Nature as teacher

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inspiration from nature - massive bur Oak in Missouri

More than 300 years old, largest bur oak in Missouri. Near Kirksville.

Nephew and nieces for scale, height of tree is roughly 125 ft. tall, diameter of trunk is huge - the 20 something year old "kids" do not even begin to block ones view of the trunk.

(edit: deleted non-relevant sentence & corrected the height of the tree, thanks)
 

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More than 300 years old, largest bur oak in Missouri. Near Kirksville.

(mild sarcasm, don't derail this thread, bring it up in a different thread if you want to discuss)

Oh look, it is not shaped like a pine tree!

I think it is more a like a broom style, though not exactly that either.

Nephew and nieces for scale, height of tree is roughly 225 ft. diameter of trunk is huge - the 20 something year old "kids" do not even begin to block ones view of the trunk.

Then why bring it up. If you want to discuss something other than what this thread is discussing post it yourself. As to this tree; it's beautiful, and the reason we do have the broom style; did you not know that? The broom style is one of the most recent forms to be added to the lexicon of bonsai stuff, somewhere back in the 60's.
 
Here are some examples of what some call the sumo style. I've heard some say that sumo trees are artificial and exaggerated looking. These olives are thousands of years old.
 

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Then why bring it up. If you want to discuss something other than what this thread is discussing post it yourself. As to this tree; it's beautiful, and the reason we do have the broom style; did you not know that? The broom style is one of the most recent forms to be added to the lexicon of bonsai stuff, somewhere back in the 60's.

You're right Vance.

At first I thought of this as a broom, much like the American Elm street trees in the neighborhood I grew up. But if you look closely at the way the branches exit the trunk, there are some similarities to the 'flame' style, though that is not a good fit either. I guess it does fall under the general category of broom style. The crown is certainly made of multiple branches originating from the trunk. But it is not the same type of broom as one sees in elm.
 
You're right Vance.

At first I thought of this as a broom, much like the American Elm street trees in the neighborhood I grew up. But if you look closely at the way the branches exit the trunk, there are some similarities to the 'flame' style, though that is not a good fit either. I guess it does fall under the general category of broom style. The crown is certainly made of multiple branches originating from the trunk. But it is not the same type of broom as one sees in elm.

The point is that the forms we see in bonsai culture do in fact have their models in real life natural shapes.
 
Nature is a great teacher and for her hourly rate she's cheap as hell ;)
 
This a picture of an American elm by where I live.
 

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I went for a walk in the woods today. Old spruce often take on a very formal upright look, so do old subalpine fir.
 

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Western larch, trunk chop!
 

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Another larch, what is this style called?
 

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Larch again, I'd have to call this the awesome style!
 

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Approach graft?

Here is a natural graft on a very old Sugar Maple at Longwood Gardens.
 

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