Meet George | A Bonsai Journey

George is a large Juniper pfitzeriana that was collected from the gardens of a block of apartments in George Street, Hamilton, in New Zealand. Hence the name. He has been collected for about 12 years and was in the garden for around 45 years.

Not much has been done with George since, besides sit him on a bench in the garden and keep him alive. Very important that is. When we had a good look at George last year, in March 2015, the owner and I agreed that it was time to get serious with George and make him a feature of the garden and set him up for the future. It was agreed to spend the next 12 months making sure George was strong and we would do him as a demonstration for the Hamilton Bonsai Club on my second visit of the 3 year program.

I really enjoyed working with George on this visit, but his journey is far from over. I did not want to prune too much foliage of George just yet as I still want him to have plenty of energy to ensure he grows free until potting time in Spring. It will be the first root work for George in 12 years and who knows what lies beneath just yet. I do know it will all come from the only live vein that George has at the base of the tree, so I know where to start.

Thanks to Melody and Les for letting me work with George, and the Hamilton Bonsai Club for having me back for the opportunity. Looking forward to September already.

 

This is George. There is no life from this side of the lower trunk. I feel like I want to play the harp.

There is only one vein at the base of the tree and nice flow to the base of the trunk. He appears to bow from here.

The trunk flows nicely from the ground from here and shows better movement through the length of the trunk

Deadwood cleaned and lines established. George is feeling fresher.

A little to the right brings the top around to continue the starting flow to the right.

Some compression gone on here. This little branch could be George’s future.

A fair number of dead branches at the top of the tree. Some of these could limit bending

Discussing veins and flow of sap. It flows like a river.

Don’t need that at all. Time to do a little bit of basic timber removal to add to the movement at the base

First to reduce the upper jins and make them look more natural

I’ve used a large range of carving tools and they all have there better uses, but nothing removes timber like the Arbortech range

No time for much carving, but need to reduce the big stump on the left

I want to make it all flow to the right in the end to improve my preferred direction of right for this tree.

Cleaning the wood up the trunk to the first bend and working towards highlighting the live vein

A quick touch up to the deadwood at the first bend and that will do for today.

Some good fun to have here another day

Time to raffia a few branches to be able to move them all forward to the new front. Very important to use raffia in a broad strand and make sure it all overlaps well to support the branch properly

Covered this one with tape to keep the moisture in longer. It can be removed in a month or 2 on these branches.

Set up the guy wires in the right positions after testing the branch to see where you want it to go

An extra pair of hands to twitch the wire as you bend to maintain tension. Take your tree to physio. Bend and relax, then bend a little more and relax, then bend a little more.

Bringing the foliage forward to face the front

This branch had a previous split here, so it was easier to continue the split to aid in lowering the branch

A bit of quick wiring to some main branches to make a difference

This branch needed to bend back down along the line of the trunk below so it needed to be separated from the dead wood to make that happen.

Splitters first then some encouraging taps on the chisel

Peeling it back carefully

Then cleaning out the dead centre by cut and tear to clean the dead wood away and leave only the live tissue

Strap it well to support the branch before bending

A guy wire attached to hold the starting direction before finishing off with wire

A bit to do so Peter came back to lend a hand

The foliage is not great so no tertiary wiring yet, but still quite a bit of secondary wiring

Sometimes you just got to get amongst it

Of course having some fun along the way is what it is all about also

Les came along to join the fun for a little while on the finer wire. I just felt like getting up there

The branches have turned forward nicely but the foliage needs to get tighter

A bit of tweaking to get things right

Melody, who says ‘George is mine because I cared for him’, is happy with the result. That means I will get dinner tonight.

What makes it all happen

 

Rest for now George. I will see you in September to get you potted at your new angle

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