The Japanese Style Pine in my Japanese Garden

The Pine is a PINUS PARVIFLORA or JAPANESE WHITE PINE its JAPANESE  name is GOYO-MATSU

I have been training this pine for approximately 30 years the trunk I shaped by wiring the new top growth every year and bending into shape ,then the following year taking the wire off and twisting it on to the new top growth and then bending that into shape and so on year on year, I have now stopped it growing any taller by nipping the leader out ,I finger prune the candles or buds twice a year to help it to bud back and to thicken the pads up.

If terminal and other strong buds are left on the shoots produced during the year, the following spring they will stretch outwards and upwards extending the size of the tree.

Only the terminal buds and some lateral buds are pinched out, then nearby latent buds will be stimulated to grow making other methods of pruning unnecessary, the shoots that grow will be shorter and more crowded than the removed buds had they been allowed to grow thickening the pads.

Many pines in Japan are over 250 years old and are kept more or less to the same size and shape by pruning and by cutting back . The annual pruning stimulates and rejuvenates growth.