Temps finally cooling down here in SoCal. Can finally start styling trees again. Did a little Fall warmup on this little Blue Atlas Cedar (yesterday, technically).
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What do you mean “skipping over the air?”Mostly just studying wire today, both to learn from the artist that styled this tree and to check for bite. I’m told hemlocks can bite in fast.
I bought this tree in no small part as it was freshly styled by Carmen with wire on. I wanted a tree to reference for how to apply wire and set structure of branches. One of the things I noticed quickly is the technique illustrated below of setting the angle of the first move into the branch by skipping over the air. Clearly this is one of the “rules” I need to learn to break.
It’s common to teach beginners that wire should always make contact with the branch all the way through, and it should always enter from behind the crotch. You can see in both those pictures one piece of wire that does not do this, and instead enters the fine branch by extending out across a small gap between the primary branch and the small branch, entering the branch above the crotch. This is a very helpful way to both avoid having to cross over the larger wire and to get the first move of the affected branch into the primary, creating an acute crotch.What do you mean “skipping over the air?”
Unless you're in the Southern hemisphere and it's early spring where you're at hold off on repotting. Many beginners kill junipers by repotting put of season or bare-rooting them.Picked up a couple Junipers. Thinking about repotting now to give the roots some room to grow while it’s mid September. Good idea or not? Also trimming off any dead needles.View attachment 567450View attachment 567451View attachment 567452