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A quick post to show this little juniper. This re-potting I have stood it up to reveal more of the fantastic trunk-line and will fully re-style it once it settles into the new pot and shows positive signs of growth.
Its a nice little tree that has been with me for a long time. Its not the ideal foliage for shohin as it is much more course than some others and gets ‘shaggy’ quickly. That said with the right amount of work it will be a nice tree.
Its new pot, is one i picked up last time i was in japan and i think suits the tree well. I love its grey tones and always think these colours go well with junipers.
Hopefully in a few months I will share the re-styling with you all. Until then……
This small olive was a gift from a friend who dug this lump of wood when digging a handful of single trunk trees. He thought this one would be right up my alley!
It’s the second year I am growing it. Last year I cut off all the original trunks and branches and let it recover from being ‘flat bottomed’ (essentially cutting it completely off at the roots and growing it like a giant cutting). During this re-potting i was pleased to see a good spread of surface roots all around the base of the cut, allowing for planting it into a very shallow container should I ever want to.
This year I will begin to start building some branch structure and filling it out. I’m starting to think I have a thing for clump style…………
Another quick update for the trees shown in THIS post.
Everything is slowly improving year in year out and I am becoming particularly fond of the one in the Bikou pot. This tree was one of the original Chojubai in the country (a cutting from one of the plants imported in the 90’s).. It belonged to the late Richard Salvado, a friend and proponent of mini and shohin bonsai in Australia at a time when big trees were all the rage.
He originally found chojubai in someone’s backyard, planted as an accent in an imported tree. He took a cutting (which i think out survived the original specimen) and later spread the variety to those who were interested. He was ahead of the curve in regard to the small bonsai craze and its a nice memento of him and his broader influence.
Wow, it’s been a while since last posted. Life has been busy but bonsai has been still been ticking away in the background (mostly after dark / kids bed time). At the moment, re-potting is in full swing with the first warm days hinting at springs approach.
Looking at the last post I made, (https://nichigobonsai.com/2022/09/05/the-tree-previously-know-as-sonare/) I thought it only fitting to re-visit this tree as it was interesting to see how much this tree has developed in 12 months.
I re-potted it into a new shaped container which i think suits it more and gives it a little more root room, which in turn i hope converts to a season of healthy foliage growth to further fill out the silhouette.
2022 on the left and 2023 of the right. The grafts certainly seem to have taken well and are now thriving! I think i can comfortably say this is a (grafted) Itoigawa juniper now.
I have a bunch more re-potting posts to come which should give updates to some previously featured as well as some new to the blog trees. Until then……
It seems a consistent theme is me not updating my blog. Well, it’s been a long time between posts again so figured I should make an update…..
I’ve been fairly active doing various things within the garden and have recently been involved in a local bonsai gathering with some bonsai mates which has spurred my passion for bonsai along again.
During one of these catch up’s I brought along and worked on the tree features in this post. It has featured on the blog before (2012) as per the post below. That said, it has changed quite dramatically since then.
I was never entirely happy with the procumbens foliage on this tree. It could be made to look good but it grew quickly and needed a lot of up-keep to maintain at its best. So I decided to graft it with Itoigawa.
It turns out that this was a long process from which I’ve learnt a few things.
Probably the biggest take away was the size of the scions to use. I had originally used small pieces of scion foliage on the belief they would perspire less and therefore have a higher chance of success. This was the case and they were successful, but they took forever to build up enough strength to grow into something I could think about styling and or cutting the original foliage back to (think several years post graft success).
The next round of grafting I used much larger whips as scions. (probably in the 150-200mm long range.) I found that the extra foliage, almost immediately, built up strength and vigor and as a result could be utilised in much shorter time frames post grafting.
It took me a few years to learn these lessons so the ‘changing of clothes’ process took a lot longer than it might have otherwise. That said, I am now using these learnings on other trees and benefiting from the previous errors. You will see from the image below, I am growing out some whips on this tree to be used as grafts on other stock.
To cut a long story short, I finally got around to doing a structural styling on the new foliage on this tree and I am pretty happy with where it stands. It has a lot of growing to do to fill out and develop secondary and tertiary structure but its now on a good path.
