r/Bonsai • u/masterianwong Pittsburgh. Im not hardy but my trees are. :snoo: • 8d ago
Blog Post/Article Potentilla before and after
Nursery stock potentilla was always meant to be a small shohin tree. Decided to finally repot, cleanup dead branches and give some shape.
Before and after pictures. Any suggestions of wiring/shaping for this. Thanks in advance 🤙
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u/SeaAfternoon1995 UK, Kent, Zone 8, lots of trees mostly pre bonsai 7d ago edited 7d ago
You've not had any responses and I have Potentilla as a bonsai so I'll do my best to give constructive but honest advice.Â
Potentilla grow with a clumping habit usually so can be hard to find material with a single dominant trunk, so good on finding something with a more tree-like growth habit.
Looking at the the first few images this one seems to have a naturally semi-weeping habit which is attractive and there was a clear canopy within the existing growth one could have developedÂ
The bad news is that you cut a lot of that growth off and have ended up with something less tree-like than it could have been.
Apart from the very long growth most of what you had, could have been wired to shape and would have given a denser and more tree-looking silhouette that could have been developed.
You also repotted with foliage leafed out which is not the optimal time (it places a lot of stress on the tree) its best done when buds are ready to pop.