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Please note that spelling, punctuation and capitalization of Japanese cultivar names varies significantly. We have used Steve Pilacik's Japanese Black Pine, 1993 as our reference (available at Matsumomiji.com), except that we have left out the hyphens between the syllables representing the Japanese characters.
Pinus densiflora (Japanese Red Pine, Aka Matsu) -20ø Needles in 2's that are up to 5 inches long but usually shorter. Fast growing tree with reddish bark. In Japan it is thought of as 'feminine' because of the soft informal appearance. Not for hot dry areas, protect from any sort of strong wind.
7200 Pinus densiflora
'Oculus Draconis' A Dragon Eye type yellow variegated
Red Pine. The banding of the variegations is very sharp and quite
striking. Very vigorous and lanky upright growth that must be
controlled tightly for bonsai.
Waiting
List
7220
Pinus densiflora
'Pendula' A dwarf weeping form where the branches hang
straight down. Good for cascading over a wall or container. Can make a
fabulous larger bonsai.
Waiting
List
7240
Pinus flexilis
(Limber Pine) A true American five needled White Pine from the
mountains of the Southwestern US. Slow growing to 30 feet in
landscapes. Grows into fantastic yamadori in the high mountains. Needle
length is only to three inches and can be reduced in bonsai situations.
Needles are blue green and slightly twisted.
2 3/4 INCH POTS $8 SORRY SOLD OUT
Pinus mugo (Dwarf Swiss Mountain Pine) Most popular landscape pine. Slow rounded growth to about 4 feet, however seedlings are quite variable and smallest densest ones should be chosen. Short dark green 2inch needles in 2's. Plants may be kept short and compact by removing the first flush of new candles in June.
| 7260
Pinus
mugo
'Valley Cushion' A dwarf form that is very dense and
short needled. Branches tend to be very short, usually less than 4
inches, but in bonsai culture 1 inch or less. Dark green foliage that
is slightly golden yellow in winter. Choice bonsai plant. Cutting
grown, no grafts. ONE GALLON SIZE $30 Available Sept '08 | ![]() |
Most Japanese white pines used for bonsai are grafted cultivars, including a number of dwarfs. Nearly all of the cultivars were developed in Japan over the centuries and have been only recently put into commercial production in the US. There are very few large stock plants available for scion wood here and only a handful of nurseries grafting them, add to this the fact that most of the grafts are too high to be suitable for bonsai and you can see why these plants are so rare and cost so much. Our scion wood is very limited, so we continue to work to build up our stock before releasing plants for sale. We will collect new cultivars and graft as many as we can but it is a slow process.
To complicate matters even further, Japanese white pine is difficult to grow in most regions of this country, even when grafted to a stronger rootstock. It prefers a deep cold winter dormancy, mild dry summers without extreme heat or high humidity. It is susceptible to a number of fungal diseases. Those in the deep south and the hottest areas of the country should probably not attempt to grow this pine unless you have a lot of experience, or know of someone in your area who can successfully grow them. We had problems related to heat and light until we began to grow them under 30% shadecloth in summer (direct sunlight in winter). These pines really perform best in bright morning sunlight rather than under shade cloth as long as the temperature stays below 90F. There are two problems related to summer heat. Above about 95F under direct sunlight the needles will begin to scorch. Above 105F the scorching will be severe and you can expect to lose plants. The other problem is related to the soil temperature. Pots tend to heat up above ambient temperatures in direct sunlight. This can cause root decline and death of the plants. Growing under shadecloth in severe climates solves both of these problems.
So that you are not misled about the size of plants and the time needed to make them into bonsai, let me briefly describe the process. A new or one year graft will have only one shoot grafted onto the understock, it will be from 2 to 6 inches long depending on the cultivar and the length of the candles formed. Only rarely will it have any branches at all at this stage, wood is just too rare to use larger scions. Two year old grafts will usually have grown another center candle and probably some secondary candles (branches) at the base of the new center candle, another 2 to 6 inches. So a two year graft of a nice dwarf will be about four to six inches tall with branches just starting. We recommend that no pruning be done at this stage to insure the survival of the plant. With proper pruning and shaping your plant will not even begin to look like the ones in the picture books until about year five, -and for the slower dwarfs- ten years. We feel that pines are not safe to sell before they reach this two year stage.
