Colorado’s Ponderosa Pine “Big Pondo”

[Colorado]

This tree earned the nickname “Big Pondo” because when I originally purchased it, the collection box was too large for me to move by myself. My wife was kind enough to help me until I got it into a smaller container. It’s not the most creative nickname…but it is accurate!

I purchased this tree in 2019 from Todd Schlafer - almost exactly 4 years ago. It was my very first yamadori purchase. I hindsight, maybe I could have started out with something a little bit more manageable, but I dove in headfirst! I think he mentioned that he collected it in 2015 or so.

Here’s the tree as collected:


The next spring i was putzing around the garden and I spotted it from this angle. I fell in love with the angular movement of the trunkline:


I ordered this huge rectangle pot and potted the tree:


Over the next several years, I basically just focused on water and health. I keep the tree in full sun. I removed some growth here and there that I knew would not be a part of the final design. Wired it for the first time in late summer 2021. Repotted again into a smaller container in spring 2022 and put it out to pasture until yesterday.

Yesterday I gave the tree its second wiring. My goal was to set the tree up for refinement and to tighten up the design. Here’s the tree now:


I’m really happy with where this tree is at 4 years in! The tree has the most exceptional bark I’ve ever seen on any tree. I just love having this tree on my bench! Looking forward to what the next 4 years bring

 

[Vincent Tanner]

Amazing! Awesome transformation!

 

[Shogun610]

Nice tree , I like the angle , is that your chose front?? I’d love to see a 360 shot of its angles.

 

[rockm]

Very nice tree! personally, I liked the rectangle pot better, though.

 

[Colorado]

Very nice tree! personally, I liked the rectangle pot better, though.

Thank you! I totally agree about the rectangle, that one was just a little bit too large.

I have been discussing with @Hartinez the possibility of a slab.

I was also thinking a rectangle similar to the first one, but smaller. To be honest, the thought did cross my mind to splurge on a nice Gyozan rectangle for this tree

 

[Colorado]

Amazing! Awesome transformation!

Thank you!

Nice tree , I like the angle , is that your chose front?? I’d love to see a 360 shot of its angles.

Thanks! Yes I have considered several fronts over the years and this is what I landed on and keep coming back to. The back side has some pretty gnarly deadwood

 

[Colorado]

My friend and mentor Danny aka @Hartinez was kind enough to send me this tilted virtual, which will be my reference for the angle when I repot it in 2025.

 

[Colorado]

As I mentioned above, the bark on this tree is truly exceptional. Lots of ponderosas have really good bark. But this one has GREAT bark. It is very layered and aged:

It is quite a challenge to avoid knocking any of it off during repotting and/or wiring time!!!

 

[PeaceLoveBonsai]

That trunk !

Well done with this tree.

Quick question, is the primary first branch the one moving to the right? Or is it the one going left? It’s hard to tell from that last photo.

 

[pandacular]

awesome tree! would love to see it in person, maybe at an upcoming RBMS show?

 

[Colorado]

That trunk !

Well done with this tree.

Quick question, is the primary first branch the one moving to the right? Or is it the one going left? It’s hard to tell from that last photo.

Thank you. I consider the right branch to be the primary branch. I’d like to get a little more length on that branch over time.

 

[Colorado]

awesome tree! would love to see it in person, maybe at an upcoming RBMS show?

Thanks! I would love to put this tree in a show some day….when it’s ready . I think it has a ways to go.

 

[pandacular]

To my eyes, the foliage looks like it's up there with some of the best pondo's I saw at this years show! I agree that it likely needs a more fitting pot and angle, but that's "easy". The bark, trunk, and foliage placement are outstanding. Are you working on needle reduction? That can certainly take a number of years, but that doesn't mean it won't showable until the needles are reduced.

...tho i'm still thinking about the Mike Britten ponderosa with the super tiny needles.

 

[namnhi]

Thank you! I totally agree about the rectangle, that one was just a little bit too large.

I have been discussing with @Hartinez the possibility of a slab.

I was also thinking a rectangle similar to the first one, but smaller. To be honest, the thought did cross my mind to splurge on a nice Gyozan rectangle for this tree

With your talent, if you need a pot... make one. You can do it. How big would the pot have to be for this one?

 

[Colorado]

To my eyes, the foliage looks like it's up there with some of the best pondo's I saw at this years show! I agree that it likely needs a more fitting pot and angle, but that's "easy". The bark, trunk, and foliage placement are outstanding. Are you working on needle reduction? That can certainly take a number of years, but that doesn't mean it won't showable until the needles are reduced.

...tho i'm still thinking about the Mike Britten ponderosa with the super tiny needles.

Well I appreciate the kind words. Yes I am now in full refinement phase with this tree, i.e. needle reduction. While I’ve only been working on the tree for 4 years, it is important to remember that Todd was taking care of it for 4 or 5 years before I bought it in a vigorous state.

I didn’t fertilize it at all this year until the beginning of September, and even then I put on a very light application of Biogold. I gave it a little fish fert the other day too. I’ll probably do one more application of Biogold in late September and then that will be it for fertilizer this year.

 

[Colorado]

With your talent, if you need a pot... make one. You can do it. How big would the pot have to be for this one?

I have never made one anywhere near this large. Would be fun to try, though! I’m pretty sure that oval is at least 20 inches, maybe 24 inches. Can’t remember for sure.

 

[Gabler]

Accidental post, sorry.

 

[Scorpius]

Bravo. Beautiful Ponderosa you have there with magnificent bark. I'm a bark kind of guy and this tree makes me drool.

 

[Colorado]

Bravo. Beautiful Ponderosa you have there with magnificent bark. I'm a bark kind of guy and this tree makes me drool.

Thanks! I certainly appreciate bark in bonsai too. It is a definitive indication of age when a tree has great bark.

I am not sure if this ponderosa displays this bark because it is just super old. Or whether the bark is a result of some genetic anomaly. It almost seems like some sort of “cork bark” or similar variation of ponderosa. Not sure, maybe @Dan W. can weigh in with a more educated opinion on that

 

[Dan W.]

Awesome bark! It's hard to tell from photo's, but to me it looks like many years of bark layering, and somehow it hasn't been knocked off! .. lol. Great work!
The few definite 'cork-bark' ponderosa's I've found show very obvious wings of bark on the smaller branches. Of course these are just labels we come up with to try and define something out of the ordinary. There will always be at least some amount of genetic variation in every seed grown tree, so who knows, yours may be faster at growing bark, or better at holding on to it, or the environment was just right, or all of the above.

I look forward to seeing it in a RMBS show one day too.