My first Black Pine
Posted: October 19th, 2012, 11:04 pm
After watching the karate kid when I was younger I was fascinated by Bonsai, so when I first started to get into it a little more seriously 20 years later I had to of course get a Japanese Black Pine. I now know and have learnt along the way it is not any easy species for beginners but hey everyone has to have one!
I got this little one from Bonsai World on the Gold Coast and went through various stages of trying to do something with it and somehow not killing it I finally realised I didn't know what to do with it so chucked it into a patio pot. A couple of kids later and an occasional look/hack at it over a few years I decided to revisit it. I cut the top branch out of it and made some little adjustments and put it into a large bonsai pot. Initially I was pretty happy with the results but the more I looked it I realised it was ok but nowhere near as good as it could be.
A few months ago I decided to get a little more serious about this bonsai hobby and try and improve a little faster then my trial and error method had achieved so far. I reread some of my books, searched the internet and joined this awesome forum. The final stage was joining the local bonsai club (Gold Coast - Tweed Bonsai Club). The first meeting I went to was a workshop meeting so I took along the black pine. Lucky I hadn't done to much damage over the years and I was very fortunate that Carol who used to run Bonsai World was there and she provided so much amazing help and advice, including choosing a new front. The tree has now been transformed into something I can see developing into a great tree over the years. There are plenty of holes to be filled in with how it currently looks but is on a great road now.
For any newbies in the forum I would strongly recommend doing a course at a local centre and joining a local club, you will learn so much so quickly and get a lot more out of this great past time.
So there is the story of this Black Pine, here are some photos of its progression.
I got this little one from Bonsai World on the Gold Coast and went through various stages of trying to do something with it and somehow not killing it I finally realised I didn't know what to do with it so chucked it into a patio pot. A couple of kids later and an occasional look/hack at it over a few years I decided to revisit it. I cut the top branch out of it and made some little adjustments and put it into a large bonsai pot. Initially I was pretty happy with the results but the more I looked it I realised it was ok but nowhere near as good as it could be.
A few months ago I decided to get a little more serious about this bonsai hobby and try and improve a little faster then my trial and error method had achieved so far. I reread some of my books, searched the internet and joined this awesome forum. The final stage was joining the local bonsai club (Gold Coast - Tweed Bonsai Club). The first meeting I went to was a workshop meeting so I took along the black pine. Lucky I hadn't done to much damage over the years and I was very fortunate that Carol who used to run Bonsai World was there and she provided so much amazing help and advice, including choosing a new front. The tree has now been transformed into something I can see developing into a great tree over the years. There are plenty of holes to be filled in with how it currently looks but is on a great road now.
For any newbies in the forum I would strongly recommend doing a course at a local centre and joining a local club, you will learn so much so quickly and get a lot more out of this great past time.
So there is the story of this Black Pine, here are some photos of its progression.
