Hello and request for help on miniature garden

Hello, I've been a "Dave's" member for a bit over a year and this forum is a spot I have on occasion lurked. I've been considering developing a miniature garden in a Japanese style for a couple of years, and watched a program on HGTV about two weeks ago about a style called "Bonneiwa" which involves developing a scene in a Bonsai style. I realize this isn't strictly a "Bonsai" problem, but hope you'll still have some comments or thoughts on my project and how I might prune the plants in the scene. In my mind, I will have a little hill, with a Japanese maple, and maybe a miniature Japanese lantern. It will have a stream coming down the hill, which splits partway down. I will have three other plants, including one with a bit of gold in it, and one with a bit of red/purple. I want one other taller element but not as tall as the maple. If there is space, I may add a small arched bridge when I can find or make one.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_plants_other/article/0,1785,HGTV_3609_5826686,00.html

Anyway, I posted in the Japanese maple forum for suggestions on pruning the small maple I have in my container, which is a large terracotta bowl. I would also like to add a couple of evergreens to the container, and prune them in a Japanese style. I have a book titled "Niwaki" which provides some inspiration, but I am a novice with evergreens. I've cared for other Japanese Maples in containers, but not treated them as Bonsai, though I enjoy pruning them to highlight the movement in the tree's branches.

I'm going to post several photos of the plants I would like to add to the container. It is hard to tell, but the soil is intended to mound in the center. I don't plan to keep all of these plants in this container long term as I expect some will outgrow the scale, so may be replaced at some point in the future and the larger plant moved to a different container (maybe as a true bonsai?).

First is a Japanese Maple, which is a fairly young grafted plant which needs to settle into its graft. It's an Acer palmatum 'Mikawa Yatsubusa'. The other plants I have are a dwarf Hinoki Cypress 'Longheed', and a Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Gold Dust' and some moss and sedums for ground cover. I would like to prune the Hinoki Cypress in addition to the maple.

First question I have is do you think I should chop off the long branches on the maple? My first photos are taken prior to my attempting to tie them down using bamboo sticks to induce a bend in them. I'm undecided if this will look good. The next photos show the current postions of the branches.

I'll add the evergreen photos after the maples so bear with me if viewing this mid-post.

I appreciate your thoughts and have enjoyed looking at your projects!

Another angle on the maple

One more angle

Looking down, with the training sticks attached to the three uppermost branches.

Larger view of the current scene

Now the Hinoki Cypress, I have four side views.

Rotating clockwise

"back" (or front?)

Last of the Cypress

Last picture of the small conifer with a bit of gold in it. The red I plan to introduce with a miniature sedum which is dark green with a bit of burgundy/purple to it.

Thanks!

Laura

I would prune back the longer shoots on the maple. They make the tree look very young and unbalanced for the upright position. If you decide to change the angle of the main trunk you might consider an informal upright style for the maple and wire one of those shoots into a twisting, curving line.

Which tree will be the tallest, the maple or one of the evergreens? I can't get a feel for scale since they are in separate pots. There are several very good websites that will give you information and photos of styling and pruning. I like the Knowledge of Bonsai and Bonsai4me.

Have you considered adding a bit of dwarf Ophiopogon for a deep green grassy texture?

Please continue posting here as this progresses. For the most part we are all learning together.

Beth

The black square pots are 4", so the Hinoki is about 6-7" tall. The Maple is about 12 inches tall as currently set up, but I'll loosen the ties tonight and take another look at the three upper branches and see if wiring it would help.

I tried to wire a branch on another baby maple last year and ended up with the wire cutting into the branch, so I'm a bit leery now, but willing to try again.

I think the dwarf Mondo would be too large in scale for the overall arrangement, but I have some, so I may pull a bit off and get it into a photo for scale. I like the idea of some deep green. Perhaps the sedum I have can do dual duty.

I'll work on it a bit tonight. I suspect I'll have to change the soil out a bit too. It's promix at the moment. I'm waiting for a nursery supply to open which carries a looser mix I like and I may swap it out if they open this weekend, hoping that the maple doesn't get shocked.

Thanks for your comments.

That Cypress will look very good in time.
I suggest you put it in the biggest pot you can with very good soil. Keep growth trimmed so it doesn't get unruly and train it like you normally would.
Don't trim the roots if you can help it. Let her fatten up then later worry about turning her into a proper bonsai..
It has a great shape indeed.
-Jocie.

Well, here is the result of the potting together. I moved things about a bit, mixed in some cactus and succulent soil, and removed one of the mossy lumps as four larger plants seemed out of balance.

I finger pruned the Hinoki Cypress just a bit to open the shape up, but not too much so that it doesn't look like a hard pruned juniper. I'm letting the top of it grow out before doing anything with that. I don't know how they grow, so need to watch and learn if there is anything that should be done for it.

I decided to leave the maple untrimmed for now. I'll wait until the graft settles in better, and watch it. It may get trimmed later in the summer. This is a new maple variety so I want to see how the leaves lay and then decide if I want to remove the upper branches. I will keep the branches tied down for now, though I don't like their length.

