Japanese "cloud" pruning
Cloud pruning demands a lot of patience and many years of work in order to have dense clouds.
The tree can be bent over at different angles in order to give the impression that it is an old tree. For plants which grow straight, one lateral branch out of two can be cut, giving the boughs a contrasted aspect, alternating dense growth and spacious areas, a form which coniferous trees in Asia naturally possess. For climbing plants, try to make sure that all the clouds are positionned on the outside.
There are four successive stages in Japanese "cloud" pruning :
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The first - important - stage is to study all facets of the tree to determine its existing structure. |
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Then comes the tidying and pruning of the tree, in order to remove the dead branches and the very thin branches which grow in all different directions. |
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Then we separate the masses which will produce the clouds, which is be done taking into account three main criteria : the general movement, the direction and the size of the branches. |
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The clouds are thus formed, pruned and cut in a regular fashion in order to obtain clouds which grow thicker and thicker. To obtain an elegant and harmonious final result some clouds, and even some branches, should be cut off. |
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Even if these trees are commonly called "garden bonsai" in tree grower's jargon, they differ from bonsai in that the roots are not touched and they remain intact. Thus the tree is not weakened and its growth is not limited in the vegetal world, as the volume of the roots remain identical to the foliage volume. The trees may be ringed about every three years so that they can be more easily moved or put in pots.