You pull up to a car meet, the light shimmers off the sleek body work, the mag wheels glide across the surface, what a car. You go to lift the hood as you park up, but you remember it has a tractor diesel engine, you quickly close it.

Approaching design from an outward product view runs the risk of and more frequently creates a tree of lower quality. Foliage mass to hide flaws over utilised instead of as a ‘compromising tool’ or an inherent lack of design knowledge to rather highlight branch structure.

So what do I mean by this?

The trunk line AND branch lines are the soul of the tree. There is so much beauty to be explored here. Every time you wire a branch you are creating a line, make it a good one.

I can hear you already saying what about conifers…

Let me quickly summarise what the current views are, If I were to ask the general community.

Conifers – Focus Only trunk line

Broadleaf Deciduous – Trunk line and branch lines

Broadleaf Evergreens – Mixed response.

What should your view be…ALL lines All the time.

Will there be compromises, yes of course. Will there be biases based on species, yes. However if your thinking is on point, the compromise will be the last option and not the first.

How do I improve my design approach?

Focus on how that foliage gets to that point in the design rather than just I need foliage there. Look at your tree and picture every leaf removed, zoom in on the branches only, follow the lines, look for the beauty, enhance it.

Practice your wiring on deciduous trees at leaf drop, this is a great tool to visualise lines and how they interact.

There’s no substitute for creating beautiful branch lines in bonsai design. There’s no reason to create foundational designs on a tree with inherent issues. You are just kicking the bucket down the road.

I’ll end with this.

Next time you look at a Pohutukawa, do you notice the leaves or the trunk/ branches first. The gnarly beauty of the lines these trees often make, are inspirational. So why do we want to create a foliage dome, hiding the structure? Here’s going back to the mixed response, flowers? And so here it comes, do you compromise structure to have a dome of flowers… or can we have both? You decide.