Hello everyone, Sorry Its been a while with my styling updates. We've been very busy lately with only 2 weeks to go till our BONSAI BASH weekend 4th /5th September !

Here a short sequence I thought you may be interested in - Its not often you see styling progress on deciduous trees as it is often a more drawn out process than evergreens.

This is a Field Maple (Acer campestre) it was a Air layer from a larger tree I bought it as pictured here on the left in OCT  2008

i bought it because I was after a good example of a RAFT planting to show students attending my Introductory Bonsai courses

It was starting to wind down for the year and showing Autumn colour.
 

 In Spring 2009 I re-potted it in to a large glazed pot I had trouble finding one large enough to hold it for now (but was much better than the bread crate it was in initially.

At the same time I wired one of the left hand trunks a bit more upright.

 Here at end of  MAY 2010 just come in to full leaf, you can see that in a year it has filled out quite a lot, especially the apex which has broadened and gives a much softer feel.

For the past year or so I have been using Naruko to feed all my own bonsai and I am amazed with the result I have been achieving. This was fed with Naruko in May once leaves were fully out (feeding too early will only cause large leaves on a tree like this)

 This is the feeding result, its interesting that so many people think that bonsai don't grow too much - well they couldn't be more wrong !

Photo on the left was taken only 4 WEEKS after the one above !!!

Heres my final shot, taken 10 MINS after the one above. Now the maple has been well trimmed to regain shape and style

I am trying to encourage the tree to root down along the whole length of its trunk. This should allow me to remove some of the untidy roots on the right hand side which means I will be able to slide the tree over to the right hand side of the pot a bit more to get better composition.

The development of this tree over one and half years of training is very encouraging, you can see even that the scar on the front has healed up much better in that short space of time.

you just about have time to do a final full spectrum feed on your trees this year before the on set of Autumn, our full range of fertilsers and supplements are here.

So a final reminder to all my website subscribers to invite you all along to our 2010 BONSAI BASH - for a weekend of FREE demonstrations and bonsai  !

 Hello everyone,

Sorry i have not added any new posts to the styling blog recently.

I have recently returned from the 2nd National Bonsai exhibition in Rochester N.Y U.S.A. I was amazed at the exhibits of specimen Bonsai from right across the United States. During my visit it gave me great insight into many new species of Bonsai. With many trees travelling over 1500 miles to be in the exhibit, from many different climate zones. This resulted in a wide variety of species including many tropical bonsai not often seen here in the U.K.

I will be making a blog entry with lots more information and photos from this show at a later date when i have organised the photos.

On my return from the U.S i purchased a collection of Bonsai from a private enthusiast who had been growing Bonsai for over 20 years.

Among these was this unusual cascade Blue Abies.

Here on the top picture you can see it as i bought it. It had basic shape, but was lacking balance and definition.

 Abies can be tricky to work with as their foliage is quite coarse and thick. I started by trimming back unwanted heavy new growth to attain more compact foliage pads.

Next it was on with the wiring, one good point of Abies is that they are very flexible, meaning the branches are easily bent and portioned.

With this styling I spent around 1 hour from start to finish, this including the trimming, wiring and shaping. One important factor was to split up the apex of the tree to give more definition. In particular to form some left had branches off the apical trunk.

The lower trunk needed re positioning to make it cascade and flow better.

Although i find the pot suitable for the tree, the positioning of the tree in the pot is incorrect, ideally the tree needs moving closer to the centre of the pot (left). Of course at this time of year re potting a tree like this would not be beneficial. many conifers like this can be re potted in October/November.

This tree is for sale on the website, you can see it by clicking here.

If you have a specimen that needs high level refinement, show preparation, or re-styling please fell free to contact me for my availability and an idea of costs.

corin@bonsai.co.uk

 Here's a quick styling sequence on something unusual. This is a Wych Elm, it was originally collected from an old hedgerow many years ago. As you can see by the size of trunk its of considerable age as the trunk is over 30 cm across at the base!!

This is how it came to me, although twiggy it had too many branches and was starting to lack definition.

 I started the re-style by deciding upon where the front of the tree was going to be. This is my new proposed front, having rotated the tree anti clockwise. This shows off the hollow base of the trunk on the left hand side.

Now I can get to work thinning out crossing branches and getting a better shape to the tree. I also trim length to reduce overall size of tree and make for a more compact style.

