Bald Cypress Giant

[FrankP999]

The Atlanta Bonsai Society met this weekend for the annual picnic at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, GA ( i.e. Bonsai Monks (http://www.bonsaimonk.com/about.html). We had a mini-workshop by Gary Marchal on bald cypress. The monastery store had this collected bald cypress on display. I am glad I did not have to make up this batch of soil.

Frank

 

[art-rodriguez]

bald cypress

cool pic Frank
do you have any pics to share of Gary's demo. ?

 

[FrankP999]

I just have a few of the trees folks brought. None that really show Gary's secrets HAHA

Frank

 

[Kirk]

I just have a few of the trees folks brought. None that really show Gary's secrets HAHA

Frank

Frank,

Just please don't post the pic of the stinker Metasequoia I brought. I thought a jin top would work with the dead wood it had. Gary thought it needed to come off. Maybe sometime around Dec. someone will need it for the production of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

It was a great workshop/critique. Gary is always very generous to the ABS folks.

 

[FrankP999]

Frank,
I thought a jin top would work with the dead wood it had. Gary thought it needed to come off. Maybe sometime around Dec. someone will need it for the production of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

It was a great workshop/critique. Gary is always very generous to the ABS folks.

Kirk,
I was also a bit shocked when Gary whacked the dead wood off. I can't wait to see how it turns out. You will notice i did not post a pic of my bald cypress - it was the stick in a pot behind the others.

I hope to be seeing you at the ABS meetings - I just joined and Sat was my first meeting.

Frank

 

[Kirk]

Kirk,
I was also a bit shocked when Gary whacked the dead wood off. I can't wait to see how it turns out. You will notice i did not post a pic of my bald cypress - it was the stick in a pot behind the others.

I hope to be seeing you at the ABS meetings - I just joined and Sat was my first meeting.

Frank

Once you plant the little fella in the ground you are going to be surprised. They grow like gangbusters. If you have a spot near water where its feet can stay a bit wet you'll get gorgeous flaring at the base. I've seen some less than 10 years in the ground that were ready to be collected.

I understood why he did lop off the top jin. Earlier in his demo he mentioned that the dead sapwood on that size cypress/dawn redwood would inevitably rot off and a leader near it would need to be trained to make the rotted out spot look good. I'm sure it could probably have been preserved with a gallon of wood hardener or lime sulpher but the jin/shari would have been the only interesting element of the tree. If it rotted off the main element of its design would be lost. No worries, though. I spent the rest of the day using his technique to clean up the scars and help the taper. Good practice if nothing else.

I'll look for you at the upcoming meeting. It's going to be tropicals with Ed Trout.

Best,
Kirk

 

[cray13]

Demo by Gary on 03/08/09 in Raleigh, NC

Gary visited my club in Raleigh, NC and did a demo for us on Sunday as well as an afternoon workshop on Saturday. Here are a few images of a big BC he worked on at our demo.

Gary is a wealth of knowledge on BC. His workshop and demo were outstanding. I'm sure FrankP999 learned a ton at the workshop at the monastery.

 

[AlainK]

Topiary art.

Nice.

 

[Klytus]

Nope,topiary is too aristocratic old europe.

Bayou Bonsai is the newly emerging leisure persuit of the sons of the south,and as such should not be mocked.

Even old Abe Lincoln wished he were in Dixie.

 

[johng]

Nope,topiary is too aristocratic old europe.

Pearl Fryar's Garden

on my...he's even from the South...what is the world coming to

 

[Klytus]

Lol,no Wellingtonia!