Another Shohin Crabapple Progression Series

Crabapples are one of my favorite species to work with; I've always found them very tough and forgiving. The idea behind this one is to impart the feeling of extreme age. A lot of times with crabapples, if left to their own devises, for trunks similar to a Red Bull can. The other option is to cut back the trunk and select a new leader which usually results in the trunk cant which is so characteristic of crabapple bonsai.

Eventually, my plan is to reorient the trunk into a more upright position with strong surface roots, but that'll come later.







pics 1-3 were taken this past winter. The "plan" was to do no more than work on developing leaders and side branches.





pics 4 and 5 were taken late this spring after a flush of growth and some early branch development.







The last 3 were taken just a few days ago. The plan at this stage is to re-develop a new L branch. The previous one was rather anemic and just didn't fit the overall idea, so I cut it off and will work on regrowing a new one. There are a lot of warts and swelling around the area, yet sometimes I like the way they seem to go with the idea of great age. I'll end up reducing the swelling later and also focus on notching out the crotch between the two leaders. I wanted to keep the lower branches on the R (see pics 1-3 again), but I wasn't getting any cooperation on buds forming below. I didn't want to lose the branch, so I made a wedge to force the branch lower which you can see in the last two pics.

Hopefully, you'll find this interesting.

Do you have any progression on this crabapple?

I wonder why someone starts a progression thread and don't even say something for 2 years..