Went To Home Depot Today

goodspeed

and I got these 2 trees, an alberta spruce and a male blue holly both for $11.00

I already made the spruce into a formal upright, anyone else have suggestions for it, I wish I had taken a before picture....

anyway I am about to work on the male blue holly anyone have any suggestions or virtuals?

whatever you all suggest I will try to do and post up pictures

thanks!!

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discobassoonist

good speed,

Nice job so far. I think the idea of formal upright is the right style for this tree. There are a few things that you can do to it.

1. The tree has no apex, if you look at old-growth spruce trees, you'll see that they make a triangle sort of shape. What you have it the triangle without the top point. Naturally, it's not a "sharp" point, but I would encourage turning one of the top 2 branches into the apex. See daig. 1

2. Imagine that these branches are holding upwards of 150 years of growth on them. They will bend down, keeping in mind that the lines will not be perfectly straight per se, but the general flow is important. See diag. 2

3. I think giving the tree "Slight" lean to one side, will help the overall effect.

Good luck, and keep us updated with this tree!
Dane

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goodspeed

thanks for the advice, I also bought a juniper today here is the before and after

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goodspeed

1

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discobassoonist

Wow, you CERTAINLY did a lot of work today!

I like this juniper too. Very well done. I have included pic for suggestions ~ if you can bend that trunk a bit (=

I did these because the 3 lower branches diminish in length SO quickly, and I figured that the trunk could use some interest too.

Hope all is well,
Dane

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goodspeed

wow great thanks so much for the advice heres the spruce with fewer lower branches and a little bit better top. I have two more spruce and want to try and do something a little more different than just an upright we'll see how i goes

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discobassoonist

Keep at it, practice is good! (That's what I tell myself when I leave home depot with a dozen trees!!! lol )

Good luck,
Dane

DavidN

goodspeed, I know that these pictures are 2 dimensional but I am hoping that your trees are not 2 dimensional. That is, I can't see any back branches. It could be the photos but your trees need to have back branches. This is a common oversight with new people to bonsai. Even I did the same thing when I first started out. Just remember trees in nature are 3 dimensional with branching all around the tree. Remember to keep a few back branches so that you have a 3 dimensional tree.

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kvnharv29

Place the branches like a spiral staircase climbing up the trunk. Am i right about that(Im a beginner too).

-Kevin

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