Wallace Fernspray Hinoki

[ForrestW]

If you are going to keep that lowest branch, I like front #3. If you end up getting rid of or jinning the lowest branch, I think front #1 has a slightly more interesting trunkline.

I am not sure what I am going to do with the lowest branch yet-- I want to do more bending on it later this year once it gets adjusted to a new pot. It was in a smaller round pot before so I do not see doing drastic work, but still going to wait until it has has a full spring growth before more work. But I am wanting more movement into that bottom branch -- the strait section bothers me. I also plan to shorten up the strait branch above it at some point. I may still grow it out to near there, but from an earlier point with a little more movement.

 

[ForrestW]

Number 2m
(I really like this tree.)

That is where I am currently at as well, and will probably use that as the front when I pot it up, but hopefully a few more years of work and a lot of the decisions will be made . Thank you for the kind words.

 

[ForrestW]

Looking at your very nice tree, I can´t avoid to think it has the same fernspray that my "teddy bear " hinkoki:

View attachment 588794

so maybe yours is also a "teddy bear".
It's a difficult tree to tame, and all I could do was this:

View attachment 588795

If yours is a "teddy bear" I can confirm a red color under the bark.

Thanks for sharing-- you may be correct. I will try and take a close up shot soon of the foliage for a better comparison but they do look a lot alike.

 

[NashsMan]

I also really like this tree!
My vote for a front is #3 because that fuller view of the lowest branch helps to anchor this tall tree. It does rotate the nebari off to the left, but then that balances with the low branch so you get this left/right tension with the powerful trunk just thrusting upward.
BTW, how tall is this tree?

 

[johng]

Hmm... I think you need a round pot with a bunch of feet so that you can choose which ever front suites you at the time. I'll be happy to take that pot off your hands

 

[ForrestW]

I also really like this tree!
My vote for a front is #3 because that fuller view of the lowest branch helps to anchor this tall tree. It does rotate the nebari off to the left, but then that balances with the low branch so you get this left/right tension with the powerful trunk just thrusting upward.
BTW, how tall is this tree?

Thanks for the feedback-- the tree is right at 3 feet from the rim of the pot.

 

[ForrestW]

Hmm... I think you need a round pot with a bunch of feet so that you can choose which ever front suites you at the time. I'll be happy to take that pot off your hands

I just picked up one from Preston I hope to pot up this weekend-- only 3 feet though... (I have a few in the kiln as well, but I think I like his better). The pot it is in is pretty special-- not sure if I can part with it. The truth is, I may never have a tree for that pot-- so I have to weigh that as well

 

[ForrestW]

New shoes from the amazing Preston Tolbert! I also reduced (jin) one branch that had good options back a little. Now I plan to just let this recover until late summer where I may do a little more pruning trying to get pads to develop and keep a fairly tight overall dimension. I will work to vary the lengths of the pads but for now I think I just need to get them to fill out.

 

[treeline]

One of my favorite things about how you styled this is that the downward-moving first branch has horizontal and upward-moving secondaries. This is really common in the big, old, battered conifers around here and makes for a very believable bonsai. Love how this looks and excited to see where you take it from here.

 

[ForrestW]

Just the pot-- the feet are set back so they will not influence the front -- keeping it easy to rotate 5-15% either way.

 

[ForrestW]

One of my favorite things about how you styled this is that the downward-moving first branch has horizontal and upward-moving secondaries. This is really common in the big, old, battered conifers around here and makes for a very believable bonsai. Love how this looks and excited to see where you take it from here.

Thank you very much.

 

[johng]

Delish!! Now that really looks like a mature and ancient tree! That pot is perfect! You are such a good bonsai artist!!

 

[ForrestW]

Delish!! Now that really looks like a mature and ancient tree! That pot is perfect! You are such a good bonsai artist!!

You are very kind-- always learning, hopefully growing

 

[ForrestW]

Just a seasonal update- I have been trying to do a pruning in late spring when the color changes and one in late summer when there is still time for another summer flush. Here is the before work shot.



Here is the post work --I did about 1/2 the work at home and then was scheduled to go to Tylers at Dogwood Studios, and I did a good bit more thinning and wiring there. I really like the more sparse feel, and I added a good bit more dead branches. Some are very small and more hidden, others are more noticeable. But I think it may be ready to show in another year or two.


Last one was exploring display ideas-- something Tyler likes doing when working in his classes. He has a lot of scrolls and options to practice building displays and I think it was a fun practice.

 

[Jrmcmich]

Great tree!! Love the pot combination as well. What size is pot? How much root reduction do you typically do when first putting into a pot?

 

[ForrestW]

Great tree!! Love the pot combination as well. What size is pot? How much root reduction do you typically do when first putting into a pot?

Thank you very much-- I was going to measure the pot last night and I forgot but I believe it is about 14" by about 2 1/2" deep. The root work was over a good period of time-- I think I dug it up about 10 years ago (Had it in the ground for 5ish years) It was in a pretty wide pot maybe 4" deep and 20" wide right out of the ground-- so I did a pretty fair amount of reduction on the bottom. (It originally came in a 5 gallon nursery pot. Then about 3-4 years ago I moved it into an oval that was about 3 1/2" deep and had to reduce the front to back depth and a little on the long side. This past spring I moved it into this pot reducing another inch or so in depth and the long side of the oval a good bit as well. (also planted it deeper that pervious potting). In a few years I will probably go into a narrow rectangle maybe just slightly shallower but I like this pot for now, it allows me a little wiggle room for a front as I am still slightly adjusting that as its developing.

 

[Jrmcmich]

Thank you very much-- I was going to measure the pot last night and I forgot but I believe it is about 14" by about 2 1/2" deep. The root work was over a good period of time-- I think I dug it up about 10 years ago (Had it in the ground for 5ish years) It was in a pretty wide pot maybe 4" deep and 20" wide right out of the ground-- so I did a pretty fair amount of reduction on the bottom. (It originally came in a 5 gallon nursery pot. Then about 3-4 years ago I moved it into an oval that was about 3 1/2" deep and had to reduce the front to back depth and a little on the long side. This past spring I moved it into this pot reducing another inch or so in depth and the long side of the oval a good bit as well. (also planted it deeper that pervious potting). In a few years I will probably go into a narrow rectangle maybe just slightly shallower but I like this pot for now, it allows me a little wiggle room for a front as I am still slightly adjusting that as its developing.

Thanks for some of the details. I just picked up a large one on clearance yesterday. You ever done any fall root work/repotting on yours? I am looking at what to do for mine as it’s super heavy and have another thread about it asking for advice. I have gotten positive responses to do some fall repot and maybe only doing 1/3 of roots. Interesting to see if you know of advice on fall work for this species. Thanks

 

[ForrestW]

Thanks for some of the details. I just picked up a large one on clearance yesterday. You ever done any fall root work/repotting on yours? I am looking at what to do for mine as it’s super heavy and have another thread about it asking for advice. I have gotten positive responses to do some fall repot and maybe only doing 1/3 of roots. Interesting to see if you know of advice on fall work for this species. Thanks

I have never done any fall root-work with my Hinoki-- but if you keep it gentle and with plenty of fall root growth to go I suspect it will be OK. I would not style the tree -- and then do root work though.

 

[Jrmcmich]

I have never done any fall root-work with my Hinoki-- but if you keep it gentle and with plenty of fall root growth to go I suspect it will be OK. I would not style the tree -- and then do root work though.

Thanks and agree on no styling just some roots and soil change