Monday, March 31, 2014

Progetto Futuro weekend with Enrico Savini

Finally it was again Progetto Futuro time. Janez, Vid, Matjaz and me spend a great weekend with Enrico Savini in his Bonsai school Progetto Futuro. As usual we had a great time with lots of fun, laugh and also lots of serious work and learning. I learned some new techniques, worked for two days on my two Mugo Pine and at the end of the day, despite that I was very tired, I went home happy with some new knowledge and experiences.

Working in the sun :)

Vid 

Matjaz (Modri)

Janez (The Ham Guy)

Enrico and Janez working on a Mugo Pine

Vid and Matjaz

Enrico Savini
Magic touch

Matjaz and Vid ware working on two Pinus Sylvestris. On the first one a heavy band was made, a new graft was added and then the tree was put to a rest. The other Sylvestris  was ready for its first serious styling. I think the end result of the styling is really promising.

Pinus Sylvestris before the workshop

Pinus Sylvestris after the workshop

Janez also stlyed his Pinus Mugo which was transformed in a very nice tree. When I look a at this tree it is obvious that preparation of a Pine yamadori is one of the key elements for a successful styling with a good result. 

Janez's Mugo Pine before the styling

Janez's Mugo Pine after the styling

I was also working on two Mugo Pines. On the first one we only grafted some new branches to improve the structure of the branches for the future. 

I'm especially happy that I learned the grafting technique because I have a feeling that grafting enormously expands the area of possibilities for a good styling. 

Graft on a Mugo Pine
Graft on a Mugo Pine

The goal of the styling on the other Mugo Pine was to define the future design and prepare the tree for this direction. We made a branch selection and styled the deadwood. In the next steps I will work on the foliage and 
balance the energy with the goal to develop a strong, healthy basis for the branch positioning and definition of the crown and pads.

Mugo Pine before the workshop

Mugo Pine after the first step





Overall I think it was a great new experience where I gathered new knowledge and experience.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why did you cut the old needles on the mugo? Don't mugos, unlike sylvestrises, only backbud from the existing needle fascicles?

Unknown said...

Hi. Its true that on Mugo Pines back-budding is more effective with old needles on the branch, but in this case there are many buds from last year on the branches, so we decided to cut the old needles to have a better view on the structure. The initial plan was to wire the branches but later we decided not too so basically it would be better to leave the old needles, but bcs. there are already many buds on the branch no harm was done.