cotoneaster attempt

jackied

Here is my first attempt at beginning to style a bonsai - please be gentle with me!

I bought this cotoneaster from a garden centre in February (along with several other plants that I am going more slowly and carefully with). I could tell it had some nice twisty bits. When I got it home I repotted it into a somewhat shallower pot and tried to spread the roots out a bit. They're nothing special, at least at the moment, another reason to treat this as an exercise rather than something that will turn into a proper bonsai. I planted it at a different angle as I wanted an informal upright rather than a semi-cascade, though in fact I think it's going all windswept on me.

A couple of weeks ago I cut it down to the bones to see what was going on. I put a bit of wire on (probably wrong technique...). The shape generally pleases me though it's certainly not what I was aiming at when I started. I'm not even certain which is the leader! The stubs on the left are the remains of dead twigs to be trimmed later, I am hoping something new will shoot to replace them (B1). I've done some virtuals of what I think I might be aiming at and multiple shots around it to give you some clues as to what it actually looks like in 3D. I've put all the pictures on the following web page. (hope the link works)

http://pic1.piczo.com/penshe/?g=27858024&cr=1

My questions are:
1) how much of a disaster is this! (actually I'm not sure I want you to answer that)
2) what should I be doing with F1? Wherever I put it it looks a bit awkward at the moment but I don't want to cut it off until I'm sure I don't need it.
3) I can't decide how big I should let F3 get - as a branch I like it about as it is in the virtual but I can't help feeling that I'll then have trouble getting a sensible shaped foliage pad on it, so maybe it needs to be longer and curve right over like F1 but maybe a little lower down.
4) what shape should the foliage pads be on a cotoneaster, and how do you shape them? I've looked in all my books but they don't say much about cotoneasters. My instinct is to just keep trimming them back like topiary but I dare say there's something much more subtle I need to do.

My intention of course is to do nothing further to it this year unless you recommend me to - should i even trim the foliage back?
It is living outside by the way, just came into the kitchen for the photos. It's about the size I want it already.

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ozzy

Well Jackied I think the general idea of bonsai is to try and recreate a tree in miniature that reflects a fully grown tree that one would find in the wild ... and this don't look like any tree I've ever seen, not on this planet anyway.

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jbhayman

Try this if you would like a bonsai...

Jbhayman

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ozzy

I just did a quick search for cotoneaster bonsai and here is something similiar that you may want to use as an example, keep the foliage a lot closer to the trunk like this one I think.

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jackied

Thanks guys. As I said, I knew I'd not done what I intended to do!
I think at the moment I've ended up with a rather odd shrub that I find somewhat graceful (but nobody else will).
The picture from Ozzy is very helpful, thanks. For now I'll just leave it to put on a bit of growth. I can stare at it every day when I eat my dinner and reflect on my sins.

wabashene

Hello JackieD,

I'd agree with JB Hayman that developing branch B1 is the way to go I feel.

You have all the essential elements right there for the beginnings of an excellent first tree - the elements that are so often missing from beginner's trees. viz.

1. Solid looking trunk base.
2. Taper
3. Movement

You could produce a powerful looking small tree in as little as 3 years at first sight. (see the virt below)

Here's a list of articles on developing cotoneaster - 3 from here and 2 from elsewhere that should help.

Article at bottom of the page by Brent Walston

One of mine

Another one of Mine

Victrinia’s

One from Harry Harrington

As you will find out, bonsai are invariably (95 cut down from much larger trees/shrubs to form a much smaller tree not the other way round.

Also, I don't recommend heavy foliage pruning and heavy root trimming in the same year even with cotoneaster which have an indestructible reputation.

They don't seem to like it - or maybe it's just me!

Hope this helps.

TimR

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jackieD coton.jpg (7.7 KB, 74 views)

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ChrisM

i'm with tim, his virt is a great idea and where i can see the tree having some ease going for.

chris

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jackied

Thank you! That's even more helpful. I'm glad I picked the right tree - I spent a long time trying to find the twistiest one with the biggest trunk base. I've read many recommendations for them as beginner bonsai. However when I started working on it and turned out with such an odd thing I realised I didn't have a clue what a cotoneaster bonsai was 'supposed' to look like!

To prove that I do try to follow normal advice I also have two junipers, an oak and a hornbeam all of which are simply growing on at the moment in large pots after having their roots adjusted/pruned. I have seen a lot of pictures of those species and have a much clearer idea on what I should be doing with them.

jackied

Playing with my graphics programme some more...

Does this look at least a bit more like a bonsai? The bottom right branch is supposed to be going away from the viewer. I'm not saying this is what I'll do, as I'll study the virts people have posted for me, and also check how the roots are doing to be sure where the front is.

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