This is two sides of my new Portulacaria Afra. I have no idea what to do with it, design-wise. I added some wire to give it a little artistic movement but I don’t really like how all over the place it is. It’s not a defined tree shape at all. I bought two pruning tools ready to rock and roll, but I have no direction. I also would like to propagate the cuttings so I don’t waste them.
What I do is I search up a style and wire the bonsai in that shape.
0 likesThank you. Is mine too young to wire?
0 likes Nah the earlier the better unless it’s a twig
1 likeI’ll probably trim some longer stems off tomorrow once I get more soil and some 3-4 inch pots for the cuttings.
0 likesYou could style that a bunch of ways, but to get you started I've highlighted a couple that'd work with the existing lines. Red is the overall form, pink arrows are showing which way a few branches could bend, and yelloe is growth you'd hope for as it grows into the style. Here's a broom style option:
And a windswept look:
Thank you! I was actually originally going for a windswept look given the amount of long legs off the main two branches. But I really want a one trunk tree that looks like a tree with a good canopy. It would be difficult to get that with this current arrangement. I’m considering taking a few cuttings from this tree and replanting them to see what I get. If nothing else, it would be a cool learning experience.
0 likes