Pines for bonsai should be grafted very low so that the union smoothly blends into the nebari (root crown area). It is more difficult and time consuming to graft this way and grafters are only beginning to recognize that there is a market for bonsai, making grafts of this sort very hard to find. The very best grafts are 'low' or 'root grafts' where the scion is grafted below the ring of tissue that marks the crown of the tree and just above some existing roots. These grafts should be buried right up to the graft union after the first year. After a few years it is impossible to tell that these plants were even grafted. We now graft all of our White Pines to Black Pine, Pinus thunbergii, understock. This gives them additional vigor and stronger, more disease resistant roots.
For more information on grafting pines see the article Root Grafts for Bonsai
We have selected several dwarfs that we think will make excellent bonsai. We will only offer two to four year old plants. These plants will be well established and are large enough to have a decent chance of survival. Some of the cultivars that will be available include: 'Koto Hime', 'Kiyo Hime', 'Ogon Janome', 'Hagarumo', 'Zuisho', 'Adcock's Dwarf', 'Ko Ra Ku', 'Ara Kawa', and 'Ko Ko No E'. Quantities released each year will be very small, so if you want them, don't hestitate to order. It is best to sign up for these using the Waiting List instead of waiting for them to be generally available. The waiting time may be one to two years.
7322 Pinus
parviflora 'Ibo Can'
This cultivar is another of the 'cork bark' white pines. It has also
has'warty' bark. It is similar to 'Ara Kawa' except that it is faster
growing and the needles are longer, about 3 inches full size. Bluish,
slightly twisted needles. Most useful for larger bonsai. It is
absolutely essential that it be grafted low in order to have a uniform
bark transition at the graft union.
ONE GALLON SIZE 2 year old graft $65
7324
Pinus parviflora
'Kiyo Hime'A dwarf with short 1 to 1 1/2 inch blue gray
needles, slow growing, extremely rare in this county. Similar to 'Koto
Hime' except that the needles are a little longer and a bit more
striped. This is a fairly compact cultivar making it an excellent
candidate for bonsai.
Waiting
List
| 7325 Pinus
parviflora
'Ko Ko No E' This
is one of the smallest White Pine dwarf cultivars. It has short (5/8
inch) needles with a nice blue green color. It is very slow growing and
forms a broad pyramid. It is slightly more open with longer internodes
than some of the compact cultivars. These plants will make very fine
shohin bonsai. Pictured is a four year old graft. |
| 7326
Pinus
parviflora
'Ko Ra ku' This is one of the smallest White Pine dwarf
cultivars. It has short (1/2 inch) needles with a slight yellowish
cast, not as blue as some of the others. It is very slow growing and
forms a broad pyramid. It is slightly more open with longer internodes
than some of the compact cultivars (it is similar to 'Ko Ko No E' in
this respect). They will make a very fine shohin bonsai. Pictured is a
four year old graft. Waiting List |
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| 7327
Pinus parviflora
'Koto Hime' This cultivar is extremely rare in this
country. It has short (one inch) needles and a very compact growth
habit. It is much more vigorous than many of the other dwarf cultivars
and will make a fine shohin. This is Brent's favorite White Pine.
Pictured is one of our two year old grafts to Black pine. Waiting List |
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| 7359
Pinus
parviflora
'Zuisho' This is a short needled bluish green cultivar,
greener than most others. It is rather slow growing, and slower from
grafts than our other cultivars. The claim to fame for 'Zuisho'
is that it can be grown from cuttings, although it is difficult. Stems
are thinner and internodes longer on this cultivar than most of the
others, although with age it does form a nice thick trunk. Grafting to Pinus
thunbergii helps it form thicker stems with more
vigor. Pictured is one of our three year old grafts. Waiting List | |
7370
Pinus strobiformis
(Southwestern White Pine) S\M\-20ø\Ls\B
Tall fast growing five needled pine from the Southwest with blue green
foliage much like Japanese White Pine. Very drought and heat resistant.
I believe this pine has a lot of potential for larger bonsai and will
make an acceptable substitute for Japanese White Pine in the hotter and
drier sections of the US where growing Pinus
parviflora is difficult. Needle length can be
reduced to about 1 1/2 to 2 inches from its full length of about 4
inches. It has the same smooth gray bark as other white pines. It is
vigorous and fast growing, developing a sizeable trunk much more
quickly than Japanese White Pine. Another fascinating feature of this
species is its great ability to bud back on older wood, much better
than either Japanese White or Black Pine, or Eastern White Pine, Pinus
strobus. I have done heavy trunk chops on this
pine, back to a lower branch, and they nearly always succeed, throwing
lots of new buds on the remaining trunk. I don't know how this species
will perform in the north or the more humid portions of the country,
but by all accounts it is quite cold hardy. Our 2 3/4 inch pots are
unpruned seedlings.
