It has been so long since I posted here. Life just seems to get in the way.

late autumn now at Shibui Bonsai and the leaves have dropped off trident maples. That means it is time to start the winter trimming. Some growers wait until later in winter or spring but an early start is good for me as winter and spring get really busy when I dig the field grown trees and start repotting in spring. I’ve also found that maples don’t bleed quite as much when cut soon after leaf drop.

My winter trim is aimed at refining already well ramified trees. I take out any long shoots, thin out crowded shoots and remove thick shoots from the ends of branches and near the apex.

Trident maple before and after trimming shoots. This one is around 35 years old. It has really well ramified branches. By the end of summer the new shoots are quite crowded and need thinning to allow room for next year’s shoots to get adequate space and sunlight.

This one is much younger. I had a few upright tridents so decided to develop one with more trunk character. The upper trunk of this one has been grown from just the first branch of a younger tree.I think the bends give it a unique character and I’m happy with progress so far. The branches of this one are still developing ramification so less thinning to do here. Emphasis is on pruning for direction and removing overly long internodes so the future ramification will be better.