The trunk is so huge that the tree looks quite tight in the old pot, with little soil surface area its going to prove harder to keep well watered, especially as these Elms are quite thirsty.

You can see here I've selected a shallower oval pot, this shows the trunk off more due to its reduced depth. The new pot has a lighter brown tone and I feel it compliments the tree's bark colour very well.

A final photo here - with can and measure to give you a  sense of scale. I'm pleased to now offer this tree for sale along with many other quality specimen bonsai at Greenwood Bonsai.

If you have a specimen that needs high level refinement, show preparation, or re-styling please fell free to contact me for my availability and an idea of costs.

corin@bonsai.co.uk

 Last week I finished restyling this well known Shimpaku Juniper. It has been in the Uk for over 25 years, was previously owned by Peter Chan and was featured in many books and magazines over the years.

It was purchased by one of my clients around 2 years ago. At this time when I first saw it the colour of foliage was a bit yellow (not as bright green as it should be).To remedy this I advised re-potting it to hopefullt help it regain its lost vigour. I repotted it into a 50/50 mix of Kiryu and Akadama at this time, over the next two years its began to bounce back, regain colour and strength along with putting on a good amount of new growth.

Here on the left is the tree in Feb 2010, It has been left to grow for 2 years, and now has a lot of new thick growth that needs thinning out and tidying up.

I started by precisely triming back new growth with fine scissors, and removing dead twigs, generally sorting out all the foliage pads, to complete this to such a high level took around 2.5 hours.

Specimen bonsai like this that have extensive deadwood need regular maintenance to keep it in good condition and to prevent rot. Area of the deadwood had gone green with algae, this I removed by carefully wire brushing the deadwood, this was then given first coat of lime sulpur.

In regard to the design, one flaw I wanted to fix was the lower left hand branch, this seemed to droop down quite a lot and was too disjointed from the main foliage of the tree.

I used a wire torniquet to pull the lower branch upward, this was very succesful, now full wiring could commence

 A large specimen like this cannot be rushed, and several hours of precision wiring were my next step, getting all branches and twigs into correct position. On junipers I always wire ALL brown growth, branches and twigs as far as I can . This ensures that I have full control over positioning the foliage.

A small area at the front of the tree was further carved to clean it up, and some more lime sulpur applied.

As you can see on the after photo, its made a huge differnce to the standard of this specimen bonsai. It is now worthy of beign exhibited at international level, and to continue to please bonsai enthusiasts who are familiar with this tree over the years.

If you have a specimen that needs high level refinement, show preparation, or re-styling please fell free to contact me for my availability and an idea of costs.

corin@bonsai.co.uk

 I've recently re-worked this old English Oak for a client. This is the tree as is was bought to me to work on. I have turned the tree around from the original front and think this front gives better view of the trunk movement and branching.

One of the main points on this tree is the deadwood area, however most of it seemed a bit "smooth and plain" and lacked detail. I wanted to bring out more detail in the trunk to mimick the old deadwood oaks that are growing near my nursery  in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham

 I had several pots that this tree could have gone into, and spent time trying it in many to get the ideal one to suit it. This oval has good front to back depth inorder to accomoadate the roots of the tree. With the pot being shallower it gives more power to the trunk and make the tree look very impressive and mature.

I undertake many re-styling and bonsai makeovers on specimen bonsai owned by enthusiasts and collectors, here at Greenwood Bonsai Studio. Please contact me if you have a tree that you would like to see developed to this standard and beyond!

 After the Christmas and New Year break, like many bonsai enthusiasts I was ready to get back to working on some trees. All too often people sit patiently waiting for Spring before they start work on their bonsai, but many jobs can be done at this time of year including styling of evergreen trees.

I've got a limited number of these large blue junipers in stock and will be using them on a bonsai masterclass course on Sunday March 28th.

This is one  plucked from the batch to style as an example of what can be achieved on one of my classes.

The Blue Atlas Cedar is 85 cm tall and has a trunk diameter at the base of around 12 cm.

 Here I've made a start - easing myself back into work !

I've chosen a front and removed large heavy lower left hand branch along with a few others. Its starting to take shape and look a little more organised.

 Once all wired it has taken shape well, you can already imagine how it will fill out over the next season or 2.

From start to finish this styling took me 3 hours to complete. Be sure to get your name down to book on this exciting course as places are limited,    

Don't worry I'll be giving you a little more time than 3 hours, so you can comfortably finish it in the day!