2 3/4 INCH POTS $8
FOUR INCH POTS $12
See the notes under Pinus parviflora for information on grafting techniques. Again, as in Pinus parviflora, scion wood and decent grafts have been hard to obtain, and our cultivars have been held back to obtain more wood for the future.
A progress report on our work to offer you cultivars: We have been collecting Pinus thunbergii cultivars now for many years and grafting them to build a stock plant collection. For several years we have grafted small batches in numbers that will allow us to now offer some cultivar selections. Others will be ready in a year or two. Our attempts to purchase suitable grafted cultivars has just not worked out. We suffered too many loses and the grafts were too poor to be used for bonsai, thus we have decided to offer only our own root grafts (very low grafts that can be buried up to the union). We are also evaluating the cultivars to see which will make the best bonsai.
In the dwarf category or yatsubusa type, we have settled basically on three, 'Koto Buki', 'Yatsubusa' and 'Shun sho Matsu'. All of these have excellent dwarf characteristics but are quite different from each other. 'Koto Buki' is very dark green, very short needled, somewhat open and thick stemmed, a true dwarf. 'Yatsubusa' (at least the one we have selected, there may be some trouble with the naming) is very much like the species except for shorter needles and very compact dense growth (short internodes). This cultivar breaks buds everywhere. The growth rate is similar to the species, but the internodes are very much shorter, creating an incredibly compact plant. The other short needled cultivar, although not a true dwarf is 'Shun Sho Matsu'. It has incredibly short needles for a full size plant, ranging from about 1 to 1 1/2 inch. We are still experimenting this cultivar to see if it can be controlled to make good bonsai, but we think it has real potential.
Especially exciting is the progress toward offering cork bark Black Pines, Nishiki Matsu. These pines are very rare in this country, and only a few are in commercial production. Some of the ones we have collected are unnamed, that is, the cultivar name has been lost, and we are attempting to identify them. Others are known. One of the most outstanding plants so far is 'Brocade' (naming is uncertain and it appears to be identical to 'Hayabusa'). It is a fast corking cultivar as well as a yatsubusa type. This is very exciting since most of the Nishiki Matsu tend to have long whisker-y needles. Other cultivars we are now grafting include 'Hachi Gen', 'Kyokko', 'Kyokko Yatsubusa', 'Katsuga', 'Akame', 'Fuji', 'Mi Nishiki', 'Nishiki Tsukasa', 'Tai Hei', and 'Hayabusa'.
And lastly, another new development is our success in growing the Nishiki types from cuttings. This completely avoids the severe problem of grafting cork bark types. Even the surface roots of cutting grown plants will be corked. Our four year old cutting grown plants are beginning to swell at the crown, a very good sign for a good nebari and lower trunk. Thus far we have had success with 'Hachi Gen', 'Mi Nishiki' and 'Akame'. Since the move to the new nursery, Brent has not been able to set up a suitable propagation room for pine cuttings, so it is possible that we will never again have a supply of these. Once they are gone, there are gone. For this reason, many are being held back for training as larger plants. Each year a few may become available.
The supply of cultivars is always limited. If you want one of these don't delay in ordering. They will sell out very quickly. It is strongly recommended that you use the Waiting List.
For more information see the articles Training Black Pine for Bonsai and Growing Black Pine for Bonsai. Also see our Blog for several more pine articles.
7410
Pinus thunbergii
Our larger trees are seedling grown plants that have been continuously
pruned to form bushy plants suitable for bonsai or shaped plants. Our
larger plants will not look like the plants commonly found in
nurseries. We begin pruning them at the seedling stage to encourage low
branching. Unlike deciduous plants, pines do not easily break buds from
older wood, so that if you do not have low branching from the beginning
you will never have it. On our trees you will see many small branches
very low on the trunk so that there are many choices for branches later
on. But leave all the branches, especially those very low on the trunk
for several years to increase the diameter of the trunk at the base and
obtain good taper. Our smaller sized 2 3/4 INCH POT plants are
unpruned. Our one gallon plants are pruned down and trained for
extensive branching. They are pruned down to about 12 to 16 inches tall
with trunk caliper of 1/2 to 3/4 inches. Two gallon size are somewhat
larger and more developed than our one gallon size.
