Bonsai tree: Beech Forests

This is a somewhat faded image of a somewhat amazing Japanese beech fores.
In Japan, Japanese beech (Fagus crenata) have been for a long time a favorite for forest plantings. Their smooth almost white bark, fairly small leaves, fine branching and easy-to-work-with toughness, makes them a natural for bonsai. Here in the you not be able to find any Japanese beech, but don’t despair, most of the principles can be applied to other deciduous trees.

This is a not-so-faded slab planting. See below for instructions on preparing a slab for planting.
 
Preparing the slab.

Source: Bonsai Bark Read more!

Bonsai tree: juniper, ezo spruce

The hollowed out trunk caught my eye. I have seen very few trunks that have been so completely hollowed. It looks like it might be a Ezo spruce though I could be mistaken. If it is an Ezo, it must be quite old to attain such size as Ezos are very slow growing. I like the first branch, it almost serves as a second trunk and is not a bad little bonsai in itself. Overall, I think that this is a excellent tree with great balance, and would be noteworthy even without the distinctive hollow trunk.

Here is another tree from the same gallery that caught my eye. Though it’s a juniper, the reddish bark and the deadwood remind me of the Manzanitas in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. Read more!

Bark Stripping Tool

This is my brand new Bark Stripping Jin Tool. It has two settings, one for thin branches and one for thicker branches, but you can adjust it easily to any size up to almost 5cm. The overall lenght of the tool is 6approx 17cm. Made in Japan by Koyo tools.
I just braved the cold and ice and tried mine on three types of branchs: oak, larch and juniper of different thickness. As soon as I got the hang of how much pressure to apply and the wrist movement, it worked like a charm.
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Fantastic Junipers

This is a Shore Juniper (J. procumbens) by master bonsai innovator, Masahiko Kimura. It combinse the sculptural look that has been favored by some Japanese bonsai artists with a more wild, ruged natural look that is in favour in much for the world bonsai community. If bonsai is an art, then the categories are continually being broken down as artist play, explore and inovate. And no bonsai artist that has played, explored and inovated more successfuly thanMaster Kimura.
Junipers are tough, durable and flexible and pruneable. They don’t mind having their roots hacked and they take to container culture. Their needles tend to be small and dense and both their needles and bark come in a range of attractive colours and textures. Perhaps best of all, junipers take to carving like few other plants and their deadwood is both attractive and long lasting especially if you keep it clean and apply lime sulfur.



Dwarf Japanese garden juniper. One thing I do know is that it is unmistakably a Procumbens nana; a dwarf cultivar of the Procumbnes. Procumbens nana is by far the most popular juniper for beginners, at least here in the States. However, you seldom see a masterpiece, as the trunks tend to stay too thin. The trunk on this one is about a thick as they ever get. Read more!