I just realized that the rocks are too large for the scale. Guess I'll have to get something different, maybe I'll use the gravel from the 4" pots for a path.

I think the Hinoki looks great.

Have you considered using those bigger rocks to make a grouping in the form of active and passive? That is frequently used in gardens to express the male and female principles. One rock is set on end and the other is allowed to lie across the soil near it. You also see this in the zen gardens of stone and gravel.

Beth

That sounds like a nice idea, or maybe I can look around for some others.

Is the idea to use two rocks or more than two?

I have sooo much to learn!

And, thanks for your comment. :-)

Laura

There are many combinations of rock placement that actually convey concepts in Japanese and Chinese gardens. I actually wrote a term paper about the subject some twelve years ago, umm , maybe it was fifteen years ago. You should be able to find a book on this sort of thing at the local library.

Beth

largosmom, I watched that show and tried to find the link and I could not, so thanks for the link. I was trying to view you soil, is it fast draining? The soil mixture we use has very little to no dirt, mostly haydite, bark and sand. Has to get watered every day during the summer months. I am trying a new ground cover, it is a type of mint, very tiny and spreads fast. Not sure how it will do during the summer, but love the smell while I work on my plants.

Thank you.

For this garden, I used a type of soil that drains pretty fast, but retains some water. For my potting mix, I used some well-draining potting mix that I purchase locally, and succulent mix. I've never seen the potting mix anywhere else, it is packaged in a black bag and marked "Sunshine Potting Mix". It contains peanut shells, so maybe something regional.

I live in a hot area and travel on business, thus am not home to water my plants every day, so a true bonsai is likely not in my future, due to the care needed. I hope to use as many of the pruning and care techniques as I can, otherwise.

Laura

Your maple (all of them, not just yours) ;o) is very apically dominant, which means it will concentrate almost all its energy in the top of the tree and in branch extension. As I look at the first picture, I see that the tree is very unbonsai-like because of the height. You should consider two possibilities, and if you don't understand or are interested in what I have to offer, please ask.

If you want the tree to look cute & like a little bonsai now, you should shorten the tree by half. You have a perfect opportunity to do that by removing the main trunk above the low cluster of branches at the point where the trunk movement changes from left-leaning to right-leaning. Do you see how that will leave you with a near perfect little tree?

The other way to manage the energy in the tree is to allow the upper part of the main trunk to remain, with the idea you are going to remove it in a year or two. This will allow the added mass this branch provides to feed and fatten the trunk. If you do this, you can treat the cluster of branches low on the tree as the future tree and wire/prune as if the sacrifice trunk/branch wasn't even a part of the tree, but of course this longer range view will not be as esthetically pleasing to the eye, even though it makes more sense for the future tree from an esthetic perspective.

If you want more info on how to prune the branches and slow unwanted branch extension (always a problem in the Acer genus unless you stay on top of it), let me know.

Al

Tip: Referring to your rock question: In bonsai, we usually work with odd numbers, with the exception of 2. When choosing the number of trees in a planting or the number of stones/rocks you might use, the selection would normally be 1,2,3,5,7,9,11. After 10, it doesn't matter because your eye can no longer discern between whether the numbers are even or odd. Two is odd (unusual) because it is the only even number we often use as a choice in the number of plants or trunks. Two is useful in the twin-trunk styles such as mother/daughter plantings. Small forests or grove plantings usually always have odd numbers of plants in them.

Sorry I haven't replied, but I've been on vacation! Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments. I think I'll be pruning off the top of the tree as suggested, but haven't yet decided yet when to do it. I prefer to prune JMs when they are in a more dormant state than at present, at least for my "normal" trees, but welcome suggestions. Taking this approach, it would be summer at the earliest, before I remove the top of the tree. I like the idea of a larger trunk however and would be perfectly willing to remove the branch later.

On the plus side, I'm bringing home some Lignum Vitae seedlings from under a parent tree in Florida. They are an interesting tree, but will have to be brought in during winter. Not sure how it will work out, but will be experimenting.

Laura

Hi Laura,

Have been following the discussion on your landscape project. Thought you might like to know that in bonsai terms it is known as "penjing" this is the Chinese term meaning "landscape in a pot or dish". I have done a few, here is a mixed pine grouping, the small tree (an Aleppo pine) on the RH side is too immature to be wired into shape yet. The problem is that different trees have different growth rates so keeping a balance is a problem at times.
George

Hi again, I can recommend an excellent book "Creating Bonsai Landscapes (18 miniature garden projects) written by Su Chin Ee. Sold by Amazon. It has some beautiful examples of penjing projects.

Here is another penjing I a made a while ago, so it is a bit out of proportion, the trees/plants are box, nandina domestica, and an Aleppo pine again.

Wow, those are really pretty little gardens. I finally cut back my little Japanese Maple some this week, but haven't yet photographed it. It's looking quite different now as the ground covers have filled in quite a lot and the tree is fully leaved.

I'll try and post an update.

Laura

Resurrecting an old, old thread, I was wondering if there might perhaps be any updated pics on the bonsai/penijng containers shown in this thread? Ikebana, loved your little gardens.