#ProgressionThursday - Japanese Black Pine Bonsai

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Bonsai progressions! Not only are they great teachers for the process of Bonsai development, they give me perspective in terms of how quickly (or not quickly) my trees are developing.

My goal (and you should hold me to it!) is to share one of my progressions each Thursday.

So lets get started!

First up is the Japanese black pine that sits on the home page of the Peacelovebonsai.com

As purchased (Summer of 2018)

In the fall of 2018, I took this tree to my first intensive class with Bjorn Bjorholm. There, he helped me with my first styling of the tree.

Before (Fall 2018)

And After:

As you can see, the first left branch was removed

I fertilized and allowed to grow unchecked until the spring of 2019, when I selected a new pot and re-potted to change the angle of the tree. Some pics of the work:

The sweet mycorrhiza shot being photo bombed by my buddy David's noggin!

A softer pot was selected because the tree has feminine traits

The tree after the re-pot:

Again, the tree was left to grow unchecked until summer of 2020. I decided the tree had grown strong enough to decandle for the first time.

Before decandling (Summer 2020)

The numbers, beacuse I know you'll ask, were wire guages. The wire had been packed away for an upcoming move

And After

In retrospect, more needles should have been plucked

And here is the tree today, after needle plucking and adding some wire (Fall of 2020)

2018-2020 Before & After

I hope you enjoyed this #ProgressionThursday & Happy Bonsai!