Japanese White Pine

Hello everyone

This JWP is a recent purchase, and I've been spending a lot of time looking at it since thinning out the needles and a few unnecessary shoots.

I think the tree's primary strengths are:
1) Heavy trunk with attractive bark and decent flare at the base
2) Reasonably well-disguised graft

Weaknesses:
1) The taper is a bit abrupt above the first branches, but I think that can be disguised
2) Two heavy low branches directly across from each other
3) There are basically no back branches

I am attaching a variety of photos in the hopes that you might be able to offer me a few suggestions on styling. I have been looking at a lot of other white pines and think the two lower heavy branches need not be a problem, depending upon where I put the foliage--basically, if you can't directly see the bar branches, and if the foliage pads seem to be on different levels, I'm thinking the branches may be fine.

Another option might be to remove one of the low branches, carving the stub and continuing it into a shari or hollow down the trunk.

To my eye, at least, the front will be one of the first two photos I am showing. The rear might look acceptable to some of you from the photo, but it looks much less probable as a front in real life.

Thanks very much for looking -- I would be happy to hear any ideas.

Chris

more photos from all sides...thanks for looking

Chris

Hi Chris.

are those flaky barks real? or some were glued to the trunk to hide the graft works?
anyway its a nice small pine. I'm not into pines, due to our climate. but if it were my tree I would first put it in the bonsai section.
I would remove the smaller lower branch and keep just one stronger first branch, thus removing the cross branches. I would probably lessen the height of the tree too and create a more compact simple design.

regards,
jun

In the 5th picture it appears there may be three branches growing out from about the same place on the trunk. ????????

In any event, I think you will need to get rid of (at least) one of them eventually. Otherwise you will begin to get an unsightly swelling at that point of the trunk.

In the closeup, you can see that those branches are hugely fat, with smaller branches coming out at all sorts of odd angles. Unfortunately I don't see that view of the tree in any of the other pictures, so I don't know how to recommend which of those should go, but I think one of them must go -- and without a leftover jin. In that picture, the right-hand fat branch seems the most crowded into the rest of the branches, so it might be the one to go.

In the left-hand branch I definitely would remove that small vertical branch and (probably/possibly - I can't see the rest of the tee from this angle) the fatter one right next to it.

Well, there -- FWIW. I think this may be a difficult one. You should move slowly and deliberately.

The tree looks to be 10 inches tall or thereabouts???

Hello Jim - thanks for taking the time to reply once again, and thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. You were very close on the height...it's just under 12 inches at the moment.

Jun - thanks for your reply, too. Although...did you just ask if my bark was pasted on my trunk?

I think I'm going to do some basic wiring, just to flatten out the branch planes and to get a better view of the structure of the tree. I probably will post a few photos when I'm done, but I'm still happy to hear any other opinions, if anyone has any.

Thanks for looking

Chris

Chris,

in some ways this tree resembles my pine, but my own is a black pine, and if you don't mind, I would like to see how this one is resolved.

Especially with regards to cuts.
Khaimraj

jersanct wrote:Hello Jim - thanks for taking the time to reply once again, and thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. You were very close on the height...it's just under 12 inches at the moment.

Jun - thanks for your reply, too. Although...did you just ask if my bark was pasted on my trunk?

I think I'm going to do some basic wiring, just to flatten out the branch planes and to get a better view of the structure of the tree. I probably will post a few photos when I'm done, but I'm still happy to hear any other opinions, if anyone has any.

Thanks for looking

Chris

....Yes Chris, I asked if it might be a glued bark on some portion, because if it was a recently purchased tree with some grafting made. one of the solutions done in hiding unsightly scars and graft mark is by attaching old flaky barks... specially if the tree (not just yours) was spotted first in photo or thru the net. some people (not you) even use this trick to make the tree look older and matured.
just curious, no offense meant.

regards,
jun

Hello Jun - thanks for your explanation, and thanks again for your earlier comments. Fortunately, I was able to buy this tree in person at a reputable dealer.

I have decided to post a few sketches of preliminary ideas I had for the basic shape of this tree, to see if any of you really see the possibilities as completely unworkable. I suspect I soon will take Dorothy's position as IBC's Most Desired Creator of Virts after this dazzling display of virt-skill. Try not to notice my wildly optimistic view of the size of my own trunk in the sketches...I'm a man, after all.

I suppose my only points in posting these sketches are:
1) In the first sketch, I really wonder if the naughty bar branches need to be a problem if you can't see the bases of both branches, and if the foliage planes are at different levels. I look at something like the Yamaki pine at the US National Arboretum, which has something like 3-5 bar branches at the bottom--and eye-poking bar branches directly at the front, for that matter--and nobody seems to mind. Obviously my humble tree is nothing like the Yamaki pine, and that may be why I can't pull off the same indiscretions.

2) Jim, you seemed very much against retaining a jin if I did remove one of the branches. I'm just posting my awful sketch of what it might look like, to see if it really would be so bad.

Please don't interpret my questions as argumentative or ungrateful. I am quite happy to hear opinions, even if they repeat earlier comments and tell me that I am crazy.

I really do apologize for the quality of the sketches. Thanks again for your help.

Chris

Here's where I am after an unshaven Italian man messed around with this tree a bit...

bump

Looking much better!
Oliver