The charm of Shari

Scheduled works on a Juniperus Chinensis

Twisting path

Yew : a splendid species

Thuja

Yew: a splendid species

If I had to express my preference about a tree, I would choose the Yew without any doubt. It's shocking the quick reply it gives to the modelling, the high numer of buds it can develop after pinching operations, the easy rootage development and repotting bearing, it never lose a branch also with heavy sculpture operation, and so on.
My Yew history it's an old one, and for this, a lot more satisfacting. The experience teach me that every correct working step, can reduce the gap between a nursery tree and a bonsai tree.
At the end of 1995 I bought this taxus cuspidata on a nursery ( Oltre il Verde ). The tree was more than 1 m. high and with a rounding shape, it was inported from Japan with garden destination. I like to think at the heroic side of the tale: the brave bonsai artist able to see the beautyness hide in a bush that nobody else can see. It decide to save it from the garden and give it a more artistic future becoming after lovely cures the subject of a miraculous transformation.
In the same autumn I cut away almost all the foliage from the tree thicken branches living the minimal necessary to promote a production of new and closer to the trunk vegetation. Frankly I didn't think I need them because I already had in mind to use only the middle branch, but it was useless to hurry up any decision.
Next spring I repot it cutting only few roots and trying to make the thin root free from the stiifling clay soil.
I let the tree free to grow the whole spring pinching only the future apex to thicken it.
The correct intervals between the watering and the plentiful fertilizations made the tree ready for the autumn working.
The work was realized ih two phases: deadwood creation and foliage modelling.
Left side of the trunk has been worked with a mill creating a big jin; this was good for hiding the big cuttings and was necessary to the tree taper.
Only in few cases when you model big nursery conifers, you can give the idea of an old and suffered tree hiding the big cuttings and correcting the structuralk defects on the tree, using optical distraction.
It's important that the deadwood does not reveal the artificial origin, but on the contrary it must be in harmony with shape and dimension of trunk and vegetation.
Every bonsai detail must force the observere to believe it is natural and never atificial.
The right branch was tranformed into a jin.
Next I wired all the remaining branches using rafia and copper wire.
I lowered the right branch and thoroughly placed in position all the apex foliage.
The vegetation has been brought very close to the trunk and right branch was placed to balance the upward apex jin , making a pleasant dinamicity.

	Pic# 1 1995 All useless branches has been cut away.
	Pic# 2 Looking for the branches useful to create the foliage layers.
	Pic# 3 Detail of the stumps from which all foliage has been cut away.
	Pic# 4 Jin working
	Pic# 5 Branches bending and modelling.
	Pic# 6 First step as seen from left side.
	Pic# 7 Spring 1996
Pic# 8 - 2001 The foliage recahed the desired thickness.

Up

Back to Article's list