Author: Brian VF

I have been studying bonsai since 1994, in an ever-increasing obsessive fashion. In our last 5 years prior to moving from Iowa to Alabama pursuing a career in the foodservice industry, my bonsai collection was limited to a few varieties that could survive brutal winters outside, or winters under dim light in the dank basement of our humble duplex...my wife puts up with a lot. Including the trailer hitch I put on our brown 1983 Chrysler New Yorker to pull a U-Haul full of trees to Nashville for a 3-month stop along the career path that led us to Alabama. 12 years later, we no longer have the New Yorker; and not a single one of those trees remain on my bench, having given the last holdout to a new club member this summer. I prefer collecting native trees and buying the classical species used in Japan, feeding organic, and reading everything I can get my hands on.

Trip to Eisei-en

Had a chance to spend a couple days at Eise-en in November. It had been a couple years since I was able to head up and work on trees. I took 4 up this year, a 16-year old grafted Zuisho JWP from Evergreen Gardenworks, a rare Kiyozuru cultivar of Itoigawa from Chikugo-en, and an Arakawa JBP from Telperion farms. Each unique pieces with some provenance that also needed some work done. Stay tuned for update posts on the work done. For now, here are some photos from around Bjorn’s nursery. Enjoy.

Kiyozuru Itoigawa first styling

In March, I added a bend to this Kiyozuru Itoigawa. Here is the post showing the work: https://nebaribonsai.wordpress.com/2021/03/27/bending-with-rebar/ . The intent was to add a little upper-trunk movement to compliment the great wiggle in the lower trunk.

So in early November I checked the tree and saw the lower wire digging into the trunk slightly. This indicated it was time to remove it to reduce damage to the lower trunk.

A shot back to March before and after the bend:

And fast-forward through 7.5 months of uninhibited growth:

The tree grew well, and I probably should have checked this a little sooner.

The tubing was a little deceiving in what it was hiding…
The lower brace
Upper brace, where the bend was made.
Lower trunk, front, after wires removed.
Lower trunk, back, showing where the wire had dug in a little. Next year, this should disappear.
A shot of the bend achieved.

And after the hardware was removed. I can see changing the planting angle to get something more dramatic out of the tree.

I took this tree to Bjorn’s in mid-November to start working on it. Since the cultivar is rare, I wanted to leave long runners in place to use for cuttings in the spring…an added degree of difficulty. we agreed on this front:

Drew some Shari locations, and did a little light carving to add the appearance of movement. This is the front:

Back:

Wiring out shoots from the bottom up. I left most runners for cuttings, but did thin out heavy areas and hanging weak growth that wouldn’t make good cutting material.
A quick shot after the apex was finished.
Done for this year.

I’ll share thoughts on the growth characteristics of the Kiyozuru after 2 growing seasons in an upcoming post. What I can share so far is that I have been unsuccessful in getting any cuttings to survive, where Itoigawa cuttings are nearly automatic. This may contribute to the rarity of the cultivar.