These are my shears. This is the first tool I managed to collect in my bonsai arsenal, and it has served me well over the years.
Today in this post I am going to show you the progress I have made in cleaning up one of my bonsai trees.
This is one of my Pussywillow trees. The image has been stretched slightly, so you can see more closely the details on the branches.
All of last year's growth tips the wood has a shiny smooth surface. The colors are rich brown-green. In some cases, some of last year's growth has died back, and those branches look more wrinkled and gray.
The old-growth areas from past years have an even textured surface and a muscular shape. The bark will always be smooth around the trunk and branches, even forming a smooth curved edge along any scars.
It is still covered in winter mulch, and it has some rough ends that needed to be cleaned up so it will look nice in the Spring.
Most of the work on this tree was made using only my tiny shears. I love using these little scissoring blades, because it is lightweight and small enough to make cuts on fine branches. Notice how narrow the tip of the shears are? That allows me to slide the blade in between clusters of leaves and branches, and only cut the small part I point it to.
Several bonsai experts and novices have picked up my shears with delight, thinking it looks and feels like a child's toy. The blades are not even sharp to the touch. They are crafted well with good steel. The two blades are angled against each other perfectly to make a clean, straight cut every time.
Any branch thinner than a shoelace is easy for my shears to snip through. Anything thick like a pencil needs my concave pruners or a saw to bite through it.
As I was starting to examine this tree, I was startled to find something moving along its surface with alarming speed. The spider knew it was found, and it instinctively moved in unpredictable ways to fool my predatory senses.
In this photo above, I circled the areas where I felt like too many branches were close together. Pussywillow does a good job of growing buds for new branches in alternating designs along the branches. Very rarely do three or more branches sprout from the same intersection. Instead, I searched for locations where these alternating branches were too close together where they join. Especially on the primary branches, I want to have a good amount of space between each of the secondary branches. Having a sudden cluster of thickly competing branches in one spot would not match the characteristics of the rest of the tree. In the places I circled, I will be selecting smaller branches to remove to open up some negative/empty space.
Meow!
Who is this? Either one of the neighbor's cats, or a stray that lives happily in our neighborhood.
This little fella wanted some attention, and spooked me a bit by emerging from under the deck and brushing up under my leg while I was making some detailed cuts.
It didn't really want to pose for the camera. We'll have to work on the modelling skills.
... or my camera abilities.
This is the finished version of the tree.
All of the dead branch ends are gone. More even spaces between the secondary branches.
Also I shortened the main branch on the left side a little bit, and removed some of the downward facing buds and branches. Leaves are going to look much better fanning out over the tops of these branch tops.
Once this tree starts forming the next couple generations of tiny branches growing from the secondary branches, it is going to look much more developed. Imagine a broccoli-like distribution of branches clustering into smaller and smaller branch clusters. This branch design is what we refer to as ramification in bonsai. It might be five to ten more years before this tree has enough ramification to start looking more like a finished tree and less like a stick with forked branches.
One our last snow day, I shot this photo of the Ornamental Pear tree in our yard. Even though it tends to grow long whips, it also has several interesting branch ends that form short branch clusters covered with buds. When this tree blooms, those will be the most densely blooming branches.
Pussywillows do not form flowers, but they do make the most elegant buds of all trees. The buds on a Pussywillow are called catkins when they open, and they are soft like a cat's downy fur. So I think it would be a good goal if I can make it form tight bud clusters similar to what the Pear tree above has.
Thanks for checking out my post today. Tomorrow I'll be sharing some refinements on a Curly Willow, so be on the look out if you enjoy these types of posts.
Everyone is welcome to share in the comments below.
Have a great day!
