Bonsai Tonight

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Refining cork oak – initial styling

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I’ve been preparing a cork oak for its initial styling for two years now.

In winter of 2018, I worked on the roots and planted the tree in its current container. This past February, I reduced the branches that I didn’t plan to use in the final design (see “Refining cork oak” for details).

The tree responded well to the work and was full when I brought it in the workshop for styling last week.

Cork oak

Cork oak

The next step was to remove any unnecessary branches. Here’s what the tree looked like after removing these branches.

After pruning

After pruning

I wired the tree starting with the lower branches and worked my toward the top, shortening each branch after moving it into position.

The main goal for wiring at this stage is to create movement in the branches and to suggest something close to the final silhouette.

After wiring – 28″

I plan to repot the tree into a bonsai container towards the end of winter. This gives me a little time to think about what kind of container will work best. Glazed? Unglazed? Oval? Rectangle? Unusual? Conventional? Oaks work will in a variety of containers so I’m looking forward to seeing what I have in the garden that might work.

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Comments

  1. Question from an amateur!
    Are you planning to plant the tree at a slant to reduce the effect of the bottom vertical section?
    Should you not have left some lower branches to camouflage the bottom vertical section.?
    Beautiful tree, I have a similar scenario with the same specie and have kept low branches which I will wire for movement and disguise the formal upright portion of the tree before it becomes an informal upright higher up.

    • Hi Percy – great questions! I only had one usable branch on the lower part of the trunk so I opted to cut it. I might have kept it if there were more on that part of the tree. As for the planting angle, I’m between two options. The first option is to keep the trunk similar to how it is now but maybe with a small change to avoid the vertical section, or I’ll tilt it quite a ways to the left so it has a strong lean in that direction. I’ll be looking at both options when I repot the tree.

      It sounds like your oak is off to a good start – sounds like a fun project!

  2. I have a Cork Oak but it is about a 7″ trunk with similar movement. Following your tree as an example and you made some recommendations for me when you looked at the tree, I think I have the primary branches selected and wired for direction and movement. The tilting of the trunk at different angles is bothering me so I cannot wait to see what you do with yours. Your tree is going to look terrific with the beautiful movement of the trunk and the apex.

  3. For the pot, I was going to suggest rectangle glazed ( with soft corners)- namako. What are your thoughts?

    • Hi Arjun! A big, old namako would be interesting – I haven’t seen many. What’s nice about broadleaf evergreens is that they work with so many different containers, glazed or unglazed. If I keep the tree upright I think a rectangle would be a good fit. If I increase the slant to the left I can imagine using with a more interesting shape.

  4. Great tree. Love it.

    regardless of your repotting angle, would you try to bury it a little deeper on that left side to cover where the bulbous bottom cuts back inward?…or is that a desirable feature? Looking forward to following this one’s development.

    • Thanks David! I thought about burying it but I’m hoping to expose the surface roots. Over time, they may may swell enough to help reduce the visual weight of the lower trunk. Will see what I find at repotting time!

      • interesting. i will be watching and learning. i have a similar sort of bulbous bottom on an oak and am interested if it should be exposed, buried or try to fix. i was planning on repotting this year as it is still in nursery soil so maybe i’ll get some pictures and post on the forum and see what the team thinks i should do about it.