I like the second view better because of the trunk wiggle.
That is indeed the previous owners front, as indicated by the chopstick.I like the second view better too.
That's the plan! I spoke with a teacher who does classes at my club while considering the purchase, and he said he could probably help me sort that out, and even wire some roots, at a class next year.When you unpot this next year, maybe you can get those walking roots to separate from the root ball and spread them flat to create a better nebari. Planting deeper will help.
As I said, the earliest I plan to actually do any work to it is next spring. It will never be a quality bonsai with the current root situation, so I see little benefit to skipping that work at the repot. If you're saying "don't repot this next spring" then aren't you really saying "wait a whole year to start that work"? Is that what you mean, and if so why? Otherwise, I think your "several months" wait is built in and called winterJust brought this great little tree home, determining the front and planning to cut, wire, repot...... And we are helping to
Why are we all so impatient to do something? Perhaps the better approach is to not determine the front, first because then all else is governed by this decision. Perhaps the better approach is to live with the tree for several months and let the tree talk to us and it will tell us what it should be in its own sweet time.
Just my 1.25 cents for y'all to ponder.
As for the front, I think other commenters were just expressing what they liked, and I appreciate it. My suspicion is that the results of the root-rearrange will be the most likely determiner of the front down the road. In the meantime, there's nothing's nothing wrong with having a preferred side to admire it from.. . . repotting and arranging/pruning the roots in early spring sometime . . . I'd love to fuss with it in some way now, but I know I should probably just leave it alone.
Oh, and thank youJust brought this great little tree home
If you've been paying attention to some of my other posts, you're probably starting to worry that I've made a drastic chop . . .
Yep. No chop, but I haven't started the layers yet either - just cutting a few heavy branches back.I was expecting air layers this time !