MACH5
Imperial Masterpiece
This is a bald cypress I purchased from Martin Sweeny last year at the Winter Silhouette Expo. The material was grown from a cutting. This tree appealed to me because of its small size, good trunk movement and excellent nebari. Most of these BC trees seen as bonsai are collected and large to very large in size. So its relatively small size of just 16" tall caught my eye. I thought Martin had done an excellent job in growing this cypress and setting it up to have a good future as a bonsai.
This is the tree as purchased in December 2016.
In April, the tree was repotted into a dark blue glazed Reiho container. Then in June, the tree was pruned, wired and foliage thinned to promote back budding. At this time I made some design decisions and roughly set the tree's initial framework as a bonsai. One of the thicker upward facing branches was kept for now as a second apex.
After the initial styling work in June, the tree was left to grow for the remainder of the growing season. This is the tree last October in its fall color.
After leaf fall all wires were removed.
Although I was relatively happy with the styling done back in June, I wanted to push the design and give the tree a more unique identity and character. So I decided to make it into a weeping style tree still keeping the double apex as a feature. I'd like to increase the volume of the canopy and further develop the ramification as the design settles and the tree matures. 16" tall from soil level in a 13.5" wide Reiho pot.
One year into bonsai training.
This is the tree as purchased in December 2016.
In April, the tree was repotted into a dark blue glazed Reiho container. Then in June, the tree was pruned, wired and foliage thinned to promote back budding. At this time I made some design decisions and roughly set the tree's initial framework as a bonsai. One of the thicker upward facing branches was kept for now as a second apex.
After the initial styling work in June, the tree was left to grow for the remainder of the growing season. This is the tree last October in its fall color.
After leaf fall all wires were removed.
Although I was relatively happy with the styling done back in June, I wanted to push the design and give the tree a more unique identity and character. So I decided to make it into a weeping style tree still keeping the double apex as a feature. I'd like to increase the volume of the canopy and further develop the ramification as the design settles and the tree matures. 16" tall from soil level in a 13.5" wide Reiho pot.
One year into bonsai training.
