AusBonsai

Well my Mother also loves her Bonsai's (to look at anyway)... She has quite a few in her collection. Japanese Maple's, Trident, Crab Apple, Plums, P-Mume, Hokkaido, Chinese Elm and a few more as well as her Liquid Amber. She originally had all of them in 1/2 sun.... And then for some reason she decided to get Dad to move her bench close to the house under the shade of a 3m+ Japanese Maple. Well in that location they all only recieved dappled light even in the middle of summer. She made the mistake of watering them every day even if they were already moist. All of them seemed to really struggle and I let her know that she's best off checking the soil before watering and also moving the bench back to it's original position(as we all know women are always right and she wasn't convinced)
Well anyway her Liquid Amber was hardest hit ( late summer) lost all of its leaves, main trunk and branches looked like it had died back to nothing. So I repotted with fresh soil and covered with a plastic shopping bag and treated like a cutting just misting every few days. New shoots started to pop from base and had hardened nicely before winter.
On the weekend it started to show signs of life again with buds starting to swell so thought now was the best time to work on what was left. Haven't ever tried clump style on any of my trees before and really don't know if Liquid Amber's do this naturally but thought I better listen to the tree, watch what's going on and work with what it's trying to do (survive...!)
So questions are - how do I go about manipulating branches, initial bending & wiring to achieve an elegant natural looking tree....? Should I be letting it grow out...letting it thicken so that they fuse and cover over the chop...? Do Liquid Amber's back bud easily, or are the buds that I currently have are all that I have to work with....? As I'm not familiar with LA's how best to promote side branhing and ramification...?
All advice and opinions on how to develop this as a clump style would be greatly appreciated... And maybe even a virt drawing/ sketch if anyone's willing. Here are the pics

Apologies for the sideways pics used the Ipad, and when viewing pics before submitting, they auto rotate...sorry

No experience at all on the species, but I think that tree has a great future! I'd get a bit of wire on there early, and bend gradually as they are quite likely to snap I would think.

as you have found theyare quite resilient.

Wire them when young and plan on a larger clump. The leaves reduce but not all that much, so larger trees are better.

Ken

In victoria - these things dominate in the inner city and can handle heaps of mistreatment especially in relation to high heat / lack of water in summer

Hi everyone merry Xmas and New Year

I planted a liquid amber i had grown from seed in a pot for the last 2 years. My elderly neighbour (94) allowed me to plant it in her yards back corner, as i do her pruning of roses/oranges etc. Anyway it was planted in spring and was taking off, ready for winter chop by my reckoning. It was planted next to a JM and Coastal Red. I hadn't checked them for a week and when i do, i find that the LA has been ripped out, trunk snapped and tossed under a camellia. It was bone dry, root ball and all. I've replanted it. Will it bounce back?

The lawnmower man is about to find me most disagreeable to say the least

Looks good in the old pics, would love to see some new ones

I think your tree has already answered the question of whether they bud well. LA produce lots of suckers from the roots and can be a pain when planted in the garden because new trees keep popping up all over the lawn and garden beds.
they will shoot from the closest bud wherever you cut the branches and that's the best way to get them to ramify - allow the shoots to grow then cut back.
Wire shoots when they are young and flexible. they will probably set into the new shape in just a few weeks. They thicken quickly so check wired trees often and remove wire as soon as it starts to look a bit tight on the branches.
I would do some initial wiring for shape then let this one grow freely so there's some thickness in the new trunks then cut to promote buds to develop branching. as these trunks develop they will gradually cover the scar from the old trunk.

No idea - LA are pretty hardy as you can see from this thread. Your LA may still come back, even after being broken and out of the ground. I have had many trees that have survived days, occasionally weeks out of the ground. If it was indeed the lawnmower man he was probably just trying to help his client - see notes on LA suckers above. He probably sees that garden as his domain as well so maybe you should talk about what you are planting and your intentions to remove them before they get big enough to cause problems. I'm sure if he knows what is going on he'll be very cooperative (I now declare a vested interest - another lawnmowerman )

Do you mean Liquiidambar Styraciflua? I love to be pedantic but it has a use as its like an identity card to its family or tribe. but that done with I'm glad it is recovering. I t could become a very nice bonsai given time.