For Ryan Neil

Hi Ryan and all,

I have been working on the Podocarpus from the BSF Convention last year. This is todays' result, front, side and back. I think I will move the top jin closer to the tree apex to close the "V", what do you (all) think :

Additional little detail I created some years ago:

Nice work D, it looks nice and healthy......bringing the jin closer/behind the apex might work well if the first photo is the front?
Cheers Graham
p.s. were there any sketches/verts from Ryans first stlying?

Are you going to bend the jin or the live wood?

Nice tree. I'd really like to see Podocarpus used more often.

The third pic is more appealing to me than the first two. I suppose this is the back? The flow of the trunk including the emergence of the jin appears better, but perhaps his doesn't work as well in three dimensions.
Mike

I would like to know how you plan to bend the dead wood. I also wonder if it might look better reduced by more than half its current length; the other jin and snags are shorter. Do you plan to grow a larger canopy? Very nice tree!
Todd

This is a very stylish Podocarpus . I only have one criticism - why do you trim the leaves shorter ? Is this to improve the outline of the pads ? I would prefer to see it in its natural state .

Hi Dorothy,

What u think about this position of the jin ?



Good Luck
Efi

gman wrote:Nice work D, it looks nice and healthy......bringing the jin closer/behind the apex might work well if the first photo is the front?
Cheers Graham
p.s. were there any sketches/verts from Ryans first stlying?

Thanks. Yes, the first photo is the front - for now. No sketches or virts.

Best,
Dorothy

JimLewis wrote:Are you going to bend the jin or the live wood?

Nice tree. I'd really like to see Podocarpus used more often.

I was planning to bend the jin with the blow torch. However, I think I am just going to shorten the top jin. What do you think:

Velodog2 wrote:The third pic is more appealing to me than the first two. I suppose this is the back? The flow of the trunk including the emergence of the jin appears better, but perhaps his doesn't work as well in three dimensions.
Mike

All sides are interesting with this tree, including the back. The line is good in the back, the available branches are not. One could regrow of course.

Thanks,
Dorothy

Todd Ellis wrote:I would like to know how you plan to bend the dead wood. I also wonder if it might look better reduced by more than half its current length; the other jin and snags are shorter. Do you plan to grow a larger canopy? Very nice tree!
Todd

Todd, you are correct. I think too the jin needs to be shortened. Check the pic I just previously posted. I was planning to blow torch the jin and bend it. Pretty easy. Yes, the canopy will be larger. However, this tree has very short leaves. The size of the cut leaves is the actual size once the tree is back in balance.

Thanks, Dorothy

Jim McIntyre wrote:This is a very stylish Podocarpus . I only have one criticism - why do you trim the leaves shorter ? Is this to improve the outline of the pads ? I would prefer to see it in its natural state .

Jim,

I trimmed the leaves because that is the real size of the leaves.The tree has been growing out and the leaves have gotten larger. Once the tree is in its cycle it will have very short leaves. That was the reason I aquired it. I always wanted to make airlayers.
In addition it is equally easier to style when you know how much spacing is needed and it makes you see better. It also forces lots of backbudding on branchlets and old wood.

Best,
Dorothy

efishn wrote:Hi Dorothy,

What u think about this position of the jin ?



Good Luck
Efi

Efi,

I think it looks broken.
Kidding. There are many ways to integrate the top jin, that's one of them. However, I don't really need the long jin, so I will go with Todd's suggestion and shorten it, I think.

Thanks,
Dorothy

i think you can have a dead wood like this :
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Great development of this tree. This is the best Podocarpus I have ever seen and it only appears that it is going to get better. Where on earth did you find the raw material to make this bonsai?

I also realize that Ryan made the initial styling but it is your care and continued work that has brought the original intent to fruition; not an easy task. It is so easy to let a piece designed by someone of Ryan's talent to run lose without proper care and maintenance, or to lose the entire tree due to continually fooling with it. The tree as I see it now is as it should be; better than the tree you left BSF with.

Why not bend and see if you like it first? The jin can easily be reduced later and no harm done .....

abcd, thank you for your suggestion. Yes, that is possible, thanks.

Vance, thank you for your very kind words!

marie1uk, I am procrastinating when it comes to top jins. The only reason to bend the top jin down is if it was needed there. EFi and you made a good suggestion nevertheless.

Thanks!

Spring!

Yeah!!!

dorothy7774 wrote:abcd, thank you for your suggestion. Yes, that is possible, thanks.

Vance, thank you for your very kind words!

marie1uk, I am procrastinating when it comes to top jins. The only reason to bend the top jin down is if it was needed there. EFi and you made a good suggestion nevertheless.

Thanks!

On the subject of the top jin. I have always found that the best option when you are in doubt or unsure is to leave it alone. One day you will go out into your garden and you will know; you will decide to refine it or cut it off but there will be no doubt. It is after all your tree you choices and your actions.

Thanks Vance, well said.

As un update, I'd like to show the backbudding I usually achieve with Podocarpus by cutting the leaves just prior to spring budding:



Lots of the new shoots will emerge out of the old center shoot, the tree may or may not drop soem of the browning old leafs:


Other shoots will emerge out of the trunk and/or out of old pruning scars..






..and out of branches






Best,
Dorothy

Great photos of its progress!

It's really nice to see all that back budding. This opens the door to you for more options if you choose to take any of them. Also helps to keep your foliage pads nice and compact. A lot of tree we tend to work with don't give you this luxury, you kind of find yourself pinched into a corner of having to constantly manage the new growth or a bit of neglect can cost you years of work in one summer. Now you have to be careful that the new growth won't say Woopie, take off and abandon a necessary branch.

dorothy7774 wrote:... ...As un update, I'd like to show the backbudding I usually achieve with Podocarpus by cutting the leaves just prior to spring budding

This is amazing!
I always wonder how bonsai people "invent" new methods/ways and I always admire people who experiment and are always trying to find something new or find solutions to problems.
Looks like you are one of them, Dorothy!