OK so as I am butchering my new plants I am wondering about various techniques for making plants go where you want them too. I have heard you can use wires to bend branches and make them harden in a certain direction.
How do you do this? Are there other ways? Can any hard stem bush/tree be shaped that way?
Nice to having you back to posting Roos. . . informative as usual.(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
It’s easy to do, yes you use wire. I’d suggest just googling bonsai to find the do it yourself pages, there are TONS of pages and videos on this.
Basically you start young and bend and trim. Control growth. Start with dwarf varieties. Did you look at my main plant pages? I have listed most of the varieties that work to make miniature trees.
http://www.elmassian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=117
Greg
yeah I looked through your stuff Greg. Lots of cool plants there that I will give a try at some point. I am way ahead of myself but I keep stumbling on good deals. I really only planed to buy a spruce and a boxwood to play with now I have five weeds to mess with.
But I do have them so I want to make the best of them. The little junipers are the main concern. I have them cut down to four branches off a main trunk. I would like to bend them and grow them together to form more or less a tree that looks like a maple tree with big branches but one main canopy. If that makes sense. The one below is better than the other one. but I would like to get them growing upward and more inward.
According to your page this looks like a Blue Star Juniper. I bought it at a garage sale for 5$
Get a few lengths of bonsai wire, in the smaller sizes.
The difficulty is not getting them to go up, but to branch out sideways at a low height as opposed to a tall column. It does no good if your first horizontal branches are 50 scale feet off the ground, the tree will never be a miniature that looks right next to your locos.
Take a look at the sites that do this, and just look at how bonsai turn out, you will see the structure you want.
Again, there is so much out there on how to do this, there’s no reason for me to even attempt to replicate that information here. My site is a collection of plants that are good candidate for what seems to be to be realistic trees next to my layout.
Greg
I appreciate the suggestions. These I want to keep fairly low growing trees. 50 scale feet tops. I agree they have to look right against the locos and other scenery. My space is not vast and large trees will swallow it. I would prefer them to small than two big. I don’t want these to go up; I want them to fill in in the center. Some trees will grow up like the spruces to look like tal pines but the majority of the “in town” trees will need to stay small.
Devon Sinsley said:
Nice to having you back to posting Roos. . . informative as usual.(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
So you started at at the first thread from 3yrs ago and read back then Devon? I only posted nothing to say as I assumed you did .
http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/6/gardening/view/page/3
Were you suggesting I search the archives for this post?
http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/19802/the-way-train-trees-should-be
or some other? your link takes me to a list of topics from 2014, not a specific post. If you were suggesting that I might have searched the archives and article such as the one I linked. . .well then no I didn’t. As a a researching historian and as a grad student involved in research I find archived information invaluable. But far more valuable to me is live eyewitness accounts and the knowledge gained from live conversation. So forgive me if I asked a question and tried to inspire conversation on a topic previously discussed, but I prefer engaging conversation, I guess I am chatty that way.
So (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Be nice or I will take my bushes somewhere else to play. Oh no I won’t I will just stay here and annoy people.
Devon
Check your local Library.
I found several books on this subject.
They even ordered one for me, that they thought they could use.
Thanks Sean. There is tons of information out there as Greg suggested. I evn found out a local nursery does classes. for free I believe. One of those show up and well teach yo and you can buy our supplies. I love classes like that because I like supporting local business anyway and hands on is fun.
Devon Sinsley said:
Thanks Sean. There is tons of information out there as Greg suggested. I evn found out a local nursery does classes. for free I believe. One of those show up and well teach yo and you can buy our supplies. I love classes like that because I like supporting local business anyway and hands on is fun.
This is were you can get some great plants … they might even get some your interested in … then teach you how to Bonsai them
Bonsai is cool, but topiary has a whole different “wow factor.” Dwarf crepe myrtles are perfect for that sort of thing. If this interests you, see if they grow in your area.
Dwarf crepe myrtle “pom trees” and “boxwoods” are easy, but take several years of trimming 3-4 times a year to achieve.
That is a great look. You showed those before and I like them. I will have to see if I can grow them. I see they bloom? Do yours flower out of does trimming them prevent that?
Nope I am too cold.
Mine will bloom with really nice white flowers if I don’t keep them trimmed.
If they don’t bloom, they live far longer. Nancy Norris says mine should have been dead years ago due to the natural aging process, but mine get healthier every year.
They are nice looking and the size is perfect.
Devon Sinsley said:
…Be nice or I will take … somewhere else to play. Oh no I won’t I will just stay here and annoy people.
Good for you Devon, and you are doing very well at that goal.
I share the same goal. There is no sense me having the title PITA if I don’t use/deserve it. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Right Rooster. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
https://www.facebook.com/kwbonsaisociety/
KW Bonsai has a FB page complete with videos. This is very informative and a great source for out of the box thinking when looking for ideas. Regards, Dennis
