Plymouth.
United Kingdom
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WE DO NOT GROW INDOOR BONSAI
Prizewinning Experience
Over 40 Years
Tree History
JAPANESE SNOWBELL TREE
Styrax japonica.
Raft Style
In the garden at Bonsai House 2012
New home 2014.
This history spans many years and some big moves.
When my grandma died in 1985 there was £12 in her purse so My mother decided that we would buy trees in her memory.
We bought a cherry tree in Woolworths for £2 and then found this styrax in the bargain and battered plant section of a local garden centre. It had a large damaged section of trunk low down where it looked like it had been hit with a spade. It was £9.
It spent many years in the front garden of Bonsai House, Plymouth regularly covered and shaded out by mums famous hanging baskets. It took many years to recover from the damage that was done to it but it was a fighter, just like grandma was.
When mother died I couldn't leave it behind so it was dug up and moved to its new home where it could get some pampering and it recovered splendidly.
View from below June 2014
One sunny day in June 2014, I was shuffling along the path on my bottom pulling out weeds from the gravel and stonework when I looked up at the Styrax and admired its best ever display of flowers.
My bonsai brain couldn't help itself and within seconds I had visualised a potential bonsai with the canopy of the tree.
Early May 2015. With the decision made the time arrived to get to work. Downward growing branches were removed from the section to be taken.
Areas of bark that would be shaved of to facilitate the rooting were marked out and carved from the tree. It was done with very sharp tools to help with rapid callous formation which leads to root growth.
Large pond pots were test fitted to save messing around once the bark had been cut.
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With main trunk fully ringbarked and the other patches of bark removed, rooting hormones were applied and then sphagnum moss was used to keep those areas moist.
The pots were securely wired and tied to anchor points to ensure there would be no movement when they were filled.
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A mixture of akadama, pumice and chopped moss was used to fill the pots, fully covering the branch.
Then clear plastic was used to cover the whole thing completely to keep the moisture in and provide an environment where the roots would be happy to grow.
After a few months, enough roots had grown so that they could be seen poking through the mesh of the pots.
At this point the plastic wrapping is removed to allow air pruning of the roots and build up a fibrous root system prior to separation.
This picture was taken in early March 2016. Great care was taken to ensure the baskets didn't dry out or freeze solid.
The tree was separated in late March 2016. The rooting progress was inspected and it was decided to leave the tree to grow in the mesh pots for a while longer.
Photographs after this point were difficult to do because of serious ill health.
Temporary accommodation was found and the tree was hurriedly potted into a wooden training box. This is it in 2017.
2022. Little could be done for a long time so the tree just sat waiting to be worked on. here it spent some time at Greenwood Bonsai Studio when I had to give up my entire personal bonsai collection because I was just too ill to care for them properly.
This is the tree in winter of 2022 when it came back from Greenwood gardens. I was pleased with its development despite the lack of work that had been achieved for the past few years. Most of the pruning wounds from the initial removal had completely healed over.
March 2023. Another smaller training box was made for it to be repotted into and with a lot of help from a friend to do the lifting and shifting the tree, I carefully pruned and arranged them to fit the new box.
This is the tree in April 2023.
Some adjustments will be made to the trunk lines and branches using wire and some small branch benders. A decision will be made about arranging the apex and worked on later in the season.