Orlando Bonsai Podocarpus

Podocarpus (Purchased from Rogers' Nursery Spring 2003) Orlando Bonsai Store

This tree has been in a nursery pot for 4 years. I took it to a Guy Guidry workshop in Aug 2003 nothing had been done to this tree prior to this workshop.

Initial Styling Aug 2003. Not much to work with, and a lot of branches needed to be removed. Lots of fertilizer cakes were used to give the tree food to grow.

Tree rewired and restyled. Dec 2003. Next year the tree will be repotted into a smaller pot. This pot is purely for training because a large root below the surface needs to be removed, but new roots need to grow first.

Also pretty nice to see how my neighbor's swimming pool turned out.

Here's the front. Coming along very nicely. I need to do some carving on the top right third of this tree. It is a little heavy up there and looks to thick. Hopefully sometime this year I'll get the chance. July 2005

This tree has come such a long way from what it looked like just 3 years ago. It has finally been carved to add some taper to the top of the tree and the branches are now in place. It will just take a few more months to thicken the foliage to complete the overall look of this tree. I plan to submit this tree for consideration for the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival in 2007. Sept 2006

Just 4 years ago to almost the day I bought this tree as a pre-bonsai, now here it stands on display at Disney's Epcot for approx 1.7 million (estimated of course) people to see during the Flower and Garden Festival. It really turned out great, and it is in location that I had hoped it would be. In the following picture shows it proudly displayed in front of the Japanese restaurant. The background colors complement the tree and make for some outstanding pictures. This tree is on display until June 3, 2007, if you get the chance check it out. April 2007

By the way, notice the change in pot. The previous pot was loaned to me and I had to switch it out before the show. However I think this one looks a lot better for this tree.

This tree continues to improve. The branches are now filled in, and defined Nov. 2007

This is the picture that Guy had drawn to demonstrate how the tree should be styled.

The tree was allowed to grow out in order to produce new branches and allow the tree to recover from the hard pruning. As you can see a large back branch was removed from the base of the tree. Also the top of the tree was lowered and a jin was added to the top. October 2003.

This tree is now just about 2 months away from being repotted and cleaned up a bit. The branches are too long and starting to curl up at the ends. I will try to get this into a substantially smaller pot and go for a more finished look. December 2004

This tree was root pruned rather hard this spring, and never slowed down. The goal was to get the tree into a very shallow pot. The reasons for this are first to make the trunk look bigger, and secondly so that I could lift the thing. The tree was wired out, and is developing very well. This summer I plan to do some carving so that the top tapers more and blends better. The photo is of the back of the tree. July 2005

A few months later and this tree has begun to fill in nicely. In the near future I plan to carve the top to add taper and interest. Also looking for better branch development and to define the pads. Lastly a change of pot to complete the tree. Nov 2005

Well Epcot is just a few weeks away and I have completed the final pruning on this tree for display. I have also darkened the bark and bleached the shari with two coats of lime sulfur. I feel that these trees can look a bit too. "topiary" if they get too full. So I tried to show off more of the trunk and really separate the branch to make it more like a tree. Look for it at Epcot Apr 5 - Jun 3 2007. Mar 2007

If you look closely in the center of the picture you can see this tree displayed.

Authorized Joshua Roth Dealer

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Case studies last updated: Jan. 2008