Step by Step Bonsai Creation: Sonare

By Douglas Thomas

This is a documentation of three stages of development in the training of a Juniper procumbens nana, sometimes referred to as a Japanese Juniper, or by its Japanese name, Sonare.

Stage One: General Pruning and Shaping

This is how the tree started out, as a tangled mass of needles, branches, and trunks. The very first stage in working wiht this sort of tree is always to clean it up a little bit. There are several difficulties in doing so. First, because the growth is so dense, it is very difficult to see what is going on inside, much less what branches are useful and which will eventually have to come off. Second, because you don't now the eventual shape or style, you cannot simply shorten branches to clean things up like you can with many other species. The work then, begins by looking underneath the dense mass of foliage and cutting off all the branches that are dead and anything growing straight up or straight down. This provides enough working room to see the general shape of the trunk and branches. At this point, you will want to keep everything long, but you will be able to remove branches that cause problems (e.g. branches that cross the trunkline, branches that curve or twist unnaturally, two or more branches growing from the same spot, and so on). With that work done, it is time to choose a front and a general style.

Now that the basic cleanup is done, it is time to settle on a front and a basic style. This tree presented two options: either a long flowing cascade (Kengai style) or a much smaller, informal upright that would eventually be shaped in a pine style. Cascade is a traditional style for Sonare and this tree seemed to be well suited to such styling. You can begin to see the emergence of the crown in the rear protion and the long flowing casade emerging from the front. As I continued to work on the cascade portion, I started to notice several different aspects of the branch that were creating difficulties. First, the branch itself was very thick (which is dificult to see in the photo) and was very straight. In order to produce an effective cascade, it would have to be heavily wired. Even when wired, however, it lacked a sense of gentle movement that seemed essential for the Kengai design, and for this tree in particular. The more I studied the branch and the overall design of the tree, the more dissatisfied I became with the idea of styling it as a cascade.

One of the primary problems was that there was no good front for the tree due to the fact that the cascading branch completely blocked any view of the trunk. At this point, I started looking at the tree for its other possibilities. I considered several options. First, wiring the cascading branch drastically to produce a semi-cascade. And second, to reduce the overall size and shape of the tree, styling it as an informal upright. This second option would result in a much small, but better proportioned tree, roughly 10-12" tall. Deciding whether or not to keep the cascading branch is a big step in deciding the tree's future. After much thought and careful deliberation, I decided it should be cut off. As a cascade, the tree would have never been better than average, but as a shohin informal upright, the tree has great potential. The apex would be wired and the main branches decided upon and left to grow for a year to produce foliage and to fill out. The tips would be pinched regularly to develop back-budding on all of the main branches.



This is the last stage in the initial pruning and shaping, deciding on a front and a style for the tree. From this point on, I will focus on the refinement of branches, the thickening of the trunk and rootage, and general aesthetic concerns for the development of the tree.
Finally, after a great deal of thinking about it, I removed the cascading branch and decided to style it as an informal upright, shortening substantially the cascade branch and wiring it up to form a counter balancing branch to the first branch on the right. Unfortunately the photo lacks depth, and the foliage appears to be all smushed together. The firts two branches need a great deal of development. The third and back branches also need to be thinned, pruned and wired, and the apex needs to be thinned out and styled.

In the next few months I plan to finish the intial stages fo development. I will let it grow for another year in its nursery stock container to help it regain its strength after such an extensive pruning and I will constantly pinch back new growth. In a year's time it will be ready to move on to stage two.


Stage Two: Refinement and Styling

This stage will begin Fall of 1997. Stay tuned!


Stage Three: Potting and Display

This stage will begin Fall 1998! Stay tuned!


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