And now for the crepe myrtle I worked on in my booth at the BSF convention.



Above is the front and below is the side (that line sounds like a line from a Dan Brown book)



There is a lesson here not only in styling but also in the growing of pre-bonsai stock.

I purchased the tree from D&L Nursery near Ocala Florida (http://www.dlnursery.com/)

It was in a nursery container and I potted it into this training pot this March.

Study this pic



What do you see? Those with a practiced eye will see one trunk chop at least.

There are two.



It is often thought by novices that a masterpiece bonsai with a 10 inch trunk and only 2 feet tall was grown by the artist from a seed.

It is true that it may have been a seedling at one point (or a cutting) but its unlikely that the artist who did the first (or sixth) styling grew it that way.

There are exceptions.

Mike Rogers from Deland, FL grows things from scratch.

Erik Wigert from N. Ft. Myers ,FL does.

I do as well.

The difference between the average hobbyist and my friends is the amount of trees we have. I probably have more ficus salicaria cuttings than even the most advanced hobbyist in my club has bonsai trees. The more trees you have the more patience you will have “growing” a bonsai. Or you just don’t have any time to work on it and it grows without you. One of the two.

So, how do you “grow” bonsai trees?

You allow the tree unchecked growth for years, chop it back, allow it to grow more, chop it back, repeat, etc.

That’s what we have with this crepe myrtle.

The first chop site. Completely healed, as you see



And the second chop site



It’s almost healed.

The crepe myrtle is good for these chops because they do heal so well.

I have one more chop to make. I am torn as to where though.

Actually, I have it down to two places.

I could use this front



Or this front



Where will the chop be on each one?

Different places.

Here are some quick sketches.



And



Hmmmmnnnn? You say,..er, hum.

The second one is shorter. By a lot.

The second design would require me to chop the tree here



I would do it to. But not this time.

Why?

First reason: this variety of crepe myrtle is called “Natchez”. Which means white flowers, BIG leaves and fast growth.

In a small tree the last two things are not really desirable.

Secondly, a chop that big (in a bonsai pot) may not heal. It probably would but I’d be fighting the tree (which wants to be bigger than 6 inches tall) and we should listen to the trees. They have much to say. Some of it not repeatable in mixed company.

Which reminds me of a joke:

These two trees had grown up next to each other and were good friends, weathering all types of storms together.

One was an elm and the other was a beech.

One day the trees were shooting the breeze when the beech spied a seedling growing between them.

He says

“Look Elmer, it’s my baby!”

Elmer says

“I think you’re mistaken Beechy old buddy. It looks like one of mine”

Well, this argument, being acted out by immovable objects with limited sight and unbending backs, went as much as can be predicted.

Eventually it came down to name calling and such.

Fortunately, a wood pecker landed on the Elmer’s limb one day.

Beechy says to him

“Woody, old pal, can you settle an argument for us?”

Elmer says

“Please Woody, to save me and Beechy’s friendship, can you go down (you who can fly and all) and tell us what kind of seedling is growing between us? I say it’s my baby, an elm…”

“And I say beech!” Beechy says

Woody shakes his head yes and flies on down.

Tap tap tap…..he cocks his head, tap tap tap. He looks up and nods yes.

And flies back up, landing on Elmer’s branch.

And he says

“Look fellas, I don’t know an elm from a son of a beech, but, I’ll tell you this..that was the best piece of ash I have ever put my pecker into”

And flies off.

Sorry, where was I?

Oh yeah, the crepe myrtle.

Next step. Those are long branches. About the length they’ll stay ultimately.

So goeth the trunk, as with the limbs



Chop



We do this for taper and movement. It is necessary, I promise. If you let the branch thicken without chopping it back you end up with thick, broom handle-like limbs.

Here’s more mayhem (which is legally defined as chopping of limbs, by the way)



And the third trunk chop



Which, on the drawing, is here



If we study the drawing there are some limbs that need culling:

Inside of a curve-



Wrong angle leaving the trunk-



Too many from one spot



These two



From a different angle



This clump of branches will cause reverse taper (or inverse, or adverse…jeez, sometimes bonsai artists are so obtuse with their acute use of words like shohin, chuhin or Jin and shari. “Look where that Shari meets that Jin on your momiji; it has inverse taper, it’s bigger than the nebari even! And why is a Jin on a momiji anyway? At most I can see a uro, but never Jin and Shari. )



Chop chop chop away all!



So here it is after the carnage:



And some wire

Side



Back



Front



And the sketch to compare



And I’m seeing that I need a little more wire…..

What the main theme behind this post is, yes, you can grow a bonsai, but it takes years. And some techniques that might seem extreme.

I’ll do a quick post soon on a willow leaf ficus I grew from a pencil thin cutting and explain the techniques I used getting there. And show off a bit.