One Cut

Tags

Bonsai, boxwood, how to, NVBS, PBA, prune, pruning, styling

Meet Dr. Seuss. That’s what I named this little boxwood.

A Benjamina

Tags

benjamina, Bonsai, ficus, pruning, styling, wire, wiring

Ficus Benjamina. Not always considered outstanding material for bonsai, but it is readily available and will survive indoors, so I suspect it is used as bonsai more than many species — even if by the inexperienced and curious. 

Mine is not dissimilar as this is a tree I have had since my early years in the art. By my records, I’ve had this plant for a solid 20 years. 

I’m going to skip any root pruning this year and see if I can get a fairly refined canopy before it has to go back inside for the cold months. So first, today, is defoliating. 

I’ve been warned that F. Benjamina can die back if you don’t leave a leaf at each growing tip, but that creates an odd challenge. You see, I like to see the tree structure when I prune, and I don’t know which leaf will be at the tip until all of the decisions are made. So, here’s hoping for a strong growth response. 

After removing the leaves I do some initial pruning. 

And then wire to get the branches back into position. 

I will have to watch the wire carefully. If I get the strong growth response I want, it will bite in quickly. 

Time to work on Jack

Tags

Bonsai, Captain Jack, ficus, pruning, repot

If you missed my post from a month ago about the tree I now call “Captain Jack” you can check it out HERE. As suggested in that post, I let my Ficus get happy in the summer heat before doing any work. 

It’s time. Here’s what it looks like this morning. 

Notice anything different? Sure, it’s grown a bit, but the pot has changed as well. Here’s an image from the original post. 

True to the theme of his name, Captain Jack is a bit of a sail. We had some strong storms come through a couple of weeks ago, and I had not secured Jack to the bench. The pot didn’t make it. It happens. Good thing I don’t use expensive pots. 

To the work!

I may have given away my intent with this image from the original post. Here I have zoomed in to show you less than 11 inches of the tree, and indeed, it is my plan to cut it way back. 

What do you think?

In addition to the long branch removal, I did repot wit some attention to the front and planting angle. It is turned to show off that big root flare at the base, and positioned with a stronger tilt to the left. 

So how tall is it now?

All of the remaining leaves were removed as well to force the tree to push out new growth. I promise this will happen. For you doubters, I will provide some evidence. This is a tree I worked on about a month ago when it looked like this:

Below is what it looks like today:

Have faith in the Captain!

Some Ficus Decisions

Tags

Bonsai, branches, ficus, pruning, repot

Another ficus, growing strong. Time to make some decisions. Here it is before today’s work. 

I started this tree from a skinny little cutting back in 1996. I’m thrilled that it has survived this long, but that it is still rather small and unspectacular is evidence of just how many things I have done wrong over the years. 

In a renewed effort to get it going in a better direction, I let it grow for a couple of years before cutting it back in 2016. On the left in the picture below, you can see what I cut off to leave the structure I am currently working with. 

Few branches remained, so this full, bushy growth is exactly what it needed. 

There’s a ways to go yet for a nice tree. In fact I am looking for a couple more well placed branches. Maybe some grafting will be in order. But that’s for another day. 

Here it is after some pruning and branch selection… and in a new pot to boot. 

Boxwood Cleanup

Tags

Bonsai, boxwood, buxus, NVBS, PBA, prepare, pruning

Prepping this little boxwood bonsai for a show.