SO, since it' warming up here in Texas I decided to prune an Italian Stone Pine (Pinus Pinea). I bought this tree around september, when they are frequently sold as "getting ready for christmas" shrubs. Pruning of larger branches had been carried out earlier in October(as can be seen by the larger wounds) as autumn is the time for large branch pruning on pines. These might not heal over very easily, so a jin could be necessary. I removed a few of the young branches today, and wired the top and side branches to give it a little more movement. I've found a few pictures of Pinus Pinea bonsai on the web, some nice ones done by Ernie Kuo. No one really uses these because the adult needles can get up to 8 inches, however, the juvenile needles are short and upright( also only one inch long and very suitable for bonsai), and are easy to maintain (the juvenile needles are the only needles present on the tree now). The great thing about this, friends, is as Walter Pall said, " You have to make a bonsai ugly before it becomes beautiful". This should, after a few years of developing, become a very nice bonsai... we'll see.
3 comments:
I have never seen a bonsai version of the Stone Pine but I do really like the Pine Nuts that are harvested from the Pinus pinea tree.
Dan, There aren't very many of these Pines used for bonsai because the adult needles get to long. Nice blog by the way. Do you practice bonsai? Nice to see someone who loves plants aswell.
You've butchered it .lol it's okay we all make mistakes as neophyte in training . You should've left some branches to train in the mid section now it's going to forever be naked in the middle .If you left more branches you could've guides some from the top to cover the mid section but there are none it's okay just keep it around see how it does and get another one started
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