Observing Mini Douglas Fir in Summer [Bonsai]

The Douglas Fir is a native coniferous evergreen tree of the Pacific Northwest.

With its short needles, flexible branches, changing needle colors, and ability to form buds later in the season, it makes an attractive choice for bonsai.

Today I want to share this Douglas Fir from my bonsai collection.

It is still very juvenile in its growth habit, in developing branches that are becoming less green and more woody.

So I am still not yet decided on which angle will become the eventual front of the tree.

I've wired the tree to angle the branches out away from what I think looks like the best central trunk. A couple years ago I also topped this tree, forcing its highest branch to become the new trunk. That is why this tree has spidered out into such an irregular tree shape. Very glad my work has encouraged the lower branches to grow larger.

What is interesting this time of year is the tree is pushing out new needles from various locations. These are not the first buds of the year. In fact they are new buds growing out from along the stems made by the original buds that developed this past spring.

Nearly every bud stem that I pinched has formed new needles recently shooting out from the end.

#Pinching is performed on young shoots. It reduces the stem length. It also increases the possibility for back-budding further down the branch and along the trunk. In this case, pinching as also reduced the length of the incoming needles on the next set of needles emerging from the pinched tips.

All of the thick green branches were once the same bright yellow-green as the new needles. Three months ago, and they are already hardening off. Those needles are now hard and deeper green, contrasting the second flush of needles coming in.

In the winter, the buds are covered in a hard pinecone shaped cuticle coating, and they open when the season is warm and wet enough for the tender young needles to emerge.

This second flush of new needles do no form the same cone. Instead the new buds push needles directly out from the wood, wasting no effort to continue growing while the season is hot and warm.

Buds often form on the ends of branches, producing long lateral limbs that eventually bend downward. Buds also form along the middle of branches. When many buds form along branches, it develops into an inter-weaving pattern, like the feathers of a bird.

---

Photos in this post are all #originalworks by @creativetruth, unless stated otherwise.

Find me on discord and chat with other tree growers, bonsai enthusiasts, and gardeners. We have quite a few accredited experts filling out our ranks, and a helpful Spanish-speaking community.

#teambonsai

No memberships. Love trees. Make friends. Grow together.

---

Hope you enjoyed these photos. I'm going to focus on sharing more photos of my evergreens and coniferous trees in the coming months, so follow @creativetruth for updates if you haven't done so already.

#art #tree #douglas-fir #evergreen #needles #green #creative #creativecoin #photography

There is many new steem-engine coins coming out every day, and being given away freely for using correct tags, and for creating awesome related content. Please let me know if you would like to see me include or disclude any tags related to posts like this one. I'm learning about new ones every day. Thanks!