Shohin clump Mugo Pine

Hello,

Today I bought this dwarf Mugo pine for $7 from a nursery. The thing I liked most about it was the fact that it had many small buds down by the base of the plant. I had some spare time afterwards so I went ahead and styled it. As I worked on it I decided for a clump design. Below is the tree as offered.



Here is all that was cut away which was roughly 90% of the once beautiful Mugo



And this is the tree one hour later. This is a rough first styling that of course needs a lot of refinement as the tree matures. The pot is a virtual I did to get an idea of what it will look like. Also I added an image of an American quarter (about one inch diameter) for scale. The tree was placed back in it's original pot until next Spring at which time I will repot it.



Finally, here is a rough sketch I did to show what I would like it to look like when it matures.



Thank you for looking. Any comments are welcomed

I believe that is a good start to a great shohin. I my self have had little to no luck with mugo pines partially due to my usda zone .I have just recently been able to keep black pine happy.Good luck with this tree.

Great start on the mugo clump! It should do well in your zone. Do you intend to cover the large cuts with paste?

I believe it gets too hot for them in this Zone 7, in Central Virginia. I have lost four or five over the years, they need full sun, but cook in our sun here. Please send pictures after you repot next Spring. Salut, Todd

Seth Ellwood wrote:I believe that is a good start to a great shohin. I my self have had little to no luck with mugo pines partially due to my usda zone .I have just recently been able to keep black pine happy.Good luck with this tree.

Thank you Seth! I did not realize that about Mugos and thought it was a more adaptable species than it really seems to be

Todd Ellis wrote:Great start on the mugo clump! It should do well in your zone. Do you intend to cover the large cuts with paste?

I believe it gets too hot for them in this Zone 7, in Central Virginia. I have lost four or five over the years, they need full sun, but cook in our sun here. Please send pictures after you repot next Spring. Salut, Todd

Thank you Todd! I had read a while back a post by a very experienced bonsai artist that cut paste on pines is absolutely unnecessary. However, you have made me rethink this and perhaps I should err on the cautionary side and apply paste. I do it however all the time on my other trees.

For now I placed the tree for a week on two in the shade. It will be moved to full sun afterwards. Yes I'll post pics next Spring when I repot it although now I'm thinking I should probably repot it on a larger container to let the tiny shoots and thin branches develop further for yet another growing season.

Thank you again,
Sergio