Japanese yew
text and photos by Alfredo Salaccione
This Japanese yew (taxus cuspidata) arrived to Italy with others garden trees. Some problems to the roots produced the loosing of many branches. So it was saved like prebonsai material. I washed all the old soil from the roots and I repotted it in a smaller pot. I used a mix of akadama and pumice stone, this mixture is very good to have new and strong roots.
|
 |
 |
 |
After one year the yew is in good health. The problem with the roots are over, now I can work on the foliage. |
 |
I start to work the dead part. Yew's wood is very hard and compact, so it needs many hours of work. |
 |
This is only the first step on the dead wood. In future it will be reduced more. |
 |
I start the preparation with raffia and copper wire on the principal branch. I put in position an iron bar, that will help me to bend the branch. |
 |
During the bending is very important to spray water on the foliage, to reduce the stress for the tree. In my opinion it's better to do this kind of work during autumn or winter, when lymph is less fluid. |
 |
The work goes on. It is important to put the copper wire without push the foliage of the little branches, to have a clean and nice work. |
 |
A change of inclination and I choose the front, in this way I start to put in the right position the first branch. |
 |
The structure come out. The yew is ideal material to make bonsai, it is very generous and strong. So it's possible to have good result in few time. Moreover the foliage has little dimension and a nice green colour. |
 |
The first step of the work is gone.
The trip from garden tree to bonsai is just started. |
