For the past few years, I’ve been refining a Yaupon holly with an eye toward showing it at an upcoming Bay Island Bonsai exhibit. It’s now one of my better candidates for our upcoming 15th anniversary exhibit.
Yaupon holly – front
Right side
The work at this stage involves letting new shoots run for a time, and then cutting them back to within the desired silhouette. The progress is subtle, but necessary if I am to create branch pads with good definition.
Front – after
Right side – after
Of course, well-defined branch pads are still a ways off. In the meantime, I’ll continue repeating the grow/cut routine and see how the tree looks this winter.
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adamaskwhy says
A tree I love, ilex schillings! Good work so far
Zack Clayton says
I have seen this mostly on Japanese trees, the trunk is slanting radically (to me) to the front. I know this is desirable, I just had not realized it meant over the front of the pot. Why is this? It seems like it would look like it was tipping over to the front instead of the back. I may be seeing this now as the depth doesn’t show up in front photos and I’m just now noticing it in the side shots.
Jonas Dupuich says
Really good question Zack – to some degree, how far forward a tree leans is a matter of preference. This tree, however, could be leaning a bit more forward than it needs to. I took the cue from the trunk and roots but it may be that I can prop it up a bit when I next repot. I’ll think more about it – thanks!