My workshop with Naoki Maeoka

I write a bonsai blog, but never mention my bonsai in it. Seems dishonest, but my bonsai collection is quite ordinary and I don’t make it a secret. This time, I have to show one of my trees because it got an unexpected makeover in a workshop with Naoki Maeoka this month (see my blog post about Naoki here http://lomov.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/bonsai-artist-naoki-maeoka.html). First, a quick rundown on this tree's prior history. It is a Lebanese Cedar (Cedrus libani). I bought it as a five-year-old starter stock plant from a bonsai nursery in 2007 (leftmost image below). By the end of 2008 I made a number of severe bends to its trunk (image below). In 2012, its growth was stunned by the grubs of the Punctate Flower Chafer (see my blog post about this pest here http://lomov.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/pest-of-month-punctate-flower-chafer.html). Believe it or not, the pot in the image marked ‘2012’ contained 24 fully grown grubs of this beetle. The rightmost image shows how this tree looked like last month. To be frank, I neglected it for the past couple of years.

This month, I took this tree to the workshop with Naoki and the leftmost image below shows it after the workshop. I must say, it was an unexpected outcome. The centre image below shows this tree digitally re-potted. The angle of the trunk is different and the foliage pad is adjusted accordingly. The tree is planted in a nanban style pot made by me specifically for this tree. The pot is slightly too big, but at this stage, I am not willing to reduce the root system any further. The rightmost image shows my impression of the tree’s future look.