In August these were very sorry looking, partly because of pests, and party from being shaded out by larger trees. Not any more.
Thinking about this as potential bonsai stock:
- Good: there is plenty of back budding
- Bad: there is pronounced tendency to grow very straight branches
- Good: the leaves are tolerably small and lushly green.
- Bad: the main trunks aren’t interesting.
I’m going to try to address the style problems with deliberate attention. The back tree will remain a formal upright. For the front one, I’ll leave the low branches in place as sacrifice branches, hoping to thicken the trunk. For both, I’ll try clip and grow techniques to get more movement in the branches.
