This is the fourth of my Forsythia trees, it is a “x intermeida Spring Glory” shrub. The local nursery center “Nicks” in Aurora, Co. a bunch of these beautiful shrubs. All them were budding out and getting ready to bloom. Springs is a good time for looking for Forsythia since you can see the trunks pretty good since they do not have any leaves on them. Out of the shrubs they had this was the only with a single trunk, a very desirable trait in the a Bonsai tree. So bought and paid the for the bush and brought it home. I cleaned it up that night in the living room and decided what I would do with the now tree! I decided all of the large branches growing straight up were going to be removed flush at the trunk or large branches. I would keep the two lowest branches and reduce the overall height of them and the main trunk would also chopped back to reduce the height of the tree. By the time I was ready to do all of this work the tree was in full bloom right in the house. That did not stop me. I cut of all of those large branches and took them down my neighbor lady friend who put them in a vase. I then decided some more branches had to go. They were removed and out the door I went to deliver them my neighbor lady again. I ran smack dab into one of neighbor teenage girls coming home from school. I asked her if she wanted some flowers. Her face lighted up with a very big smile and she said yes. I gave them to her and off she went home smiling all the way home.
So back to the tree. I started to wire the tree from the bottom of the tree up. The branches are brittle and I did manage to crack a few of them. I covered the the cracks with cut past and then re-enforced the crack area of the branch with another round of thicker wire to keep it from bending so hopefully the branch would heal and not die. Once the two lower branches were completed wired and styled I move on to main trunks. They were also wired and styled will still in bloom. I did manage to save most of the blooms while I was doing all of the wire. It probably took 2-3 days to wire and style the tree. All of the large branch/trunk scars were covered with cut paste. I was having trouble using my 2-3 year old cut paste. The cut paste had turned thick and would not allow to cover the scars very well, it was to thick and sticky. I placed the tube of cut paste in the microwave oven and nuked it for about 20 seconds. Success the cut paste reverted back to its original consistence and very usable again. I like colored cut paste that match the color of the trunk/branches.
So here a some photo’s of the tree after it styled and I will be provided updates at the tree progresses.