Revisiting an Old Friend
Winter Maintenence On An Elm Group  

By Thomas J.

Last August my monthly article consisted of a restyle on a japanese nire elm group that was headed for the dumpster unless something drastic happened to its overall appearence. Well I believe that after fourteen years together, I should maybe give these guys a second chance, and that's exactly what I did, by restyling the group into something that was more
pleasing to the eye. A couple of the last few pictures in the article were something like you see below.

Well six months have passed, and it's time to do a little maintenence work, or these little guys will be right back where I don't want them to be, another bush in a pot so to speak. Looking at the picture below, you can see that that's just about where it's heading. This is and early Fall picture, and most people especially beginners, would probably see nothing wrong with the way it looks here. I think the picture pretty much shows that it's a healthy tree.

But hiding under all that foliage is this.

Not a pretty sight is it? Of course there was a reason for allowing it to get to this point, because I had to build branch structure. But now it's time to work on that aspect. I guess the point I'm trying to make, is make sure you have a vision for every tree you own, and follow up on it. As I just mentioned, many beginners would probably be content with the way it looked with the foliage
on it, and just let it keep growing as it is. But I'm hoping if your a beginner, you will see past that and be looking at the finer aspect of bonsai, the part they call "ramification".  Anyone can grow a bush in a pot, but you will put your own signature on your work when you begin to learn the art of ramification on your trees. Once again that will only happen when you develop branch structure, and have something to work with.

So the first thing that needs to be done on this group, is to take off wire that was applied last year and might be starting to grow into the branches. The picture below shows one branch where the wire is almost at that point and needs to be removed.

After spending some time removing branches that don't need to be there, I wired up those that would be the main focus of the style I was after. I don't seldom use copper wire on deciduous trees unless the bend is rather abrupt and needs to be held stronger. Usually anodized aluminum wire will work. But I used copper wire on this one for the reasons stated above. You'll probably notice from the picture below that the wire has ben put on tight so as to hold the branch in the intended shape. I will have to keep a constant eye on these so as to eliminate any wire growing into the branches.

So this is what the group looks like now with just the look I'm aiming for. I'm sure you can tell there are areas that will need to be filled in, but the basic shape is there, and it will be up to me each year at this time to continue the ramification in whatever manner it need be.