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Progressions
Lonicera nitida
 
The shrubby Honeysuckle, Lonicera nitida,
is often used as an hedge plant or in group plantings in gardens around here.
Exactly this is the origin of this tree, and I
bought it for a really symbolic prize of a bonsai friend in 2006.
The fat and fine tapering trunk, that even
had movement, was the qualities searched for. The leaves can always be adapted
and developed with time, and this specimen sprouts on old wood easily when
pruned back. it tolerates very hard pruning indeed.
2006
The tree as it appeared one year after
purchase, repotted and pruned slightly.
To be able to build a good ramification and full canopy it is in this case
necessary to prune back very hard, to force back budding. This way new growth
can be used to form a more compact tree in future, needed when dealing with
shohin bonsai.
Therefore the top is removed completely to take away the top dominant growth
that most trees insist to have :-)
Energy is then produced further back, were natural growing hormones forces new
buds to emerge in order to survive. May sound rough, but is just the natural
reaction of many plants that may suffer from natural attacks by weather or
insects e.g. A sound survival mechanism securing growth continues.
 All
left back is a few branches, and a future possible dead branch (jin).
2007
One year after the first hard pruning new
branches has grown and an initial light wiring has been performed for future
direction of branches.
2009
Three years later the canopy has filled in
nicely. A new pot was tried out, but not exactly what I was looking for
regarding this tree. But the development of the tree has been a success, and now
trimming and growing branches more refined is the task.
The jin mentioned earlier was removed
because it did not fit in.
2012
January 2012 I shot this picture an early
morning after some nightly freezing, in an else warm winter period. The final
image is close to what I want, with minor adjustments as the tree still develops
little by little, and as it will newer stop doing. The canopy have to fill in a
little more having a slightly larger volume.
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