AusBonsai

I don't think this tree ever ended up with it's own thread so I thought I would start one,

Background is I got through more than I thought I would in 2 days with Ryan over the xmas break and was in need of a third tree to work on. I was on a bit of a budget (after spending a small fortune already) and had done a few laps around the nursery and there wasn't a lot that I could find in the range I wanted to spend, the only thing that caught my eye was a Juniper that was set up to be a cascade.

I mentioned this tree to Ryan and told him that cascade's weren't my favourite style as I see a lot of trees that are styled as a cascade that to me look as though the artist has said "i want to make this tree a cascade, and set out to work completely against the flow of the tree in order to achieve what they set out to do". He was keen as on the idea of changing my opinion so we decided that this would be the tree to tackle.

I didn't get any before pics (sorry, was more interested in working on tree's than getting photos) but I was really happy after the days work with what we had been able to achieve.

The tree recovered well and pushed out a lot of new growth, but about 2 months in I noticed that I was starting to get some browning at the tips of the branches (enter bodhi's worst nightmare re. the mystery squamata fungus). I also had an issue with ants making a home in the nursery tub that this tree was in.

This meant that I needed to do an emergency repot to rectify the ant issue, and at the same time attempt to get on top of the branch die back, needless to say I was bummed out, and resigned myself to the fact that I may well lose the tree.

Fast forward another 4 months and I am happy to present (after a long winded intro) the tree in question, back on the road to good health (sorry about the background, the sun was in an unfriendly spot for photo's this morning) Hope you all like

Hey Kerrin,

As far as recovery and basic structure - this tree is pretty spot on.

For me though, the length of the cascade and the space between the foliage pads is a little too great. I feel that a more compact tree, with less space between pads towards the top, and a more prominent back branch pad behind the trunk, would show off what is a pretty nice, thick trunk.

Also, it looks like there is a Shari on the inside of the bend on the trunk, is this correct? If not... make one Will accentuate the bend as the trunk thickens while the Shari won't and add some interest to the trunk (this is assuming you like Shari on the trunk, I love them and would have a Shari on my face if I could, so I'm biased more than your average).

All in all, great work. Hope you're convinced on Cascade style trees!

Mo

I like it kez. If you spend a few hours wiring all the fine twigs, perhaps a nice shari running down the trunk and a deeper pot (maybe a square with inward curving sides?) and your there!

Cheers for the input folks,

Yep already a shari running down the trunk, and it is currently wired out to the tips, just letting it put on some bulk and recover vigour from it's first styling before I clean it up again

Kerrin

Personally, I quite like the use of negative space here. Gives the tree a lighter, floating impression, instead of forcing the eye down in a strong line. Feel like the eye's free to enjoy more of the tree as a whole, as opposwd to fixating on its tail.

More importantly. How did you wind up getting rid of the fungus?

well.......

I lost the battle with the mystery issue and have needed to remove some significant branches that has resulted in the original style no longer working,

Here's what I call making do with whats left Lets see what everyone thinks

Kerrin

Yeah, I'm not a fan of cascade either, unless it is alcoholic, and even then I don't really rate it. I prefer the fallen over but still alive look or the look of growing out over a river bank look, but that is just me. (ignore my ramble)

Sorry to hear about the illness. Are you sure you've got it all ?
Do you have many more of the same variety, I'd certainly be keeping them far apart if so, and sterilize your tools after working on it.

As a result, the base obviously now looks incredibly strong with the loss of the cascading trunks and branching. Are you planning on growing it further down now? I guess you are kind of concentrating on getting its health back on track and more foliage presumably.

On a side note - I love the look of the angled down fence as your backdrop for all your photos of bonsai you post. It has that rustic beautiful appeal to it, I very much love it, more so than a plain background.

I don't think the original design is completely lost, still heading in the same direction just simpler, more classic design The 2 designs could fall into Treeman's thread on design.
For me, I feel the jin should be shortened, I just get a little distracted where it sweeps across the trunk

I wouldn't necessarily consider this design inferior to the original, just different. I quite like it, it has the compact, strong look of a tree that's looked 'hard times' in the eye and said 'Is that all you've got?'. It's got a lot of character.

I guess if the feeling was that the trunk seems too powerful as it is, you could probably put a shari down it to take away some of the visual weight?

Of course, I imagine you'd probably want to make sure the tree was 100% healthy before doing anything like that.

I suppose you could also try and cram it into a narrower, slightly taller and more angular pot, to take a bit of the visual gravity away from the image. Mind you, that's just me free-balling.

How's this one travelling now Kez? Hope the mystery illness never came back.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

Sorry pearcy missed your post

Yep the tree recovered well, and was repotted into a new pot about 3 months ago Kerrin