Big trees that make you say, "It's like a giant bonsai"

This one made me stop and take the photo. When I drove past it, the tree looked way too two-dimensional, because the main trunk have be broken off in the past.

Huge ass ficus when I visited Taiwan. You could swing off those aerial roots.

Juniper virginiana. The tree is believed to be about 600 to 800 years old, but there were no coring marks on the trunk, so take the age with a grain of salt. Six foot tall nephew next to the tree, It has fine scale foliage, rather than the needle foliage you see on young J. virginiana. Location? Believe it or not, southern Illinois. The LaRue Pine Hills section of the Shawnee National Forest. At the base of the 100+ foot bluff is the ''bottomland'' of the confluence of the Big Muddy River and the Mississippi Rivers. To the west you can see Missouri from there. Being raised in Chicago, it always surprises me that Illinois has as much stunningly beautiful scenery as it does.

It is a long, long drop from the edge there nephew. That is a 2 lane paved road down there. The hills on the hazy horizon are in Missouri, the Mississippi is about where the haze gets to heavy to make out details. Big Muddy is in the foreground.



roots



Looking at the next clif face to the north, from the ancient juniper.



I only visit the LaRue pine hills in cold weather, autumn, winter, and very early spring - too damn many cottonmouths, copperheads, eastern diamondback and timber rattlesnakes in the area. The place is crawling with all manner of venomous snakes in summer. Dangerous to walk around if you are not paying attention. I don't like to have to pay attention.

On second look, the road below the cliff is not a paved road, it is a one lane gravel road. Still, the drop is over 100 feet.

Some trees I have run into recently

A nice coffee table book I stumbled upon for people who are interested in photography of century old trees

http://oldolivetrees.gr/en

Came across this black in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Gnarly windblown looking branches!

Landscape pines Kyoto February 2011

Found this in the woods behind my house recently.

This one lives at the library across the street from me. Last July and March 1.

Let’s see how bad my photos are. This has to be a pretty old tree, near my work.

↑ ↑ ↑
Who are you, the friggin' "Bonsai Police"???
Yes, I know what I posted.
So shoot a brother for tryin', and sharing an interesting tree.

On my way to work , everyday.
Ficus Elastica.

Smoke said:

About 75 miles from my house.
View attachment 158712View attachment 158713View attachment 158714View attachment 158715View attachment 158716View attachment 158717

Click to expand...

Yamadori equipment.

Mike Corazzi said:

Yamadori equipment.


View attachment 181987

Click to expand...

I need a button for "Made me laugh!"

BigBen said:

So shoot a brother for tryin', and sharing an interesting tree.

Click to expand...

This one for instance?



Or that one maybe?



Perhaps this natural "topiary"?...



Or even not a tree, but a good sight, not a man-made cheesy attempted rendition of "nature", just the beauty of nature:



Going further, a fractal image, much better than un-imaginative, "square" topiaries:

MrFancyPlants said:

Let’s see how bad my photos are. This has to be a pretty old tree, near my work.

Click to expand...

I look at that one all the time!!!
Good on you for the pics!

I wish I had been into bonsai when I was a kid... Who knows, the way things are going, I may end up back home one day anyhow...

MrFancyPlants said:

Let’s see how bad my photos are. This has to be a pretty old tree, near my work.

Click to expand...

l love these types of trees in the city! Unfortunately, my city doesn't understand that you don't need to cut down an entire tree when it gets "in the way"