JudyB
Queen of the Nuts
Yeah, but it can be a hard thing to get your head around when it happens.
Beautiful tree Bri.
Difficulty level of pines...
- Thread starter Cadillactaste
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Beautiful tree Bri.
Txhorticulture
Chumono
I think more people would have success with jwp if they got one grafted on strobus or strobiformis instead of JBP. I think bonsai type nurseries use JBP because that's the way they did it in Japan and they have that understock. Especially if strobus grows in your region. It would be much more compatible and probably add a lot of vigor to a small slow growing tree like jwp
brewmeister83
Chumono
Don't worry, overwintered mine (5-15 yr old plants) in cold frame without mulch last year IN nursery soil - came through it like champs, gotta love alpine trees that laugh at -10 and backbud prolifically!
Darlene, while I suppose literati could be a deciduous tree, I don't think I've ever seen one. At least never a good one
A literati is supposed to depict an ancient tree, well past it's prime. Conifers are generally long lived, deciduous not so much.
It's very difficult to make a good literati. It is a style where "less is more".
A literati is supposed to depict an ancient tree, well past it's prime. Conifers are generally long lived, deciduous not so much.
It's very difficult to make a good literati. It is a style where "less is more".
You could look into flowering dogwood ( cornus florida ) for a deciduous literati. They are small and wispy flowering trees. They grow out in the woods down here in the south and I've seen plenty that grow in a literati style all on their own. I'm not sure about the difficulty level but I believe they are native to your region.
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
Cut the cheese!
JudyB
Queen of the Nuts
I would have agreed with you before I really started researching literati. There is a wonderful book by Zhao Qingquan called Literati Style Penjing, Chinese Bonsai Masterworks. The mainstay of the trees featured are indeed conifers, but there are several uses of D trees. Plums and sageretia and even J.maples, and others. I would recommend this book highly to those interested in the literati art form.
Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
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I've seen some wonderful Ume literati. Unlike other deciduous trees, ume trunks look good with deadwood and develop nice bark with a bit of age to give that ancient feel.
Cadillactaste
Neagari Gal
I may need to add to my fund for one...but would be worth it. Food for thought thanks Dave!
grouper52
Masterpiece
Pines are not difficult where I live in the Pacific Northwest. The only ones I've ever lost are Ponderosas (largely a dry climate pine whose trajectory here is merely a war of attrition, with less and less new growth each year leading to incredibly frustrating gradual die-back in spectacular collected trees) and one Mondell pine (an Afghanistan native - i.e., another dry climate tree).
Pines are fun to learn. Start with Japanese black pines. The methods of pruning and controlling the energy/growth/vigor on pines are largely unique to pines, and working with JBPs will teach you most of what you need to know about most other pines. Carefully studying that process over a few years - and its variant strategies from different schools - can lead to a highly satisfying intuitive insight into how pines "think," and that can lead to a real sense of bonding with these trees - that, I think, and their incredible beauty as bonsai, is what has earned them their nick name, "The King of Bonsais."
Interestingly, I have found that learning to prune Hinoki cypress has led to a similar sort of broad intuitive understanding of the care of most other types of non-pine conifers, such as junipers. Simply learning by doing on JBPs and Hinokis will give you a solid understanding that will carry over to the vast majority of conifers, or at least it seems to have for me.
Hope that helps.
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