The questions remains though, is this a procumbens juniper (sonare) or an itoigawa?
Chojubai are one of my favorite species. Very easy to grow and propagate and providing you are looking to grow small clumps, they can be developed very quickly.
The trees in this post were essentially grown from a number of cuttings all struck in one pot. They have established good root systems and are now growing into nice clump style bonsai. They have a long way to go and ideally I’d like the canopy to perhaps double in size but the bones are there for some nice trees.
This tree is a little over potted as it had spent the last year in a much smaller pot and i am looking to build it’s strength this season. 
First bonsai pot for this clump 
Only a year or two from cuttings. Again the first bonsai pot for this tree.
The first tree was from a close friend who passed away. He had grown it from a cutting that came from a plant that was originally imported in the early 1990’s along with some impressive maples by a prominent Victorian grower. It sat in isolation in this collection for years before we realised what it was and how lucky we were to have it in Australia. Since that point it found its way into the hands of several growers who have propagated it and distributed it so that it will stay available to the Australian bonsai community going forward.
The great thing about growing these is every time you prune you end up with a pile of cuttings which in turn become new bonsai. If you don’t have one, they are fairly well available in Australia and at least at Victorian shows, I often have seen them for sale on club tables.
With all they have going for them; Small leaves, tiny profuse red flowers and fast growth rate everyone should be growing this species!
For those that already grow them, there is an argument for repotting them in summer which is another interesting option. Michael Hagedorn has a good series of articles on Chojubai over on his blog for those interested including going into detail into the repotting in summer technique (CLICK HERE).
So I have a number of trees that are very much projects which are finding their ways into bonsai containers for the first time. I thought it was worth posting them as much as a record for myself to catalogue their progress on the blog. They are all fairly rough but have some promise. Enjoy.
A small trident that I inherited from a friend who passed away. It was all much the same as its current form although much longer/larger. I cut it back hard to the interesting base and am slowly re-growing the branching and canopy. 
Another inherited tree, this clump is a collection of old branches I air layered from a larger tree that I am in the process of re-growing. Horrible overly bright pot, I know.
The above trident is one i picked up from Neil at Shibui Bonsai. I was attracted to it for the ‘loop the loop’ root on the front of the rock which was a little unusual. I have since been growing the branches and trunk-line to try to have some of this twisty and bendy movement.
You can see where the trunk was originally cut at the first branch. The scar has almost completely healed over and should continue to smooth out over the coming years.
Neil grows some great (if not the best in Australia) root over rock trees and has pretty much perfected the technique to get the tree to tightly clasp the rock. Check out his page (link above) as he often has interesting things for sale as the new ground grown stock is dug and prepared for sale.
Today’s update is a fun little English Elm that was styled last season. Post on that styling below:
Today’s work was a fairly simple repotting into a lovely Koyo pot. I really love these pots and am always happy to use them with my trees.
The tree is probably ready for a re-wire but as English elms are one of the later trees to leaf out I will try to squeeze that in between repotting my remaining trees and bud burst.
I really like this lumpy little tree. its a bit ugly and has some strange bumps but I think that they all add to its character. I recently sold its brother to a friend so i will likely be hanging onto this tree for a long time.
Another quick update on a tree I recently styled. The below pine has really started to shape up post styling and I figured it was time to get it out of the terracotta grow pot and into a bonsai container.
I potted it up in the pot from the tree in the last post which was the only spare pot I had that roughly came close to fitting the tree. Its not a bad match but I will see if I can locate a better pot for it in the next couple of years (square perhaps??).
Interesting to note the foliage colour seems much darker since the restyling photos, hopefully an effect of the water change and health returning to my trees. This tree has a long way to go but it seems that its future is back on track.
Just a quick post as part of the on-going repotting series. I repotted this pine which i recently worked and featured in this previous post:
Pretty simple work all in all just a change in pot. It’s not a perfect fit but I don’t mind it all the same. before and after below:
It will be interesting to see how this tree goes after the re-pot. It is in a fresh mix and this year I am potting most of my collection in Akadama, pumice and scoria in fairly equal proportions. I haven’t used this mix before but have heard good things so I am looking forward to seeing how it performs. Should be an interesting 12 months.
Nichigo Bonsai 