There’s been a definite cycle for the Cherry Plum… fair bloom in spring, scorched in summer, limping through autumn. There was a repotting at the start of the year, and growth has been much stronger so through spring. So maybe I can avoid the cycle?
There are some minor fixes needed here.
For the record – about halfway up the rightmost trunk there’s a branch that comes straight out, then right angle turn upwards. That’s the result of a small bit of wiring. Might be useful to remember that behavior.
I’ve been allowing this to grow more as horticulture than bonsai. I’m beginning to get itchy with that approach though. So where does this go?
- I could leave it as is, building the foliage. It would be stick-in-pot stuff, only slightly interesting by being raft-sticks-in-pot.
- I could go for a more traditional raft style, by chopping all the trunks down to a foot or so. I should probably make the trunks more vertical. There’s little in the way of low branches, so this would more or less be a complete reset.
- I could embrace the thin trunks and try for a cross between cloud bonsai and tree standard style – a series of pads of leaves strongly separated and defined, maybe hiding the trunk. But I’m not sure if this will grow thickly enough for that.
- I could trash it. I’m not going to, but it is an option.
Let’s see how the rest of the year goes.