Need help with styling suggestions for Cherry

andrei

Friends, this is to seek your help to re-style a sakura tree (Prunus mume) that was originally donated by Japan to Russia some 20 plus years ago and has been maintained since then in the bonsai collection of the Botanical Garden's conservatoire in Moscow (Russia). Recently. we have tried to seek restyling ideas locally, but unfortunately we are only few here, hence this attempt to go internationally to seek other opinions for the tree which is basically a public good even if more historical than artistic at this point.

The tree which must be about 50 years old and measures above 3 inch nebari can be also seen at http://bonsai.ru/seishi/seminar.html Don't be confused, the first bushy picture you'll see on this page is the right one, the second one represents a proposal (the text is in Russian anyway).

At this point we would appreciate getting some ideas, even if radical ones (leave it as it is, etc.), and not a detailed plan of branch work. Any suggestions about the pot would be also helpful. We are placing responces on the referenced website and if we have many suggestions, we would add an English page. We hope this also will be a good learning exercise for many in Russia. Thanks everybody. Andrei

Advertisement

glenn

Wow ... no pressure everyone lol

I like the way it is to be honest! .. I know you said shush about the ramificaition, but it would be nice to see some more of it on the very right hand side! ...

other than that I think I'll reserve my judgement until some of the more experienced people have their say.

Jay

Andrei, First I must tell you that I am a novice (at best) and please take these suggestion accordingly. I felt the pot needed to be a bit larger and that the tree needed sme refinement, i hope this gives you a little idea of what I mean.
Jay

__________________
A Bonsai student living with his trees at N 44.37 W 77.49...
Think before you act... then think again... no good comes from rushing

boostspike

here's what i see

TreeBay

Welcome Andrei,

In my opinion, this tree really needs a good hard pruning. From that point, the development can be quite rapid because the structure is good.

I have attached a GIF animation that shows one possibility. I think the pruning is fairly straightforward. From that point I just added some ramification (branch development)

__________________

Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today!

bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

Jay

Matt, Your direction is far better than mine. Just shows all those years of knowledge and practice show! . Question, if this tree was to undergo a good hard pruning as you suggest. What is your thought as to the time to achieve the growth shown in the GIF file. I realize it is variable and the growth can be slightly different but just trying to understand!

__________________
A Bonsai student living with his trees at N 44.37 W 77.49...
Think before you act... then think again... no good comes from rushing

TreeBay

It is probably a 3 year project, depending on the health of the tree. The only liberty I took with the original design is the branch at the lower right. If nothing springs from there under the stimulus of pruning, it might be necessary to graft a branch in place. It is interesting that all three redesigns above included a branch in that exact position!

I think that is the only technical problem in the redesign.

After the pruning, it will be necessary to pinch back the growing shoots to increase ramification. The original shape of the tree was probably somewhat similar to what was shown here, and it just grew out of shape. I wonder if any old photos exist.

Regards,

Matt

__________________

Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today!

bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

Jay

Matt, thanks for the info. Its good to get the feel for time as an element in the process. I have a Corked Bark Chinese Elm that I think needs a little heavy trimming. It should be coming out of its winter resting place (the garage) shortly. I plan on putting it up for suggestions. Hopefully you will have the time to do a GIF on it.

__________________
A Bonsai student living with his trees at N 44.37 W 77.49...
Think before you act... then think again... no good comes from rushing