I then potted it into a suitable hand finished Chinese bonsai pot.

http://www.bonsai.co.uk/Blue-Atlas-Cedar-Bonsai-Styling-Course-28th-Mar.html

(click on link above for course details and costs).

 Heres a before and after styling sequence on an old Juniper I have recently worked on. It was bought by a client a few months ago, has been growing well this season, putting out lots of new growth, its now ready to be re-styled and improved.

My initial thoughts on this tree were that I was'nt too keen on the area that had been stripped of bark, I felt it lacked drama and could be improved on, also the branches needed  thinning, trimming and wiring.

I started off by cleaning up all the deadwood with a wire brush to get rid of green algae - it was worse on the rear of the tree. After this It was easier to start work carving some character in to the deadwood area. For this I initally used a makita die grinder with tungsten tornado attachment, this allowed me to carve some more depth into the trunk, to give areas of light and dark thus getting more contrast. I followed this up by using a dremel tool with various carving bits to get further detail in to this part of the tree. Once this was done I masked off all live growth before using a blow torch to burn away any fluff and carving debris - I prefer this to sanding, as its too easy to sand all the detail back out - which I suspect is what had happened before. Finally I gave all deadwood an application on lime sulphur, this preserves the wood and also bleaches it white.

 My next step was to trim back some of the new growth, this Juniper is not very compact naturally, it can be a bit leggy and floppy, in order to minimise this I trimmed new growth back with scissors and with selected pinching to organsie it better. A couple of medium branches were removed at his point as they would not be needed.

Next job was to fully wire the tree, all branches and twigs were done, its only by wiring ALL the growth that you can get the desired shape and effect when the end styling is done. Once fully wired I positioned the branches to get a more balanced shape and better overall dimension to the tree.

The tree's owner had supplied a handmade pot by Brian Albright. Although at first glance it would have seemed too small, once the branches were positioned and tree trimmed it became more compact and I decided that the pot was suitable enough to house the tree. I then re-potted into a 50/50 mix of Akadama and Kiriyu soils.

To finish off another coat of lime sulphur, a few tweeks of branches and a little more trimming before the end photo here on the left.

In my eyes the tree now has so much more character, giving a better impression of age and maturity. From start to finish this project took me around 12 hours to complete, as you can see it was quite a transformation!

 This is once the tree was fully wired, all branches positioned into place. You will notice that this new front makes better use of the trunk.   The lower trunk looks less bulbous from this angle.

Then I potted it into a new bonsai pot, the old one was too heavy and although this bonsai has a heavy trunk the pot was overpowering it. You can see that once re-potted in to a more suitable and slightly shallower pot that the trunk looks thicker and more mature.

I used a mixture of 50/50 akadama and kiryu soils for the re-potting medium.

I then had the opportunity to deliver this bonsai back to its lucky owner who was delighted to see it improved so much.

I undertake many re-styling and bonsai makeovers on specimen bonsai owned by enthusiasts and collectors, here at Greenwood Bonsai Studio. Please contact me if you have a tree that you would like to see developed to this standard and beyond!

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Heres a short sequence to show the creation of a landscape planting (Saikei). This particular one can be grown either indoors or out. I chose some Chinese holly (Ilex) as they are great to keep indoors but can also be kept easily outside. The trees are only around 4-5 years old but can make a nice composition when used alongside some rocks.

I've selected 2-3 trees along with a handful of Chinese Rock. This is quite good to use as it has lots of character which works well on a smaller scale. I have also prepared a shallow oval bonsai pot with a green glaze.

Its important to try to create balance and harmony between all aspects of a planting.

Shown from above you can clearly see the rocks position, be careful when adding the rocks  to leave enough room to plant the trees. You also want to be able to see the best features of the rock, without them being obscured by too many trees.

Large Blue Juniper Styling - by Corin Tomlinson

Here’s a small sequence of photographs of the Juniper I styled during our Anniversary weekend of 5th 6th September.

During the event I was doing a free demonstration on this Juniper – I started the work on Saturday around 11am.

This Juniper was originally an old stock plant used to take cuttings from in Holland. It had been planted in the ground for over 60 years. During this time it was trimmed twice a year for cuttings, resulting in compact growth along with a very heavy trunk.
 

I started off by removing some old dead inner growth and generally tidying up the foliage and branches to see what was there.

Once this was done I selected the front of the bonsai and removed several large unwanted branches.

