Beautiful Large Black Pine Bonsai

[Housguy]

I am fairly new to the world of bonsai, but I am hooked for life now and really enjoy this living art! Anyway, here is a pic of one of my friends trees in California, enjoy!!

 

[bonsaidave]

Looks like quite the setup.

 

[0soyoung]

You know, it is very difficult to see your tree for the forest.
I think it would be well worth taking a good photo of that pine, @Housguy - I would really like to see it.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Please add location to profile.

 

[Housguy]

Thanks everyone, he does have quiet the setup, his whole backyard is his garden, at least a hundred or more trees. They are all big though, so moving them around is a bit tough, but he has heavy equipment to do it though. Sorry about the pic, I will try to get a better one next time I visit him. Here is a few others from his forest guys.

 

[Ingvill]

Pardon my ignorance;
Those metal rings around the trees; are those locks of sort to prevent theft?
Never seen it before and am curious.

Looks like a nice set up your friend has got going there!

 

[LanceMac10]

Pardon my ignorance;
Those metal rings around the trees; are those locks of sort to prevent theft?
Never seen it before and am curious.

Looks like a nice set up your friend has got going there!

Auto-watering lines, most likely.

 

[Ingvill]

Auto-watering lines, most likely.

Ah, gotcha....yeh you must be right!
Never seen a watering system looking like this before.

(Why is there no emoji for looking like an idiot by the way? )

 

[BackyardBonsai]

Any chance your friend is Boon?

 

[Housguy]

No it is not Boon, this guy lives in Anaheim CA.

 

[Housguy]

The tree at the Huntington Library - Bonsaiathon event.

 

[Adair M]

View attachment 233896
The tree at the Huntington Library - Bonsaiathon event.

Interesting tree. This is one I would like to see in person in order to get a better “feel” for the tree.

It certainly “breaks the rules”!

 

[Housguy]

Interesting tree. This is one I would like to see in person in order to get a better “feel” for the tree.

It certainly “breaks the rules”!

Just curious, since I am fairly new to this wonder world of Bonsai, what rules are being broken with this tree?

 

[Wilson]

I am lovin this tree! Totally a style I can enjoy, your friend has some beauties.

 

[Adair M]

Just curious, since I am fairly new to this wonder world of Bonsai, what rules are being broken with this tree?

The following is based upon my study of classical bonsai:

The tree is planted in a round pot, but it’s not centered in the pot. It moves strongly right, then left. But not “up” so much. Usually, oval pots are used, or perhaps a relatively deep rectangle to “ground” the tree. Horticultural, planting as close to the edge of a pot weakens the rootage on that side. It’s better to be more centered for the health of the tree.

Style wise, we have an unobstructed view of the trunk, which then turns back, away from the viewer. Then, the trunk line is obscured by foliage, so we really can’t tell what’s happening, then you see a section shooting straight up in the upper middle portion of the foliage supporting the apex. It “looks” like that exposed section comes from farther of the left? And kinda snakes it way up? Does it come off the long branch that comes off the back and arches over to the left? Or is there a more continuous trunk line that is obscured by that row of folige? Can’t tell from the photo.

There’s branches growing out of the insides of curves, the apex is rather pointed, stuff like that.

The thing is, I can’t really tell “if I like it or not” from the photo. From the photo, the whole tree seems to moving away from the viewer. But, maybe in person, it doesn’t feel that way.

One thing I would do for sure is lower the apex. The wood shows a jog back to the right up in the apex, and then it goes pointed. To my eye, something has caused the tree to stop moving to the right, and move left. Strongly. And now, suddenly it grows back to the right? And sharply pointed? I think it would be better to have a soft crown, not a sharp crown, and no obvious movement back to the right.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Housguy]

Thank you Adair, that was very insightful.

 

[Adair M]

Thank you Adair, that was very insightful.

The thing is, I just can’t really tell from just the photo. You have had the opportunity to stand in front of it.

How did it make you feel? Was it moving away from you?

 

[Housguy]

The thing is, I just can’t really tell from just the photo. You have had the opportunity to stand in front of it.

How did it make you feel? Was it moving away from you?

I guess you can say my initial feeling was happy that this was a cool looking tree. May be a little, I will have to get a better look at that next time I see it. I will work on getting more detailed pics next time also.

 

[Darbbycrash]

I am fairly new to the world of bonsai, but I am hooked for life now and really enjoy this living art! Anyway, here is a pic of one of my friends trees in California, enjoy!!View attachment 225948View attachment 225948

I Live in west Anaheim, would love to see this and get trade stories

 

[vancehanna]

really a fine collection!