Taiwan maple - starting my nephew on the journey...

[Qitianlong]

Hey all,
after looking through all the discussions the rights/wrongs of bonsai, thought I'd share this.
I wanted to get my nephew started early, as I wish I had myself started earlier. He chose out from my collection of pre-bonsai this tree mid last year and we re-potted it when its new buds showed up:

oli 1.jpg

and this is what he's done with it today, all his own work and design, without any idea of the rules:

IMG_0161.JPG

IMG_0162 resize.jpg

He loves how it looks, and now has the task of keeping it alive. If he can, I'll suggest to him gently that after a couple of years, when we're happy with the trunk thickness, we totally remove the straight top section. At the moment he loves how it reaches up, despite being skinny, as he is short and skinny, so he can relate to the tree and its aspirations. He did some nice things with the exposed roots, using some sandstone to make a little landscape.

[squizzy]

For a first tree he has done an exceptional job in my opinion. It has the basic principles of a skinny informal upright and looks appealing.

For what my opinion is worth ( not a great deal I know) well done Qitianlongs nephew.

Squizz

[kcpoole]

Interesting tree
I would remove the straight vertical section if it were mine tho.

Ken

[Qitianlong]

Thanks Squizzy and Ken! I want to snip of the vertical now, but I'm calling it a sacrifice branch to rationalise it.

[Kyushu Danji]

I think it has good character. It will certainly thicken with that vertical branch, but I am worried maybe you will also not get taper if the sacrifice branch is so far up the main trunk? -- But without reading too much into it, your nephew did a good job in my opinion, and well done for getting more young people interested in bonsai^^

[fireworks]

A "big" congratulations to Qitianlong's nephew for a wonderful, artistic job that he has performed on his first tree.
Well done! As a matter of interest, how old is your nephew? It's fabulous to see young people getting into bonsai.

[Qitianlong]

Hi Fireworks, thanks! He's just turned 14. He waited two weeks extra to be born on my birthday! But he's small for 14, the smallest yet oldest in his class at school. A gentle kid.

[Andrew Legg]

Thanks Squizzy and Ken! I want to snip of the vertical now, but I'm calling it a sacrifice branch to rationalise it.

. . . . . . and it's not your tree!!!

Good job for a beginner, and I LOVE the fact that he's not been polluted by "the rules"!

You know what I find really cool about this post - just the fact that he loves the tree! That's what counts right!

[Andrew Legg]

Hi Fireworks, thanks! He's just turned 14. He waited two weeks extra to be born on my birthday! But he's small for 14, the smallest yet oldest in his class at school. A gentle kid.

Size shmize . . . . . being big is overrated! It's what's in his heart and his head that matters!

[Qitianlong]

That's my mantra Andrew, 'It's not my tree... It's not my tree..."!!
And being tall sucks, always have to reach stuff on the upper shelf for the missus...

[alpineart]

Hi Qitianlong , it a rare sight to see a Taiwan Maple as bonsai , not too many around . Good on the young fella for getting involved . My young bloke to it up at 6-7 and still playing with them at aged 9 , he too has a talent worth nurturing ,but not pushing .

Cheers Alpineart

[Qitianlong]

Hi Alpineart, yes that's true, if I badger him too much about it all he'll get sick of it (and me...), so have to tread softly.
I like the fact that the Taiwan maple grows a little slower that other maples, so hopefully he won't have to do to much to the tree, just water it.
He likes it most because when we first worked on it all the leaves were gone, and then he could watch the buds form and leaves burst, and he'll be able to watch the turning colours in Autumn.
A reminder that the only constant is change.

[Qitianlong]

and not to be outdone, my daughter got one of her trees out today and did some work on it... again, any input I may have given was disregarded, and probably for the best...

before:

Lilu prior resize.jpg

after:

Lilu post resize.jpg

[Qitianlong]

Update on my nephew's tree:

oli.jpg

[EdwardH]

Your nephews tree is coming along very nicely. Did he make the decision to chop the "sacrifice branch"?