2 3/4 INCH POTS $8
| 7412
Pinus thunbergii
'Akame' A cork bark type black pine with very long (five
inches or more) whiskery needles. It is popular in the US and the trunk
and branches cork up quite rapidly. It is a vigorous grower. This
cultivar roots more easily from cuttings than others and we have both
cutting grown and grafted plants. The first pictured plant is one
gallon graft, the second is a one gallon '99 cutting grown plant. The
cutting grown plant will already start to show swelling at the nebari. Waiting List |
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7420
Pinus thunbergii 'Ban Sho Ho'
This is a shrubby form of very compact habit. The needles are medium to
long at about three to four inches. It breaks back very nicely and will
make excellent medium sized bonsai at about 18 inches to 2 feet. This
cultivar is intermediate in size and habit between 'Yatsubusa'
and the species (seedlings).
Waiting
List
| 7423
Pinus
thunbergii
'Brocade' A dwarf cork barked cultivar (Nishiki Kuromatsu)
with very dense foliage. It buds back incredibly, very similar to 'Yatsubusa'
in this respect. Fantastic corky ridges begin forming very early and
are quite pronounced even in a five year old graft. This will make one
of the finest small Nishiki black pines. The needles will also reduce
nicely, easily attaining about two inches or less in length. Very low
grafts are a must for such a small pine, and ours are right on top of
existing roots. This cultivar is very similar to, and may be the same
as, 'Hayabusa'. At present we are keeping the two
separate and offering both. Pictured is '01 graft in a one gallon
container. Waiting List |
|
7424 Pinus
thunbergii 'Fuji' A
cork bark type black pine. I have not had this pine long enough to
adequately describe it. Steve's Pilacik's description from Japanese
Black Pine is "A good corking variety with a little bit
larger needle than usual. The grafted trees produce a thicker bark in a
shorter period of time than the cuttings."
ONE GALLON SIZE TWO YEAR
OLD GRAFT
$65
| 7428
Pinus thunbergii 'Hachi
Gen' (Cork Bark Black Pine) We obtained this cultivar
from Ken Sugimoto. As with many Nishiki
cultivars, there is a problem with the naming. We are giving it the
name supplied by Ken Sugimoto, but we have not been able to find it
described in any text. It was reported to us that one Japanese company
has it listed as 'Hachi Gen Kyokko', but it does not appear to be
related to the well known cultivar 'Kyokko'. It has needles shorter
than 'Kyokko' and it does not cork as fast. It is a cork bark
type black pine (Nishiki Kuro Matsu)
that forms corky ridges rather slowly, fully developing in about twenty
years. Grafts and cuttings develop bark that begins to 'crack' at about
three years. The needles have good green color and are quite similar to
species needles, not overly long (about three inches full size). It has
white buds and is vigorous growing, breaking new buds quite easily.
These are cutting grown plants, so there is no graft and the corking
will extend down to the surface roots. All these plants have good low
branching with the main leader still attached so you can decide how
much low caliper you want. Pictured is a 4 year old cutting grown
plant. |
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7430
Pinus
thunbergii 'Hayabusa'
A dwarf cork barked cultivar (Nishiki Kuromatsu) with very dense
foliage. See the description of 7423 'Brocade'
above.
Waiting
List
| 7436
Pinus
thunbergii
'Katsuga' A cork bark type black pine that we obtained from
Steve Pilacik. I have not had this pine long enough to adequately
describe it. Steve's description from Japanese Black Pine
is "A good variety for bonsai. It trunks up well, has red buds and deep
green needles that reduce well. It also ramifies nicely". Pictured is a
two year old low grafted plant. Waiting List |
|
7441 Pinus
thungbergii 'Koto Buki'
This is one of the very few true dwarf Japanese black pine
cultivars. The full size needles are just over one inch, and unlike 'Shun
Sho'
it slow growing with fairly short internodes. Another nice quality is
that grafted plants tend to buttress right at the graft union, so a
well executed low graft like ours will result in an excellent
base for the smallest black pine bonsai possible. We have to charge a
bit more for these due to the difficulty in grafting them.
Waiting
List
7443
Pinus thunbergii 'Kyokko'
A cork bark type black pine with long (four inches or more) needles. It
is very popular in the US and the trunk and branches cork up nicely. It
is a vigorous grower.
ONE GALLON SIZE 2YEAR OLD GRAFT $65
7444 Pinus
thunbergii 'Kyokko
Yatsubusa' A cork bark type black pine that was obtained from
Steve Pilacik. It is reputedly a yatsubusa
form of 'Kyokko', but I have yet to confirm this.
