AusBonsai

My banksia maginata, silver banksia var. 'mini marge'
Has given me some challenges, it has been very difficult to force any back budding. All of the foliage is happy to extend from the tips and after 8 years allowing to grow out and then cutting back it still looks sparse.
I have seldom seen banksia bonsai with deadwood, because of the thick bark scars take a long time to heal. This tree has a couple of jins which I believe work quite well, in my opinion this is a more natural way to approach cuts on banksias. It happens all the time in the Australian bush.
So now I am considering a major change

That is not an easy tree to grow and keep in good health, well done.

I like the tree much more with the 3 branches. Just my

Gerard, thanks for posting this. Having experienced people post older trees like this with such beautiful photos is really helpful for folk like me without such quality trees to think about.

If you did make that bold change you note - would would you also slightly rotate the front to perhaps show that upper branch a little more? Or would that take away from the starker lines you are trying to create by removing the branch on the first place?




Bonsai teaches me patience.
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Branch removal would almost certainly result in a slight change in viewing angle, potting angle and pot

Before you cut off the branch entirely, why not cut it half way and see if it buds at the cut? You might be able to add another element of interest there. To me it's just the ramification starting a bit too far out from the trunk on that branch.
Have a look at he the tree of my avatar!
You can always cut it off....

Cutting that weak right branch improves it for me. Considering the two foliage masses that remain, the left mass is dense, the top mass is more open and diverse, and more interesting - maybe the left mass could be opened out more? That might make the bare branch that leads to it less obvious. I'm not usually keen on having two very similar foliage masses, but in this case I think it would work well. If both masses have open spaces, the space between them won't look quite so stark.

Lovely tree.

Gavin

I have shortened a few branches, thinned, wired and changed the potting angle. Decided to keep the right branch for now.