Show us some of your bunjins under construction

[Good_Ol_JR]

Lodge Pole/Shore Pine?

Great question Vance, it seems to be contorta contorta, yet Randy's usually collecting grounds (Colorado) would have me think lodgepole?

 

[Dan W.]

Depends on where Randy collected it... if the west coast then shore... rocky mountains then latifolia. Both are P. contorta though.

 

[Ris]

Am practicing on this shimpaku bunjin style lol.

 

[GrimLore]

I cast my vote for Dav4 because of the way he feeds his plants propane and gets nice results

 

[JudyB]

Ok so I was filling humidifiers today, and realized that I have a tree that is headed for bunjin style. It's a boxwood, not sure of the variety. It has far too much foliage right now (for bunjin) so I'll have to work on it. Gotta fix the carving too. Was one of my first box nursery finds, (5?years ago) so I guess I've just been ignoring it! To me- it's pretty boring.....

 

[GrimLore]

Ok so I was filling humidifiers today, and realized that I have a tree that is headed for bunjin style. It's a boxwood, not sure of the variety. It has far too much foliage right now (for bunjin) so I'll have to work on it. Gotta fix the carving too. Was one of my first box nursery finds, (5?years ago) so I guess I've just been ignoring it! To me- it's pretty boring.....

I would guess it is Korean with the leaves that change color.

 

[bonsaibp]

I would guess it is Korean with the leaves that change color.

Most boxwoods change colors in winter unless it's really mild.

 

[berobinson82]

I forgot about this thread. I was going to try to do some big bends on a nursery Hollywood Juniper. Just to see what I could get it to do. I wish I had had some rebar for the experiment. Anyways, It was bone straight when I got it, I thinned branches, made sketches and one day went after it! Leaving some extra foliage to help thicken the base a tad and give it some nice taper.. All was going well... Raffia, tape, heavy copper... For an hour I struggled with this damn thing. I felt like i was done; but went back in for one more bend near the top and SNAP.

Expletives were flowing like water from a fire hydrant.

I unbent the top and sealed the wound. I've been protecting it from ultra cold nights and have left it to recover.. I'll know in spring if it's beyond repair I guess.. Either way, I learned in the process. If it DOES die, since I left foliage low on the trunk, I can turn the top to jin and work on plan B. And I feel richer for the experience though still sore from the experiment.

I hadn't planned on sharing this'n. But if not here, then where? Besides, DON'T JUDGE ME!

Cheers,

B

 

[JudyB]

berobinson, it's happened to all of us at one time or another. Who knows? Maybe it'll be a better tree without it...

Maybe I should go snap a branch or two on my boxwood.... Wish I'd not cut that left lower branch at the curve off, it woulda made a nice jin. Anybody have any suggestions of what to keep and what to leave on that tree? bunjins are hard.

 

[bonsaibp]

Very often the first snap isn't deadly it's really the second one you need to worry about.

 

[bonsaibp]

berobinson, it's happened to all of us at one time or another. Who knows? Maybe it'll be a better tree without it...

Maybe I should go snap a branch or two on my boxwood.... Wish I'd not cut that left lower branch at the curve off, it woulda made a nice jin. Anybody have any suggestions of what to keep and what to leave on that tree? bunjins are hard.

I'm not the best when it comes to design from a photo but i'd get rid of the two branches on the left and make my tree out of the smaller branches/trunkline on the right.

 

[JudyB]

Thanks bob, that's actually helpful. I basically have no plan for it, so maybe that is a good place to start.

 

[stacy allen muse]

??????????

 

[Si Nguyen]

Ok so I was filling humidifiers today, and realized that I have a tree that is headed for bunjin style. It's a boxwood, not sure of the variety. It has far too much foliage right now (for bunjin) so I'll have to work on it. Gotta fix the carving too. Was one of my first box nursery finds, (5?years ago) so I guess I've just been ignoring it! To me- it's pretty boring.....

Hi Judy, yeah, this boxwood is pretty boring. I can't see how one could train it into any decent bonsai by itself. But it would make for a good tree in a group planting. Save it for now. Try to find a few more boxwoods of varying sizes and put them together for a forest planting. Good luck!

 

[Ris]

I forgot about this thread. I was going to try to do some big bends on a nursery Hollywood Juniper. Just to see what I could get it to do. I wish I had had some rebar for the experiment. Anyways, It was bone straight when I got it, I thinned branches, made sketches and one day went after it! Leaving some extra foliage to help thicken the base a tad and give it some nice taper.. All was going well... Raffia, tape, heavy copper... For an hour I struggled with this damn thing. I felt like i was done; but went back in for one more bend near the top and SNAP.

Expletives were flowing like water from a fire hydrant.

I unbent the top and sealed the wound. I've been protecting it from ultra cold nights and have left it to recover.. I'll know in spring if it's beyond repair I guess.. Either way, I learned in the process. If it DOES die, since I left foliage low on the trunk, I can turn the top to jin and work on plan B. And I feel richer for the experience though still sore from the experiment.

I hadn't planned on sharing this'n. But if not here, then where? Besides, DON'T JUDGE ME!

Cheers,

B

View attachment 30229
View attachment 30230

You should see what I did to to a bald cypress lol, it's like a juniper in the wild bent in coils crazy.
Will post a picture when it starts budding out.

 

[bonsaibp]

Ume bunjin in training

Here's an Ume bunjin in training. It's blooming really late this year, it usually has blooms on the 1st of Jan.

 

[JudyB]

I decided to do this one up, as threatened. I think it came out ok for a first effort, I still think this style is the hardest to pull off...
And and all suggestions are welcome, although for Dario, there may not be enough more to cut off....(its a joke!!!)

 

[berobinson82]

You should see what I did to to a bald cypress lol, it's like a juniper in the wild bent in coils crazy.
Will post a picture when it starts budding out.

Well??? Where is it?

 

[october]

Ironically, enough, I just reworked one of my bunjins. This was a yellow tag Fall sale arborvitae purchased for $7 from Lowes. Been working on this one for about 7-8 years.

Here is a pic of the tree out of winter storage and then after the work.

Rob

 

[Dav4]

Wow, that one lost some weight!!! But...thin is IN....and less is more... nice tree, Rob.