The scholarly man's tree, Bunjingi style

Bunjingi is a style that flies in the face of conventional popular japanese bonsai aesthetics. The style is very old. This style is a throwback to chinese potted trees. That's that for the history lesson. This post is not really about the style. When I took this cutting I knew that it was going to be bunjingi. It had a long narrow trunk with two very dramatic curves. The problem was how was I going to make this tree look amazing in my eyes.

The tree had started to develop ramification, and it had a basic shape. The tree was looking like it was going to be a chinese type miniature tree. The chinese call their miniature trees penjing. Penjing is not really a style but the chinese word for bonsai. However, the chinese aesthetic value is different from the japanese, so the trees look very unalike.

I was pruning my tree to further develop ramification when my mind's eye saw the bunjingi tree I had been looking for. The best part was that I was going to create this new tree by cutting one branch.

So i took the pruning shears to the main trunk and lopped off the unwanted part. The transformation for now was complete.

I will be starting over with this tree. I have to build ramification and keep shaping the tree, Aesthetically it is a lot closer to done.

The piece I cut off will not go to waste. I potted that piece in bark soil. It will grow roots in a few weeks and I will have the foundations to another future bonsai.

I have said it before, don’t be in a rush to shape, cut, pot, etc your tree. Work on building it up. You will get ideas on what direction to take your tree. cheers.

Japanese green Maple salad

It was a beautiful March morning, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the plants were growing. I strolled down my garden to check on the seedlings. Those beautiful seedlings. They are full of hope and potential. I looked at the green maples. I saw this:

Do you see what I see? Look closely. Let me show you a close up.

Do you see the nubs?!? There used to be 25 little maples pushing their way up, on their way to becoming amazing bonsai. They were cut down at the Genesis of their lives. And who could the culprit be? Only one piece of evidence could be found. Glistening in the morning light a trail of slime led away from the pot. It was a garden snail. 

Well that's it for this year's green maples. I was very upset, but nothing can bring them back. Time to reassess where I have my other seedlings. Cheers.