styled a sabina juniper this weekend. had the tree for 2yrs. did the first initial styling last spring. tree has been putting out healthy amount of growth but i still can not style a apex for the life of me lol. ill see if i can find some pictures from when i first purchased the tree. in the meantime here is a few.

first trim styling spring 2018


1 yr of growth
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styled 2019

Crent, what I miss in your literati are the crazy bends on the trunk.
It is nice the way it's been styled, but...
I don't see a "true" literati yet. It takes time, but it takes courage to bent the hell out of it!
Don't take my words wrong; the tree is nice.

crent89 wrote:

i still can not style a apex for the life of me lol.

Maybe... but it is improving. Maybe the highest branches can move up a bit more, but other than that... I think you're doing pretty good.
Also... not all literati have crazy bends.



Images are from: abqbonsaiclub.com/literati-the-poetic-style/literati/

Auk wrote:

Also... not all literati have crazy bends.

Granted.
Let's rephrase it: "I like the curved, gnarled trunk that shows age and suffering in a Literati".
My personal taste. Of course.

Clicio wrote:

Crent, what I miss in your literati are the crazy bends on the trunk.

i have to agree the crazy bends in a literati are what definitely give them some great character and age but i have seen a few that dont have crazy bends as Auk pointed out and this here has been my attempt to one. this is one i really liked as i was surfing the web one day.

Clicio wrote:

Auk wrote:

Also... not all literati have crazy bends.

Granted.
Let's rephrase it: "I like the curved, gnarled trunk that shows age and suffering in a Literati".
My personal taste. Of course.

I like both. I guess straight literati do show a struggle too - or actually, competition with other trees. I guess straight ones look better in a group. Now I need to Google if that's true