Nursery Tips, Part 2 - Trees In Progress by John Ambrose Generally I do not take a picture of purchased nursery stock before doing a first cutback of branches. In the case of this Chinese Juniper var. Heitzii, (tbstwo1>jpg) I took a picture just to show how much reduction does occur. As I was reducing the branches and foliage, I noticed a possibility for a second front different from the one which I had chosen on this plant at the nursery. Consequently I left foliage for both possible fronts as each was distinct from the other. This material was purchased late in the summer of 2002 so no more work will be done on it until the spring of 2003. The branch placement isn't as good as I would like it, (tbstwo2.jpg) so this tree will go into the ground for a couple of years to fill in again. At the moment I have enough stock to keep me busy enough to prevent the need of having to look at this specimen for awhile.

The subject of this articles is Yew's, which is yet another slow growing species which as bonsai becomes very slow growing. The first set of pictures is an example of a failure to look at the trunk line when purchasing the tree. My interest was primarily on the nebari or broadening at the base of the trunk. As per my usual style, I bought this tree on sale at $10 due to a fair amount of foliage having died off. It was cut back, bare rooted and placed in the ground 3 summers ago. In the case of yews I will bare root the same year I purchase the tree. I do this primarily because I don't think a properly harvested yew should have any reason to lose foliage at the nursery without a cause. It is usually a watering problem or insect infestation. In the case of this tree, the pot was heavily infested with grub. Most of the roots were gone with little left for the tree to grow on. Bare rooting got rid of the grub, and I find it a little easier to keep a tree alive and improve recovery from this condition by putting it into the ground. The first picture (tbstwo3.jpg) is what the tree looked like after potting in the spring of 2001. The second picture (tbstwo4.jpg) was taken in August of this year.

Comparing the right hand side of both pictures you can see just how much growth occurred over two summers. The left hand side of the second picture shows where I have thinned out again the new growth. The biggest problem with this specimen is that their is no taper to the trunk. Furthermore, the angle of the trunk with the flare at the base on the left hand side is awkward. I think the only resolution I have for this is to carve the left hand side of the trunk to decrease the angle at the base and also to introduce more taper to the trunk. Fortunately, Yews are good for carving and also highly resistant to decay. So there you have it, a trunk to practice carving. Although I have other Yews, I did not take pictures of them from one year to the next so they are not much use for this article. For those of you who attended my garden visit last July, if you recall at that time I had a Japanese Yew soaking in a blue laundry tub. The result of bare rooting and potting can be seen in picture (tbstwo5.jpg).

Wiring, as can be seen in picture (tbstwo6.jpg below) took place about 4 weeks later. The tree consisted of two trunks one of which was relatively straight, the other which had a more informal style. The straight trunk was stripped (and can be seen behind the main trunk in the pictures). The tree is potted up in an oversized pot because most of the remaining roots were not very close to the trunk. They are mostly near the pot perimeter. The first branch will be the lowest one located on the right hand side of the tree. The taper is not too bad up to the first branch. Above it however, the trunk is fairly uniform up to the sixth branch. Since I have already decided that the top 1/3 of the tree will be removed next spring, I still have to deal with the question of how to deal with the lack of taper to the new top. One possibility is to do some carving to introduce taper above the first branch. I am not too keen on this idea as the trunk thickness is not all that great. Alternatively, I can cut right back to the second branch on the left from the bottom and use this branch as the new leader. The second and third branch along with the crown would then be developed from this leader. I will make that decision next spring. The bottom left branch will eventually be removed. I see no reason do to so now since the tree is not any where near a final design. In the meantime, any thickening of the trunk below this branch I would gladly accept.

With an early spring and good fertilizing regime, it is possible to get two strong buddings from a yew in a single season. The final Yew I have shown here in picture (tbstwo7.jpg) taken in August of 2003 after a second budding is one of my smallest trees and also one of my oldest. This material was taken as a cutting in November 1994 a few years before I got involved in bonsai. It was grown for several years in a small clay pot. In February of 2000 it was transplanted to the small pot seen here. The pot size has an outside dimension of 2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. A problem with this size of pot is that the roots tend to push the tree out of the pot rather quickly. This winter the pot has fractured, so it will be replaced in spring. The soil I use in pots of this size is composed only of turface screenings under 1/8th inch in size. (The particles usually thrown away in screening for normal bonsai soil.). Root pruning is fairly simply. Just bare root, cut away excess, wire into the pot and pour the screened particles into the pot.

Styling isn't really much of a consideration in my view when it comes to a plant this size. It is difficult to keep alive and taking too much off gives it very little strength from which to recover from any stressful situations. Pruning mostly consists of removing the needles which grow up or down. Since it has a fair number of buds this year, the back branch will be pruned heavily and the top reduced this spring.