Mendocino Pygmy Cypress

kytombonsai

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Does anyone have any experience growing Mendocino Cypress? I was told to treat it as a shimpaku as far as pruning and styling and I plan on keeping it with my tropicals in a heated garage over the winter. I just ordered my first collected cypress from Zach at Mendocino Bonsai and it should get to Kentucky on Thursday. I looked around on the web and did not find much information on these trees.

Tom
 

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Attila Soos

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I just ordered my first collected cypress from Zach at Mendocino Bonsai and it should get to Kentucky on Thursday. I looked around on the web and did not find much information on these trees.

Tom

I didn't know that Mendocino bonsai collects these. Thanks for pointing that out, I think I will give them a call, since I love these trees. Last year when I was in Mendocino, I saw the pygmy forests made up entirely of these trees.

I have a few young seedlings a couple of years old, but noting close to bonsai. They have a very nice and fragrant foliage, it reminds me of Itoigawa shimpaku foliage, only much faster growing.

That's a nice little tree that you have there, interesting trunk.
 
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kytombonsai

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Attila,

Zack at Mendocino had a few more of these and was planning on taking them to the Golden State Convention where they will be vending in case you are planning on attending. I think it will be a nice Shohin size bonsai. The tree is 11" tall with a 1" trunk.

Tom
 

Attila Soos

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Attila,

Zack at Mendocino had a few more of these and was planning on taking them to the Golden State Convention where they will be vending in case you are planning on attending. I think it will be a nice Shohin size bonsai. The tree is 11" tall with a 1" trunk.

Tom

Great! I will definitely look for them, since I will be attending.
 

Attila Soos

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I am very excited that I managed to buy 2 of these Gowen pygmy cypresses from Bob and Zack at the convention. They are small yamadori, only about a foot tall, and the trunks are rather thin (almost an inch thick), but I've never seen such an amazing character on small trunks like this. Great old bark, ancient shari, etc. I don't know how old they are, but in spite of their small trunks, they look very old. The foliage is bright emerald green, and emanates a wonderful citrus smell that fills the whole room. I paid a total of $250 for two trees (I always ask for a discount from Bob, and he graciously gave it to me). I can't wait to start working on them next spring.

By the way, (edit) a subspecies of these trees are endangered on the US Species List, and the goveniana is extremely rare as bonsai (I've never seen one and any exhibit). Personally, I feel that owning such a rare yamadori is a great challenge and responsibility.

On another note, when I asked Bob Shimon about his ethnic background (he asked me first), he is an Assyrian (ancient people much persecuted by the islamic governments). Probably the only Assyrian in the world, practicing bonsai:).

Edit: I edited this last portion because I made a mistake and said that "contrary to the title of this thread, this is NOT a Mendocino cypress. I meant to say that this is NOT a Monterey cypress - so the title of the thread is correct, the popular name IS Mendocino cypress. The scientific name is Cupressus goveniana. It has a few subspecies, the var. goveniana is endangered.
 
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rockm

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Attila Soos

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Attila,

Apparently it is a subspecies of the Gowen Cypress "goveniana" that is endangered--

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recNum=TS0005

I mention this because endangered species cannot be collected, transported or sold under protection of the Endangered Species Act.

http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/esa.html

Selling or buying protected species may also violate CITES

Your trees must be the main species...

You are right.....most definitely.:)
Thanks for the clarification. I don't want to get anybody in trouble here..I will make sure that the plant tag shows the word "goweniana" only once..or it may be the best if I use the popular name.
 
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Attila Soos

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When one gets into the "subspecies" business, things always get very confusing. I have several types of goveniana in my backyard, and they have different foliage. I have the var. pygmaea (nursery-grown trees) and the foliage has a grayish/blueish hue. Then I have the "normal" goveniana (also nursery-grown), and the foliage is a bright emerald green.
And lastly, I have the yamadori goveniana, the foliage looks more like the "normal" goveniana (definitely not the var. pygmaea), but it is not exactly the same....it's a darker, less bright green. But they all smell exactly the same, when you touch the foliage.
 
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kytombonsai

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Attila, I'm glad that you were able to pick up a couple of the cypress. It sounds like your two came from the same batch as mine. You are correct about the trunks. They look very old and have very nice deadwood. There are a couple of these trees in a recent book. I think it is North American Bonsai from ABS which was done by Marty Schmalenburg. (Hopefully I didn't butcher his name up too bad) I think it is going to be a challenge to get the tree into a smaller pot and eliminate the old clay/sand soil. I was told to only remove a small amount of the old soil every repotting.

Tom
 

Attila Soos

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Attila, I'm glad that you were able to pick up a couple of the cypress. It sounds like your two came from the same batch as mine. You are correct about the trunks. They look very old and have very nice deadwood. There are a couple of these trees in a recent book. I think it is North American Bonsai from ABS which was done by Marty Schmalenburg. (Hopefully I didn't butcher his name up too bad) I think it is going to be a challenge to get the tree into a smaller pot and eliminate the old clay/sand soil. I was told to only remove a small amount of the old soil every repotting.

Tom

You are right, they must be from the same batch. In fact, one of the tree that I bought is a slanting one, and remarcably similar-looking to yours.
Yes, Bob told me to remove the old soil little by little, not more than 20% to be removed at each re-potting. I learned abut having sensitive roots last year, when I dug out a nursery-grown gowen cypress that I was growing in my backyard for 3 years, and the tree died, in spite its large rootball. I pruned it like my monterey cypresses, which was a mistake. But I had no way of knowing that they are so sensitive. Now I know.

Thanks for mentioning Marty's book, I will have to check it out, since I've never seen a bonsai made from this species.
 
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