Tag Archives: Sukashi Niwaki Pruning

Japanese Sukashi Style Pine Tree Pruning Tutorial — Year Three

In 2023 we began pruning on some badly neglected pine trees that had previously been pruned in a Japanese style—more or less—but then had been let go for a few years. We were hired to bring them up to the highest standard possible. Truthfully, they had never been pruned properly ever, although the trees had a decent skeletal structure with which to work. So for the past three years, it has been a matter of thinning and restructuring the entire secondary and tertiary branches each tree in a Japanese naturalistic or sukashi style and then re-establish branch layers or pads. Laboriously and tediously this has been accomplished over the past three years. Now it is a matter of letting the individual pads or layers fill in to give the trees a fuller and less airy look. Within the next two years or so, the fruits of our labors should really begin to pay off as the trees begin to come into their full glory—bonsai on steroids! To view Year One of this ongoing video series, go to    • Shore Pines Pruned in Japanese Style (Befo…   and    • Pruning Coast Pines in the Japanese Sukash…  . To view Year Two of this ongoing video series, go to    • Fall Japanese Sukashi Style Pine Tree Prun… 

A Derelict Estate Transforming Into a Japanese Garden

Do you have an over-mature landscape that you’re not sure what to do with? Rip it out or repurpose it? How about gradually transforming it into a Japanese style garden? In this video, we encountered a sixty plus year old landscape that has been neglected for years, and we accepted the challenge of refurbishing some very large, old shrubs by pruning them in a Japanese style. From this auspicious beginning, the ecstatic homeowner is planning to add more Japanese-themed aspects (like pines and a moss garden) into the existing landscape to create her dream garden.

Pruning Coast Pines in the Japaneses Sukashi Style

This is a one of a kind tutorial on pruning two needle pines in a Japanese (sukashi) style from the beginning to the finished product. This video is packed full of information that will help guide you as you tackle pruning the illustrious pine tree—the top tree in the Japanese garden. Please enjoy! —Nathan Lawrence the Arborist (or Niwashi, Niwa Mori) and Treevangelist