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shane's bonsai studio
Join Date: Aug-2005
Location: Northwest Louisiana
Country: USA
Posts: 37
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Classic American Shimaku over 40 years in development.
This Shimpaku has been in training in a container for over 40 years. The tree is a collected California Juniper with grafted shimpaku foliage.
When my client purchased the tree on 2001, it was in fair health but had not been repotted for many years. The branches where simple in arrangement without a lot of secondary branchwork, as were many of the bonsai created from this era.
My goal in working with this tree is to preserve the original artist design, while working the foliage in a more contemporary fashion. The first step was to repot the tree which was done in 2002. Second all the branches were wired and spread to allow maximum lighting to each in 2003. In 2004 and 2005 the tree was allowed to grow in the interior sections and pinched very lightly a few times. These photo show the tree as it appears today after a light wiring and trimming.
The new image is well on its way to completion, but will need a couple more years to fill in voids. After this the branch structure will be compacted placing more importance of the shari and jin.
Sorry I do not have a photo of the tree as purchased, but I do think you can get an idea the purchased appearance from the 2003 photo. A before photo is not really important though, as this is not a restyling. While restyling could be done and major changes performed, I feel it is important to keep the original design. The original artist, in my opinion, created many of the best bonsai in the USA, which have become historic pieces.
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