It has been some time since I posted here. Life just seems to be very busy despite Covid restrictions I have been busier than usual. Work continues and bonsai orders have increased as people look for things to do.

Winter has now arrived at Shibui Bonsai and most of the deciduous trees are bare so it is time to tackle the winter pruning. Winter trim can be done any time when the trees have no leaves but I like to get on with it as soon as possible because soon I’ll be occupied with digging the trees in the grow beds. Then those will need to be potted up and by then it will be repotting time. Now is definitely the best for me.

There are always a few long shoots hiding among the leaves so they need to be shortened or removed. By the time bonsai reach this stage of development many of the branches are starting to get crowded so winter trim is also a time to thin out where shoots are crowded. I also take the opportunity to reduce long branches and apex. Cutting the main branch leader back to a suitable side shoot is the usual way to reduce length of branches.

This next tree is an older Japanese maple. This year it set a few seeds. It has flowered before but this is the first time I can remember any of my bonsai having seed.

Younger trees in development are treated somewhat different to established bonsai. Usually I’m trying to increase trunk thickness or heal up previous cuts so these younger trees have usually been allowed to grow long shoots. this twin trunk trident shows the long shoots that have been left to grow.

All long shoots are pruned hard. New shoots with long internodes are also removed completely. Branches look far better when they are made from many shorter internodes so there are lots of side shoots. I also reduce clusters of shoots so those areas won’t thicken unduly next summer.

there’s still plenty of work to be done on this tree before I can call it bonsai. little by little, year after year with continued growth and pruning cycles it should evolve and improve