MACH5
Imperial Masterpiece
This is an American elm (Ulmus americana). I had worked this tree previously with Doug (@jimib) at a workshop that @JudyB hosted at her place in late 2018. This is wild collected material with a simple character, maturing bark with sharis and other "imperfections" that gave this tree a nice natural feel. I worked the tree with Doug as an informal upright making some decisions and establishing a general structure. Many thanks to Doug for his generosity as he gifted me this tree at the end of the workshop!
I kept the tree for a year without doing much to it. As is typical with Ulmus, American elms grow vigorously and bud back readily. So they can be developed as bonsai fairly quickly. Earlier this year and before bud brake, I started to think what else could be done to this elm in order to bring out more of its character. Somehow in this process I decided to commit to a more asymmetrical design and plant the tree on a slab instead. As the tree grew this year, I pruned and roughly wired it to have a decidedly right lean to it. After leaf fall, it was pruned once more and lightly wired to further develop and refine what I had envisioned.
This is the tree last March. The trunk line on the selected front had a nice subtle movement to the right with a good flare at the base. But I felt I could tease out more out of this material.
November 2020. Beautiful clear yellow fall color typical of elms. Although it has a good flared base, it lacks a good nebari. In fact is mostly non existent except one large heavy root on the right and a small one to the back. I plan on grafting some roots in the future.
Winter image. The slab used is a Japanese Kurama stone. The heavier branches on its right were further brought down and the lean towards the right was emphasized with some pruning and wiring. Next year the tree will be shifted a bit more to the left and probably add a few small plants to complete the image. Not too bad for just two years in development!
I kept the tree for a year without doing much to it. As is typical with Ulmus, American elms grow vigorously and bud back readily. So they can be developed as bonsai fairly quickly. Earlier this year and before bud brake, I started to think what else could be done to this elm in order to bring out more of its character. Somehow in this process I decided to commit to a more asymmetrical design and plant the tree on a slab instead. As the tree grew this year, I pruned and roughly wired it to have a decidedly right lean to it. After leaf fall, it was pruned once more and lightly wired to further develop and refine what I had envisioned.
This is the tree last March. The trunk line on the selected front had a nice subtle movement to the right with a good flare at the base. But I felt I could tease out more out of this material.
November 2020. Beautiful clear yellow fall color typical of elms. Although it has a good flared base, it lacks a good nebari. In fact is mostly non existent except one large heavy root on the right and a small one to the back. I plan on grafting some roots in the future.
Winter image. The slab used is a Japanese Kurama stone. The heavier branches on its right were further brought down and the lean towards the right was emphasized with some pruning and wiring. Next year the tree will be shifted a bit more to the left and probably add a few small plants to complete the image. Not too bad for just two years in development!
