Shohin Seminar 2018

Itoigawa before and after.  Eliminated most, not all, branches.  Let the runners stay to motivate back budding, then the runners will be cut back to bring the tree into size.  Ted Matson, as always, taught another great workshop.  One of the many excellent instructors at the seminar.

JBP start, needle plucked and then final needle pluck and branch removal.  Now we wait.

Ron and Jaya working with Jonas on their pines. My baby!  Jonas did his usual excellent instruction.  Easy to follow this guy.

Kusimono workshop was excellent.  Beautiful plantings by Brenda and Cristina.  Lucy Sakaida-Judd is amazing!!!

Janice working hard with Sam Adina.  Shirley very happy with her Olive.  NICE tree.

Janice after all of the pruning and wiring.  Excellent!  Shirley with her "finished" Olive and a dozen or so cuttings destined for pots one day.

Bob intently listening to Redwood guru Bob Shimon.  Great workshop.

Abe's before and after with very nice Shimpaku junipers.  This this is only the first stage of development.  The branches will back bud and then will be able to be shortened as will the apex.

Got to this group a little late for b and a.  This Shimpaku has a very nice old jin and is easily a shohin.  

A learning moment.  One of the negatives of having too many students at one time is that the instructor's are forced to be in a big hurry.  Quality suffers.  While creating dead wood, a main branch was accidentally damaged and had to be removed.  This changed the front and significantly reduced the foliage mass.  Later, the foliage was reduced further and many of the newer tiny green branches were incorrectly cut back leaving no buds for the tiny branches to recover with.  So losing the branch and the over trimming is a challenge for the tree to overcome.  It was suggested to re-pot the tree in two months, even in this now weakened state.  This could be done but, being a Juniper, the tree should not be re-potted until it fully recovers and shows strong growth....lots of back budding and running branches, probably next year.  Nonetheless, pleased with the initial styling, the owner sees this as a nice shohin.  The trunk will be fattened up in a shallower and wider, growing pot.

Photos of the exhibit are on FB