Cedar styling opinions desired

[TimS]

Hi all,

First off sorry for the shizen houzen photo quality, good old 5 year old iphone spec, and also for having to post photos up one by one but Photobucket has become so ridden with viruses that it's just not worth even using anymore. It's now the internet equivalent of antibiotic resistant STDs so i give up on it.

This cedar i purchased last year to help an acquaintance out, it had what can only be described as "epic" wire scars on the trunk which i took the plunge on using shari to remove/ hide a little from such prominence. While i'm sure many will not like such a prominent shari, i personally like the way it has turned out and hopefully it will be less of a punch in the face as it ages and wethers over time.

Aside from that I've moved it out of a bonsai pot and into this wooden grow box to give it a bit more room to stretch its roots out into, and been doing little more than fertilising and pruning as it has grown through spring. I feel a good tree is in there just waiting to be pulled out with a little wiring and whatnot, the real struggle i'm having is what to do with the apex of the tree. Do i take that little tuft off the very tip and have a more spreading apex? Perhaps leave it as a more pointed triangular taper?

Basically i've been umming and erring about this for months upon months and i still haven't made up my mind so it's time to ask a few opinions from those with far more experience in bonsai design than i.

This photo is the front of the tree currently.

[TimS]

Here is the front but from a slight angle to show more of the shari.

[TimS]

Finally this is the current rear of the tree.

[MJL]

Nice Tim!

I reckon you’ve got a bit of this going on - see below - you could do worse than drawing on this photo for inspiration!

IMG_6331.jpg

I pulled it from here https://www.bonsai-bci.com/index.php/pr ... -upright-3

It was a present for the gent’s wife. Cool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[shibui]

Somewhere we have become conditioned to the apex of a bonsai being a single shoot. That can only lead to a pointed apex but real trees have an apex made from lots of twigs. Older trees in particular have a broader apex - rounded or sometimes flatter. Cedars, in particular, seem to mature into trees with quite flat tops, often made from several larger branches near the top of the tree.
Let a few more of the upper shoots grow to make a broader top on the tree. The photo from MJL is a good example.

Your tree may also be a bit tall for its width which is often a characteristic of younger trees. Reducing height would help match width and trunk diameter. You may be able to find a branch that will make a new apex or you could go daring and leave the top as dead wood which would match the shari quite well.

One of the problems with cedars is the slow growth rates. Your tree is quite good as it is and there's nothing about it that 20 or so years would not fix

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

lightning strike.jpg

lightning strike2.jpg

Eric Schrader c2015.jpg

[robb63]

Hi Tim
The angle of the trunk and the shari at the lower part of your tree suggests are leaning style.
I think leaning strongly to the right judging from your second last pic, almost wind swept from left to right.
That way the lower shari looks a bit like storm damage or prevailing wind from that side
Then as a weather beaten tree I think it would look better with a round or flat top.
I would definitely not have a pointed apex unless I wanted to grow the top as a sacrifice to chop off later.
I would wire and bend apex down and to the right removing any apex branch you don't need.
All the branches I think could be pulled down further and the right hand side I would have a bit longer in a leaning style.
That's just my

[anthonyW]

Did someone say leaning, he is a very nasty... but powerful and very full of air..the prevailing wind da dar...maybe some direction maybe? ...

phpzXbmA4PM (2).jpg

[TimS]

Thanks for your excellent input guys, really appreciate your take on it. it’s confirmed what I was thinking; that for now the top needs to come out of it to remove the very pointed apex it currently has. The sharp termination of the apex is no doubt in need of removal and something a little more compact and spreading grown in its place.

I like the idea of a planting angle change eventually too, I think that would help pull off the Shari a little more convincingly than it is now as well as give some more clarity to the branch positions.

I’ll spend some time with it over the long weekend and see what I can come up with.

[TimS]

I had a quick crack at removing the apex and then rewiring the branches this afternoon between beers. Needs more work and years more development for sure, but i prefer the apex lowered. I think i'll end up removing the jin at the top, seems a bit too contrived to me and far too thin for the size of the trunk.

[TimS]

Toying with a slight angle change as well

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

That's looking good Tim - I like your progress here.

I think i'll end up removing the jin at the top, seems a bit too contrived to me and far too thin for the size of the trunk.

or you could possibly do the opposite, & make the jin bigger by stripping down even further?

[shibui]

The top does look better with that reduction. Now needs some time to grow out and see what it will really look like before making too many more changes. I also like the change of angle though the longest branch opposite the lean is a little disturbing. Would leaning the other way be a possible alternative?

For my I think you still have too many branches. We all seem to hate cutting bits off but many bonsai look better when there's some spaces rather than full canopy, especially when the tree portrays a tough life history.

Removing any of the remaining branches is going to take some fortitude I think. Best to let it grow for a year or 2 and see what other ideas develop.