Two years ago this was a two and a half meter nursery tree. I chopped it down to about a meter at the nursery as I could not get it in my car. Then the journey began. It was potted in a Bonsai pot and left to grow, It had a light prune and a bit of a carve a year before and today it was time to revisit the shari and to get some wiring done. The buds are very fragile this time of year and great care has to be taken to not break them off.

The carving was done first. The original carving was done with very rudimentary tools. I now have a rotary carver as well as a router that I use for carving. I went deeper today and added a bit more detail to the top. Out came the burner to get rid of all the frilly bits. The bark and branches were protected by aluminium foil. It was finished off with a wire and then a nylon brush.

I used guy wires to pull the thicker branched down and then used 1 mm wire to wire and place the thinner branches. Now it has to rest and grow when Spring comes around again. I will also have to repot at a better time as I discovered that the soil was very wet. It is Winter in New Zealand now and it has been raining non-stop over the last 48 hours. These trees prefer a bit of a wetter soil, but this is just too wet at the moment.

This is a very easy tree to grow and it buds profusely in spring and carry on with this almost right through Summer. There are gaps on the left hand side that must be filled. I will keep an eye on any buds forming in that area like an expectant father. The top branches also must be shortened, but I will leave it as is for now as I need more buds and growth in that area to replace some of the existing branches. It has a soft foliage and contrasts well with other trees as the leaves are a very light green. These turn yellow-brown in Autumn.