One of my first trees was a Miss Kim Lilac from the Longmont Tree Farm. At the time I purchased the tree it was had large slender upright trunk with 2 main branches on it. The manage of the Longmont Tree Farms is a Bonsai guy himself. He suggested removing one of the two large branches. I brought the tree home along with a bunch of other trees and I was surprised to see that I did not have to make a decision any more on which branch to keep. The lowest branch on the tree had almost been completely ripped off of the trunk, it was hanging by its bark. I went a head and ripped it completely off now. There were a few smaller branches about half way up the trunk way before the bend is now.
Some of my pears in the local Bonsai club thought I should chop the tree off where these small branches were. I said I will give it some consideration. I finally decided to follow through with my original plan and make the tree a Literati or Bunjon style tree. So I chopped of the remaining branches and kept just the one large branch that was left. I substantial problem appeared right at the top of the remaining branch, there was a small split right where I wanted to bend the branch down. I decided to use some very heavy aluminum wire and double stand it, the branch was wired and I very carefully pulled that branch down and gave it a lot of movement while making sure I was not added any pressure to the area with the split in it. Success the branches was moved way down and the rest of the branches were wired and styled.
The stayed in its nursery pot for several years with wiring on the tree and was potted into a turquoise pot from Chuck Iker. I displayed the tree in June of 2015 at the local Bonsai show. The tree has continued to develop and the apex has grown bigger. I believe a squirrel has nibbled on the trunk right above the soil line. The actually has turned out to be a good thing. The tree has not suffered because of it and the newly created deadwood appears to be moving up the trunk now. Some of the new deadwood still has bark on it and I will be removing it with a dental pick soon. The bark on the trunk is now developing rather nicely and is starting look more and more mature as it moves up the trunk.
This spring the tree has flowered really well and I took some photo’s. I keep looking for a new Miss Kim and I did find one several years ago and has been allowed to grow on its on and may be styled this summer. It will not look like this tree for sure, probably a weeping tree.
Here is a photo of it being potted in April 2014, latter in Oct. 2014 and finally April 2017.
Here are some more photo’s taken in April 2017:
