Cryptomeria Japonica Bonsai (Japanese Red Cedar)
I purchased this Cryptomeria Japonica (Bandai Sugi) from Lone Pine Gardens in Sebastapol, CA in May of 2007. It is over 20 years old and has a great trunk and bark that resembles that of a redwood.
Below is my photo journal of it’s progress.
Interesting facts: Cryptomeria Japonica is the only species in its genus, and Cryptomeria is one of only 10 genera in the ancient family, Taxodiaceae, which once shared the landscape with the dinosaurs. Other Taxodiceae include: Dawn Redwood, California Redwood, Giant Sequoia, and Bald Cypress. Although it’s common name is cedar, it is not actually part of the true cedar (Cedrus) family.
5/19/07 - 10 gallon starter material from Lone Pine nursery.
Just after bringing it home and setting it up w/ the watering system
5/27/07 - After taking off the bottom row of branches and wiring the remaining ones.
Where the trunk was chopped
6/3/07
6/10/07 - The apex needs revision since it lacks sufficient taper. 
Virtual planning.
After initial branch removal.
7/22/07 - Grinded the unwanted stump away.
The Arbortech mini grinder made this a very easy job.
8/17/07 - Refined the foliage in an attempt to move it down the branches closer to the trunk.
3/30/08 - New spring growth. Decided not to repot this year.
4/20/08
6/15/08 - Lots of new growth.
1/25/09 - It has made a full recovery from the hard pruning last year, so now it is finally time to repot.
The rootball was very hard and dense so it should enjoy the new soil mix. 
This plastic training pot is a visual improvement.
3/30/09 - Did some pruning. Need to do more.
6/14/09 - More styling and foliage refinement.
Starting to make some sense of the apex.
Having a hard time choosing a front. Resorting to process of elimination (ie. determine what is not the front).
Chose a leader, need to carve the trunk some more.
8/4/09 - Did a lot of training this summer. The apex is finally coming together.
10/25/09 - Decided on this for the front.
2/8/10 - Need to put a major downward bend in the big bottom branch. I'll have to wrap the branch first and use really thick wire.
3/27/11 - My first attempt at taking decent pictures of my trees. I need a bigger backdrop for this one, and more lighting. 
I tried a couple different lighting angles.
This is the type of pot that I want for this tree. I know it is relatively common, but cant find one online for the life of me. Anybody want to sell me one?
I found this pot via special order from bonsaimonk.com - looking forward to repotting to it this winter!
2/2/12 - The cold temps made the foliage really brown this year - freaked me out a little, but it seems like the tree is ok. I may protect it a little next year.
New Japanese pot from bonsaimonk.com arrived in time for repotting this year. 
had to do a lot of root reduction to fit it in the shallower pot.
they say the pot is like the picture frame - looks a lot better even tho the foliage needs a lot of work still. 
Finally did something with all the foliage and branching. cut back heavily and wired all branches down. 
Just showing that all of the branches have wire on them for the first time. The foliage has always been so dense that I guess I was afraid to cut it back enough to wire like this before. glad I finally did.
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4 Comments
Very nice photos of progression .
Thanks T! It has recovered well from the repotting and is pushing out nice bright green foliage now. I need to update w/ some new pix soon.
very impressive. looks beautiful
thanks Zach!