Fantastic news Nigel. I was hoping that you'd be up for it. I'm really looking forward to seeing you approach this kind of challenge in your own unique way!
You certainly work outside of the conventional box Tony. Many would say that deciduous trees don't make good literati subjects and only pines and junipers are suitable. It's great to see that you don't subscribe to convention and do your own thing. It will be interesting to see the future outcome. I have just watched this morning, Peter Chan making a literati Scots Pine. It's worth a look. Take care mate.
I just rewatched that also. I do have a couple of larch and hawthorns that lend themselves towards literati style, though I might be inclined to agree that on the whole the style is more suited to pine and juniper rather than most deciduous species.
I suppose pines are a lot more flexible so it makes sense to use them, but I always used to set my computer games onto the hardest setting! I must be a masochist!
Awesome video Tony,i love the field maple out of the three of them,I'm watching it while seeing what material I have to take up your challenge....... Watch this space!!
Love the challenges and the start you’ve made Tony! I have plenty of literati material at various stages of development… mostly garden centre bargain bin sticks in pots… this is right up my alley!
Great idea John. Let your artistic side come to the fore, and do some research online. Google literati bonsai and there is tons of inspiring photos that we can use as guidance.
Very nice work Tony, literati is one of my favorite to achieve. Recently I dug up my mothers 40 year old English lilac. It gave me 13 great potential literati trees.
You've got some nice curves into those trees. Literati has something about it that I can't quite understand, but it looks good! Good on you for not following the rules - the trees have to give YOU enjoyment, not everyone else! Take care, thanks for the video.
Cheers mate. I don't think there's any point limiting ourselves to a certain type of bonsai, especially someone like me who is still learning. I love at the different aspects and the artistic side of literati looks wonderful when it's done well.
@TonysBonsai what do you reckon about creating a play list that we can all throw our videos in and then maybe we can add an update video down the track to show how our trees ended up?
Hi Tony, right now im growing a sweet chestnut (castanea sativa) from seed in a pseudo-literati style and I made it really contorted at the base and it,s basically growing horizontal and circles it's self, and I noticed that it's leaves are very tiny but the growth itself is quite vigurous, I was wondering if massively bending seedling while they grow affects leaf size of if I just have a small leafed chestnut.
That sounds really interesting. I suspect that it is just dealing with the challenges of its life so far, and in time the leaves with get bigger. It is also possible that you happen to have a tree with a genetically small leaf size. I have an oak with really small leaves. It looks great, but it grows very slowly.
Nice trees. ! Heres a suggestion for the next challenge i wanna see how far everyone can push a juniper . I mean the hardest bends u have ever done. I wanna see trunks bent to the max! Prob go for shohin size or one bigger. Ive seen bonsai q do some really extreme bends where trunk comes back to touch the trunk again😂. Would love to see this as the next challenge
Hi Chris. Junipers are certainly very flexible, and I do love twisting and contorting them. I think they look amazing when done well. With a bit of luck some of the other channels will use junipers for this challenge.
You would think that literati style is the easiest style to make cause you get a lot more' freedom' with what to do, but it's - in my opinion - the hardest to get right, there must be a certain balance and elegance to a literati bonsai or it doesn't look really like a literati. By the way, when garden designers use organic shapes, it means round(er) shapes, that's why organic shapes are seen more as feminine shapes while straight lines are seen as masculine.
Hi Tony are you ok you have been missing for a couple of days ? I think the vet tape manufactures should give you a kick back as you are keeping them in business HaHa, Interesting literati concept.
Hi Joe. I've been busy this past few days sorting out my back garden. It was completely crammed, so I've been laying some flags and sorting it out. I've also repotted at least 30 - 40 trees which was quite a grind. To be honest though this time of year is quiet in terms of video. Nothing is ready to prune and all the creative stuff is kind of done.
I saw one Japanese bonsai pro using the Omega sign at 90 degrees to each other. I have found this useful on small seedlings. Got a result there Tony, much improved.
Thank you, yes, it's interesting what we can pick up watching people work. I love watching the Japanese masters bending trees. they excel at this kind of work
Hi Marc. It is called vet tape. They sell it for use as a kindof bandage for horses and dogs. It's pretty cheap on Amazon. I like to buy the wider stuff and double it over for extra strength.
I get why some people,like to wire and twist branches and trunks, but trees don’t grow naturally like this. I think they look so much better with the clip and grow method of shaping.