Our young plants are beginning to cork irregularly along the trunk and
branches at about four years.
Waiting
List
7445
Pinus
thunbergii 'Kujacka'
We obtained this plant from Herb Kelley of Kelly's Plant World, and
there may be trouble with the naming, I am working on it. It is a
variegated needled type with sharp bands of bright yellow variegations
in winter. It is clearly not 'Beni Kujacka' since
the banding does not turn red after freezing. It is a somewhat lanky
plant with thin stems and long fine needles of about four inches. It
has red buds and thus may be a Japanese Red pine x Black pine cross.
The variegations are very striking in winter.
Waiting
List
7446
Pinus thunbergii var. mikawa
This is the other seedling strain that we grow (see ara
kawa above). mikawa
seedlings are noted for their deeply fissured scaly bark as the plants
attain age. We have also noticed that the mikawa seedlings seem to be
uniformly greener than our species seedlings. 2 3/4 inch pot plants
will be a little small this year, about 1/8 inch caliper, four to six
inches tall. Our one gallon size plants are pruned down and trained
similar to our one gallon P. t. arakawa
above.
Available Again in 2008
| 7447
Pinus
thunbergii 'Mi
Nishiki' (Cork Bark Black Pine) We obtained this
cultivar from Chuck Shane of Bonsai Grower nursery in Sebastopol CA. In
the late 1970's He obtained this cultivar from a collector
who is no longer with us, so the history, and possibly an earlier
cultivar name is lost. It is a cork bark type black pine (Nishiki
Kuro Matsu) that forms corky ridges rather slowly,
fully developing in about twenty years. Grafts and cuttings develop
bark that begins to 'crack' at about five years. Ten year old plants
show thickening in one plane, similar to the 'two winged' phase of
corking. The needles have good green color and are quite similar to
species needles, not overly long (about three inches full size). It has
white buds and is vigorous growing, breaking new buds quite easily.
These are cutting grown plants, so there is no graft and the corking
will extend down to the surface roots. All these plants have good low
branching with the main leader still attached so you can decide how
much low caliper you want. |
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7448
Pinus thunbergii
'Nishiki
Tsukasa' A cork bark type black pine with medium to long
needles (three to four inches). It is very popular in the US and the
trunk and branches cork up nicely. It is a vigorous grower with very
long internodes if not controlled. 'Cracking' of the bark starts at
about four to five years and is first evident with a swelling at the
base of the trunk.
ONE GALLON SIZE 2YEAR OLD GRAFT $65
7461 Pinus
thunbergii 'Shun Sho
Matsu' A very short needled, white bud cultivar. It
undoubtedly has the shortest needles of any larger Black Pine, ranging
from about 1 to 1 1/2 inches. These short needles, fat buds, and long
thick internodes give it a very odd appearance. However, I think that
this has the potential of being a very nice small bonsai with hard
pruning to keep it under control. This cultivar breaks buds on old wood
very easily. It should trunk up very quickly. We hope to have some
grafts ready this fall.
Waiting
List
7464 Pinus
thunbergii 'Tai Hei'
This is another cork bark type black pine with that we obtained from
Steve Pilacik. I haven't had it long enough to adequately evaluate it.
Steve describes it as "An excellent nishiki
for small to medium sized bonsai. Truly a white budded gem". We hope to
have some grafts ready by fall.
Waiting
List
7465 Pinus thunbergii
'Thunderhead' A dwarf form making a broad dense mound. Dark
green needles contrasted with white buds. This cultivar has been given
short shrift in the bonsai community, mainly because of its medium to
long needles (three to four inches). However, I have found that the
needles can be reduced to acceptable lengths, and that its excellent
ability to back bud makes it a decent candidate for smaller pine
bonsai, perhaps not quite shohin though. It looks very much like a
slightly larger version of 'Yatsubusa'
Waiting
List
| 7470
Pinus
thunbergii
'Yatsubusa' A congested Japanese black pine with very short
internodes and stark white fat buds. The foliage and bark are typical
of the species, but it is the ability of this cultivar to break buds everywhere
that make it so intriguing. Four or five year old grafts are so dense
that you cannot see into them. It is a fast growing cultivar despite
its short stature and will form a stout trunk as fast as the species.
This is a superb choice for smaller pine bonsai, and our most popular
Black Pine cultivar. Pictured is a two year '01 graft. Waiting List |
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