Paul Pikel has a new video that explains how to style a Podocarpus bonsai. His pal Cosmo loves to watch him work especially when he’s preparing a tree he hopes to display at the Epcot Flower and Garden Show. Podocarpus is a common shrub in Florida so maybe you’ll want to try your hand at styling one of these too.
Click on the YouTube link below to watch.
This year’s winter in Florida started very early and was very cold, but it didn’t seem to last that long. My trees started popping out new growth a few weeks ago and now they are well on their way to having full canopies of leaves. However this is no time to sit back and enjoy the trees because there is a lot of work to be done. In this video I talk about controlling the growth o fyour bonsai during the initial growth of the Spring season. You need to stay on top of your trees or you’ll lose a great opportunity to make the most of the fast growing period.
So today I had a chance to work on my huge Trident maple which I enjoy a great deal. Every winter I watch as temperatures drop and leaves start to fall letting me know that it is almost time to work on this amazing tree. Only problem I find is that this tree takes a lot of wire and the large stuff too (5mm wire).
The branches needed to be flaten out into pads to allow for more interior growth and open spaces between the branches. This year the tree has developed well and lots of new developments. Next year at this time it should be looking very good. As you know by now this phot is not of the front of the tree, but instead the left side.
The reason I took the photo from this side is to show a problem that I have with the tree itself. I am in dire need of a low first left branch. two years ago I had one pop out but it didn’t make it through the next year. I am tempted to thread graft but I thought I take a look at what is goin on the trunk.
However as I looked closer
Then even closer I was amazed to see the smallest of little growth popping out through the very old trunk of the tree. Although it is appearing a few inches away fom where I would prefer it to be, I can certainly live with this. Let’s just hope this liitle branch makes it this year and becomes the strong primary branch of this tree that it so badly needs.
It was not even two weeks ago that I removed the leaves from my large Trident Maple, and today the leaves are already popping. It has been a very hot and sunny Summer, so the risk of too much sun is always a concern. However with leaves popping all over the tree I know it will be a very short time that this tree has its canopy back.
Close up of Trident Maple bud
Here is a close up of one of the branches. The brown stem on top is where the leaf was removed. The large shoot to th right was the small bud at the base of the old leaf.
2 leaf intersection
Here is another example of the end of a branch where two leaves were removed. Although this looks to be one bud, there are two. One formed at the base of the old leaves. I’ll be sure to post future pictures to show how the size of these leaves were reduced by removing them.
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