It is now mid spring at Shibui Bonsai and trees are all growing. That means I spend a fair bit of time trimming new growth.

My maples were pinched as they started to extend new shoots but I haven’t been able to continue trimming for a couple of weeks so the shoots have now extended.

The long shoots are now cut just above the first leaves.

After trimming the outline of the canopy is now neat again.

Buds at the base of each remaining leaf will now start to grow so where there was one shoot soon there will be 2 growing. In this way we add ramification to our bonsai.

This one is a developing pre bonsai. It is one of the tridents I dug from the grow beds last winter.

It has grown well and roots are now out the bottom of the pot.

That means it is now safe to do some pruning.

The shoots I intend to keep for branches have been left long but I’ve bent the tips down so that the base of these branches now comes away from the trunk at a better angle. i could wire each one and bend it that way but this is far quicker, just as effective and there’s no danger of the wire marking the tender bark. the initial bend will usually be set in just a week or 2. after that the shoot will be pruned back to leave 1 or 2 pairs of leaves.

At the apex I’ve left one selected shoot a bit longer. that one should grow quicker than the others to develop the future apex. when it is stronger the others will probably be pruned off.

Native bonsai are also growing strongly. Here’s a banksia with plenty of new shoots that are ready for trimming.

Trim these similar to the trident maple by cutting back just above the lowest leaves.

After trimming

Kunzea parvifolia has many growing shoots.

Far too many to cut each one individually so I just shear these like trimming a hedge.

I’ve tried to trim so there’s some different levels on different branches rather than just giving it a smooth, rounded top.