I then stripped some of the branches of bark. Following this I carved them and then painted them with Lime Sulphur to preserve them and bleach them white. I left this overnight and start work again on Sunday morning.

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 This is an old Juniper I've recenty been styling for a client. Its a "wraparound" (tanuki) which basically means that a live tree is wrapped around or attached to an old trunk or piece of deadwood.

It' s a good method of achieving an old looking tree in a short space of time, and an interesting project for any collection.

Here is the Juniper as bought to me. This was the front that was being used by the owner at the time.

Its not an awfully compact foliage type, having quite open wispy twigs and foliage. This makes it more of a challenge to make it look good.

I started off by wire brushing all the deadwood to remove build up of algae and moss. Then all deadwood was given a coat of Lime Sulphur in order to bleach and preserve it.

 I then continued by choosing a better front for the tree, from this view the deadwood is more dramatic, and the trunk line has more movement. I removed the lower front branch you can see in first pic.

I then started to fully wire all branches on the tree. As I did this I also pinched back all the growth to get it more compact.

With wire applied I easily styled and positioned all bacnhes and twigs to get better shape and design to this bonsai.

When completed you can see that the existing pot which looks too smal in the first photo is actually now just right!!

I undertake many re-styling and bonsai makeovers on specimen bonsai owned by enthusiasts and collectors, here at Greenwood Bonsai Studio. Please contact me if you have a tree that you would like to see developed to this standard and beyond! 

This large Japanese White Pine was recently purchased back from one of my customers. He had originally bought it over 25 years ago from us. In recent years it had been left to grow and got a bit out of shape and bushy.

It has really nice movement in the trunk - not often found so much with imported Pines nowadays.

I set about re-styling it prior to re-sale

The heavy low right hand branch was coming forward to much and had a awkward formation at the base, this was removed, I used another branch behind it with better form to fill in.

Its a large tree, and took 3 days to wire all growth, trim, shape etc.

Here it is after I removed all old needles, trimmed back growth, and fully wired the bonsai.

All these years it had been growing in a mica training pot. It now deserves much better. I've potted it in to a Korean handfinished drum style bonsai pot, Its amazing the difference this make to the tree!

It can now continue to develop for many years to come.  This specimen Pine is now available to continue its bonsai journey and find a new owner.

For sale in our shop here.

I undertake many re-styling and bonsai makeovers on specimen bonsai owned by enthusiasts and collectors, here at Greenwood Bonsai Studio. Please contact me if you have a tree that you would like to see developed to this standard and beyond! 

 Heres a quick re-style of an old Juniper. It is owned by a lady who doesn't grow bonsai but has had this one tree for the last 20 years. Its has been a bit neglected during this time, and has never been re-potted!  Although it does not look like it its probably around 30-40 years old, but has not grown much due to lack of care and feeding during this time.

As you can see its quite straggly and unkempt. It has a few large twisting and crossing branches, I'm unable to remove all of these conflicting branches, as I wouldn't have been left with much!  Although it looks a bit of a shaggy mess at the moment I could see an image in my mind as to what I could achieve with this bonsai.

So I decided it would be best to try and get some shape and design into the tree, and to start it along a re-styling process over the next 2-3 years.

 The front I chose was similar to the top photograph. It has good movement but a bit out of control and very leggy.

I started off using 5mm Aluminium wire to bend all main branches into position. Bringing a rear branch over to form an apex of the tree. Then by bringing right hand branches round and down to form a semi-cascade style tree.

 I then continued to wire all branches and twigs and get them into desired positions, although its was fairly flexible I could feel the branches were older than you would expect by the size of tree. Once branches were positioned I trimmed wayward growth to get better shape.

Here on the left is the bonsai as I finished styling it. I've concentrated on forming a balanced design to the tree, giving it a foundation for future development.

It needs more new growth (which will come easily now re-potted) so I can start to build up more density of foliage pads. It should put on a growth spurt now its re-potted into a mix of Akadama and Kiryu soils.

As you can see the old blue rectangle was no longer suitable (it never was in the first place!)  So I selected a nice round pot with cloud feet to elevate the tree and complete its bonsai makeover.

I shall be continuing to develop this bonsai over the next few years, and look forward to the response from the owner when its collected - I don't think she will recognise it!

I hope it shows what you can achieve from quite neglected material, if you have a similar tree that you are struggling with please contact me for a quote on restlying it to release its potential.