Pines and junipers can be tricky to transplant. From experience they can look healthy for months after transplant then suddenly decline and die because no new roots have grown. For this reason I am reluctant to sell freshly transplanted pines and junipers. i hold on to them until mid summer and I have seen plenty of healthy new growth showing good roots have developed after the transplant.

It is now time to show you the trees I have transplanted from the grow beds.

Start with Japanese Black pine. I dug 4 of these last winter. One I have decided to hold for further development and growth as it has an interesting trunk.

2 have already been snapped up by eager clients before I had the chance to show them.

That leaves just one field grown Japanese Black pine available from Shibui Bonsai this year.

JBP 20-2 is in a 30 cm orchid pot. You can see that new growth has been profuse and the trunk is stable in the pot indicating good root growth since transplant.

Nebari and trunk base on this one is very good.

There are several leaders to choose the best trunk line, some giving nice bends to the future trunk.

Most of the branches are quite young with plenty of healthy needles close to the trunk so it will be easy to prune and get new shoots suitable to build ramification and foliage pads.

Pines of this caliber do not come up every day. They are slow to develop. This one has spent several years in pots prior to planting in the grow bed then at least 5 years growing. List price is $300 from Shibui Bonsai nursery. As it is a larger tree please allow for post costs if you need delivery.

For more info or further photos of JBP 20-2 please email neil@shibuibonsai.com.au

Next up, Field grown Shimapku junipers……

In order to get you the best start for future bonsai Shibui Bonsai trees are root pruned quite hard when they are dug from the grow beds. This hard root prune promotes much better nebari and lots of new fine feeder roots so the trees will transition into bonsai pots far better when the time comes.

Spring is when the deciduous trees start to emerge from winter dormancy. Spring is also peak flowering time and it is great to have some flowering species in a bonsai collection to add variety at this time of year.

Spring is well under way a bit earlier than usual at Shibui Bonsai. The Chinese elms are always the first to shoot and some have had green buds since July. Now many trident maples have joined in pushing out their tiny red buds.

All that movement means it is time to get on with repotting any trees that need it this season. I usually start with the smaller shohin sized bonsai. I have found from experience that these little trees do not do well over summer if they start with a pot full of roots. Repotting every spring has meant they stay healthy and alive.

It has been a busy winter at Shibui Bonsai. Lots of seedlings have been posted off for you to start your own bonsai projects. The tridents have started to shoot now so seedlings will only be available for another week or so.

Trident maples make some of the best root over rock bonsai. The roots grow and thicken quite fast so we can get a good result in less time than most species. Read more about Shibui Bonsai methods to develop root over Rock trident maples.

Nebari is the Japanese word that describes the roots we see on the surface. Those roots help us to see an older tree when we look at a bonsai so really good nebari is highly valued in bonsai.

Not all trees grow roots in all the right places. That can be frustrating for bonsai growers. An otherwise great bonsai is not quite as good because it lacks a few roots.

Lets face it. Straight bonsai trunks can be quite boring, especially on tiny shohin trees.

You can develop trunks with far more interest by wiring really small, flexible seedlings then growing them out to thicken the trunk.

Another technique that can create interesting texture in trident trunks is plaiting several seedlings together.

Plaiting does away with the need to tie the trunks together as the plaited trunks are already held firmly so they cannot push each other away.

Many of us want thick trunks as quick as possible. Fusing tridents together is one way to achieve trunk girth.

Trees that are held tightly together while they grow will eventually fuse and merge together as the cambium layers unite. Eventually they will be grafted so well it can be hard to tell the trunk was once separate trees.

There are a number of different variations on fused trunks. Here I will look at just a couple that I have played with.