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THIS SHIMPAKU juniper (juniperus
chinensis sargentii), about 34 inches/85cm tall, was grown
in Japan and exported as raw material - an increasingly common
practice recently. When I acquired it the tree was brimming with
health and growing vigorously, although the inner foliage and
some of the smaller branches were beginning to die because of
the extremely dense growth (picture 1).
The trunk has a fairly attractive
curve at the base where it sweeps up from the ground but from
there on up it is less inspiring. So why did I choose this plant
to work on?
I am often confronted with material
that is, at first sight, uninspiring, but there is usually some
feature that can be utilized to make the result unique and emotive.
In the case of this juniper,
the answer lies in the very low branch emerging just above ground
level, toward what was to become the rear of the tree (picture
2). This one branch, seemingly insignificant, is to prove
the key feature in the concept of this bonsai.
In June, over 70% of the foliage
was discarded, the remaining branches and shoots wired after
wrapping the thickest branches with dyed raffia (dyed because
I find the natural color of raffia offends the eye when working
on the design). Now you see the significance of the low branch
(picture 3). It was wired down into the soil, rather like
a mini raft, and then bent upward again to form two small 'distant'
trees to compliment the main one. The temptation to create a
shari on the main trunk was firmly resisted because it is really
not necessary and would, in my view, spoil what is now a very
elegant and well balanced design - it would be one feature too
many.
Picture
3
| In close-up (picture
4) you can see the attention paid to the wiring and shaping
of the secondary trees. It's important to work at such detail
on secondary trees because they must always be kept delicate
and open, and need to be properly structured for this purpose
from the outset. If they are ever allowed to become too dense
they will look like shrubs at the base of the main tree and not
like trees of a similar size far in the distance. |
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