Bonsai Progression - Field Grown Hinoki Cypress

Hey, Hey, Hey all you Bonsai Boys and Girls! Welcome to another Bonsai Progression Thursday. As always, you can check out my previous progressions here. This week, a field grown Hinoki Cypress.

The hinoki is the tree that started it all. I remember seeing ancient hinoki’s in magazines and thinking, man I HAVE to have one of those! Little did I know they were slow growers and somewhat difficult to maintain. I bought a small one early in my bonsai journey. It died shortly after.

In the fall of 2019, I attended one of the intensive courses at Eisei-en. I noticed Bjorn had purchased close to 100 large hinoki cypress’ from a grower in Long Island. My buddy Charlie and I had goo-goo eyes as we walked amongst the field of burlap balled Hinoki. I had to have one! Here's a look at it's progress.

The tree before work, in all it's burlapped glory. This was fall, which is not a good time to repot Hinoki. Problem was, I couldn't get the tree in my car! Something needed to be done. We decided to do a small repot and got it into this Anderson flat.

This was a good first styling. I did most of the work myself, which was a big step for me. In the beginning of my course work with Bjorn, I watched more than I worked. Things started to click in the fall of 2019.

Here's the tree in ealy 2020. As you can see, I lost the top, and made it into a jin. I'm not sure how the top died, but I'm guessing the wire work in the fall of '19 had something to do with it.
 

Otherwise, it grew well through the year. It also got special treatment in the moving fan that summer.

Initially, I was not going to work on this tree in 2020. I figured since the top had died and it endured the stress of a move, it would be better to let it rest. But, it grew so strong, that I decided to give it a refresh in the fall of 2020

I decided to repot in the spring. As you can see, there was a ton of field soil. This was a pretty agressive repot and I was expecting the tree to pout.

As you can see below, the tree grew very well after the repot. In late summer, I felt it was time to give it a proper update. My first experience with Hinoki ended poorly, so I had been conservative with this one. That changed with this wire & style. I feel this was the first time I really got in there and properly cleaned it up. The bones are now set for future development, and I'm happy with the progress!

So, what do you think? Do you work with Hinoki's? Want one of your own? I Spoke to Bjorn and Eisie-en has about 25 burlapped hinoki left, get'em while you can!

Be sure to post your comments below and subscribe to the newsletter! Until next time, Peace Love Bonsai!