Bonsai Critique with Dennis Makishima

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Bay Area Bonsai Associates (BABA) hosted a winter silhouettes tree critique by Dennis Makishima, a noted landscape and bonsai gardener in the Oakland area.

Dennis provided a two-hour discussion of deciduous and semi-deciduous species with an interactive question & answer format and tree critique.

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This Ginkgo biloba was admired for its many trunks; however, the cylindrical appearance of many of them suggests they were grown on rather quickly.

Dennis pointed out that with the tree still in development, it is probably too soon to worry about the top dressing of moss on the soil surface. The owner had added this to help mitigate the effects of the drying wind in Sacramento.

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A close up of the Ginkgo shows some of the trunk development. Ginkgo are often styled in clump arrangements. Sometimes this modified style is given its own name, "flame style," because of the presence of the multiple trunks.

The root base will need some work, too.

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For this Chinese Elm, Dennis observed that some trees may be styled in forms that are characteristic of other species. If this is done, the grower should be an expert in that form, and in the problems that may be encountered because of the horticultural characterstics of the plant.

Chinese Elm, for example may be developed in the "Pine Tree Style" which is an example of what is happening here.

The elm has a large wound and we discussed how that can be addressed. Dennis puts a priority on healing wounds, and points out that large wounds are often best healed in the developmental phase, before worrying about the fine ramification of the tree.

If the wounds are not healed early, there may be slow healing or even die back.

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My own suggestion for the problem was to take an air layer from the opposite side of the tree.

I thought the apex area of the tree was the most interesting, and would produce a much better bonsai in a short amount of time. The owner agreed, but Dennis had reservations about whether this large tree was meant to be a shohin.

The red line marks the location of the proposed air layer.

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In considering this twin trunk Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) Dennis discussed the considerations in developing a twin trunk tree. How one trunk should appear slightly behind the other, and how the development of each apex needs to follow a logical development of thicker to thinner branches to produce the graceful branch arrangement that is most appreciated for deciduous trees.

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This beech (Fagus crenata) raised the subject of how to prune during the spring.

Dennis pointed out the importance of styling with the finer growth. Pines for example produce weaker candles in the Fall that are much better for styling. If one attempts to develop a tree using the spring candles, the growth will be coarse and hard to control.

Similarly, one should not allow long internodes to develop in a deciduous tree, but instead cut back to the area at which the internodes are closely spaced.

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This comparison of pruning scars on the Beech shows a slow-healing wound on the left, and one which is nearly closed on the right.

Get the wounds healed right away.

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Several sketches illustrated the pruning procedure for spring, and the consideration of whether the plant is alternate budding (like elm) or opposite budding, like maple.

X marks an internode (this is a bud union or "joint" from which future buds might develop)

Trunk is on the left side



--X---X---X------X----------X---------------X--------------------X
cut back to ^here

The tree will automatically die back to the next bud union. Preserving the close internodes will allow the tree to be styled easily in the future.

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