A Complete Guide to the Styling Methods and Techniques of Chinese Swamp Cypress Bonsai

  The Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus pensilis) is hailed as a "living plant fossil." It is a deciduous or semi-deciduous tree of the genus Glyptostrobus in the family Taxodiaceae; the genus contains only this 1 species. It is a relict plant of the world and a tree species endemic to China. It first appeared in the Mesozoic Era more than 100 million years ago, in the same era as the dinosaurs. According to botanists, in coastal areas such as Fujian, being able to find even a few or even a single Chinese swamp cypress is already extremely rare. This Chinese swamp cypress forest in Zhuhai must be the largest contiguous stand in China, and the largest in China is also the largest in the world, because it has already become extinct in other countries.

  The styling methods for Chinese swamp cypress bonsai are as follows:

  Trunk and branch truncation method:

  After digging up a field-grown Chinese swamp cypress, first carefully observe the styling potential of the tree stock. If the root system is well developed on all four sides underground, it can be made into a large-tree bonsai; if the front root is relatively large and the left, right and rear roots are thin and small, it can be made into a bonsai with a large cascading branch; weak-rooted specimens can be made into cascade-style and turn-back-style bonsai.

  For making a large-tree bonsai, a trunk diameter of 10-15 cm is suitable. The best time for the first trunk truncation is May. At a point 20-25 cm above the ground, saw through the trunk, remove the bad roots, and plant it in a closely bottomed clay pot. Place the tree stump obliquely in the pot, fill with soil and water it fully. After new shoots emerge from the cut surface, select one robust shoot to keep and prune away the rest. After 1-2 years, when the new shoot has grown to 2/3 the size of the lower trunk, the cut surface will have basically healed, with a 30-degree angled bend between the lower trunk and the upper trunk. For the second time, dig up the whole tree and use a saw to cut it 20 cm above the first cut surface. If it was placed obliquely to the left in the pot the first time, place it in the opposite direction in the pot the second time; the third time can follow the same procedure as the second. After three truncations, the Chinese swamp cypress stump forms a bamboo-shoot shape and rises in curves, and the trunk styling has achieved its goal.

  Crown-pruning method:

  In Lingnan bonsai, crown pruning plays the role of adding the finishing touch to the overall layout. If the pruned crown does not match the overall tree stump, it loses both form and spirit, becoming a mouse-tail-like prune, making the top heavy and the bottom light and losing naturalness. If the crown is pruned too heavily, it will affect the momentum of the tree stump. Neither is desirable. There are three crown-pruning methods: First, control the height of the top. At the locked position, cut off the top, preferably leaving three-forked new shoots, and remove any extra-long shoots. When the new shoots grow to a suitable height, cut them again, and 3 shoots become 6 or 7, growing mutually and locking the height. Second, the direction of the top follows the direction of the trunk head: if the trunk head leans left, the tree top leans left; if the trunk head leans right, the tree top leans right, forming a top-and-bottom echo and an affectionate exchange of glances. Third, when crown pruning is finished, an unequal triangle, sparse yet measured, is best.

  Branch-positioning method:

  "A stone is viewed from three sides; a tree is viewed from four sides." In bonsai branch positioning, the branch framework should extend in all four directions. The basic principle for positioning branch supports is a pin-shaped arrangement or an unequal triangle, which helps leave more space between supports and between trunks, facilitates adjustment of solid and empty areas, and enhances the transparency and three-dimensionality of the space. When setting branch supports, analyze according to different tree forms and determine the support positions. In general, the first branch support is best left at a height of 1/3 of the trunk. The second, third, fourth and fifth support positions are decided according to the height of the trunk. After positioning the supports, excess branches should be pruned away.

  From the very beginning of setting branch supports, from the head to the top support, they should decrease upward in a pin-shaped arrangement. The direction of the branch supports should include front and back, with a layout of left, right, up and down, revealing the appearance of nature.

  Positioning supports uses the "three cuts of the branch method." That is, when a branch support has grown to a suitable degree, cut it at a point 1 cun long on the support, and note that the second section should be shorter than the first. If the internodes are too long, it will appear powerless and lose momentum. For upward-facing branches and drooping branches, 1 or 2 points can be kept in each branch support for contrast. When the first section after pruning sends out new shoots, let it change direction, using copper wire and aluminum wire to bind the branch into a twisted shape, or a falling branch, or a horizontal branch, or a cascading branch. After the branch has set its shape, the copper wire can be removed after about 3 months to let it grow naturally. Handling the first three cuts well is key. The three cuts of the branch method can make the branch support form a turn and a curve, creating a powerful branch support, a majestic falling-rock momentum, and a moderate direction, giving viewers a sense of natural beauty.

  It is best for branch supports to sprout at convex positions; sprouting at concave positions is most taboo. Several kinds of branches must be pruned away, such as: dead-curved branches (four-cornered branches), crossing branches, parallel branches, duplicate branches and backward-facing branches. As branches extend, through the rhythmic blending of long and short, curved and straight, from the overall layout, the branch supports have solid and empty, contention and concession, looking and longing, gathering and scattering, sparse and dense, hidden and revealed, and can embody the rhythmic feel of line variation. After formation, it will display a style that is majestic, ancient, elegant, vivid and combining hardness with softness.