what Boon and Nomoto saw. The next morning I asked Boon and Nomoto for an explanation. Simply put, they typically find the movement in the lower part of the trunk to be the most important element in the determination of direction. What about the apex or the key branch? Not important, Nomoto replied. It really is all about the lower part of the trunk. Tilting the tree a bit to the right would increase the movement of the lower part of the trunk and move the apex to the right. Growing out the lowest branch on the right could further this movement.
What does the tree look like displayed on the left?
As displayed on the left
Turns out the tree looks good on the left too.
Armed with new knowledge, I found a new way to look at bonsai. Like the Ponderosa pine below, for instance. Surely it points to the right?
Ponderosa pine
No such luck. Nomoto insisted the tree points to the left, just as the owner had displayed it.
A really full black pine
The Japanese black pine below was one of the many great trees I saw in the workshop during my visit to Aichi-en last fall. I caught Peter Tea cleaning it up for the sales area at Gomangoku. You can see a before photo on Peter’s blog.
What made the tree stand out to me? The fullness, the health, and the density of shoots were impressive, and the bark and roots were also very good, but above all, I appreciated the silhouette of the tree. Solid blocks of foliage can do a great job defining a tree’s character.
Good balance between the left and right sides of the tree, a clearly defined key branch – the lowest branch on the left – and a window in the foliage that reveals the trunk are all conventional markers of good pine bonsai.
Japanese black pine – front
When we look at the tree from the side, we can see that it “leans” strongly forward. Put another way, the apex lies in front of the center of the pot by a significant margin. This feature is common among pines in Central Japan, but I don’t see it as much on pines, or other trees for that matter, in Northern California.
Right side
Left side
The foliage in the back of the tree was solid and dense.
Back
Despite the tree’s beauty in this state, it was only intended to look this good for a short time. Normally, far more needles are removed in winter. Last I heard, the tree sold at the show but remains in the care of Aichi-en where it will continue to develop.
Bay Island Bonsai’s 13th Annual Exhibit!
If you are planning to be in Northern California this weekend, I strongly encourage you to head over to Bay Island Bonsai’s 13th Annual Exhibit at the Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, CA. The event promises to be a good time. It’s our first exhibit in the location and we’re really looking forward to it – come join us!
Unconventional branches
Every once in a while I see interesting bonsai with extra-interesting features. One of the more common is the extra-long branch. A white pine that fits this description caught my attention at last year’s Taikan-ten.
White pine – 2011 Taikan-ten
The first branch shoots straight out and then rises up, providing the tree’s primary point of interest. At the photo shoot for the 2012 Meifu-ten, trees with similar features caught my attention.
Satsuki azalea – 2012 Meifu-ten
White pine – 2012 Meifu-ten
Not long after noting the white pine above, Peter Tea and I turned around and spotted the pines below.
Garden pines
Clearly, something’s up here. The question in my head today – what role do extra-ordinary branches play in bonsai? Do they add spice to bland exhibits – or are trees better off without them? Peter does a good job plumbing the issue in his recent post on The Strange Trident Maple.
I was on the fence about whether or not to call attention to the primary branch on the pine below until I realized it pretty much emerges below the start of the nebari at a bold 90 degree angle. More food for thought.
White pine – 2012 Meifu-ten – what would you do with this tree?
6 comments