grouper52
Masterpiece
I was doing some semi-annual trimming and wiring (mostly photoshopped out 
) on this guy yesterday, and thiught he was controversial enough to post and perhaps generate some discussion.
This yamadori Sub-Alpine fir was purchased two years ago from Jason down at Oregon Bonsai. I can’t recall what it cost, but I recall it was cheap - considered an ugly duckling for some strange reason. They often sell to Walter and Boon, but those guys obviously overlooked this prime piece of bonsai real estate. LOL. About 2 1/2’ tall, BTW.
At least around here, the true firs - all firs except Douglas firs - are dying off from an apparently untreatable condition called terminal bud blight. It hasn’t hit my trees yet, but it’s probably just a matter of time. No one anywhere up here that I know of has any firs in their collections, and I’ve never seen one at Bonsai Northwest. Regular nurseries are phasing them out, and yard trees are dying off.
Anyway, I’ve got this guy and an old Alpine fir, and neither seems hit by it yet, but they are “dead trees walking”, so to speak. So I’m just kind of enjoying them while I can, not putting too much store by any long-term plans.
I’ve been encouraged to jin the entire top and develop the first branch, but I’ve resisted that particular call to reason. I’m still hopelessly convincing myself that a sort of upright literati with double cascades would “work”. Hah! I may at least reduce the foliage even further on the lower area tonight in response to studying the photo. I continue to think that the current styling trajectory, however, has a high likelihood of producing a sort of tree that would not be too unreasonable to expect high in the Western mountains out here, but a more naturalistic, less stylized and less lush treatment of the foliage may pull that off better. I might trim it back a bit (or a lot) more tonight and re-post.
As it is, he’s a tall, lanky fellow, much too much so - “teetering in his pot” as it was described elsewhere - with a marginal base to prevent the teetering or to suggest stability. He’s putting out fine roots, though, and that should correct over time. If he had much of a prognosis for reaching a ripe old age I would probably put him in the ground for a few years, but he doesn’t. There are also areas I noticed yesterday and will explore today, where there seems to be an uro at the base, which I might explore and develop.
It’s currently sitting in a too-small “literati pot” which I then nestled inside an antique Tokoname pot of subtle refinement and better size just to see how it looks. It looks much better, so I’m leaving it in there for this season, and will repot into the larger one late winter.
This guy breaks lots of rules and expectations,
and seems controversial and just plain not very much to many people’s liking, which is fine, so I don’t mind the stuff flying around if it generates a robust dialogue to enliven things here. Even hack it up with virts and turn it into a formal upright sumo if you like, or cast unthinkable slurs in my direction - whatever you like. Have at it! 
) on this guy yesterday, and thiught he was controversial enough to post and perhaps generate some discussion. This yamadori Sub-Alpine fir was purchased two years ago from Jason down at Oregon Bonsai. I can’t recall what it cost, but I recall it was cheap - considered an ugly duckling for some strange reason. They often sell to Walter and Boon, but those guys obviously overlooked this prime piece of bonsai real estate. LOL. About 2 1/2’ tall, BTW.
At least around here, the true firs - all firs except Douglas firs - are dying off from an apparently untreatable condition called terminal bud blight. It hasn’t hit my trees yet, but it’s probably just a matter of time. No one anywhere up here that I know of has any firs in their collections, and I’ve never seen one at Bonsai Northwest. Regular nurseries are phasing them out, and yard trees are dying off.
Anyway, I’ve got this guy and an old Alpine fir, and neither seems hit by it yet, but they are “dead trees walking”, so to speak. So I’m just kind of enjoying them while I can, not putting too much store by any long-term plans.
I’ve been encouraged to jin the entire top and develop the first branch, but I’ve resisted that particular call to reason. I’m still hopelessly convincing myself that a sort of upright literati with double cascades would “work”. Hah! I may at least reduce the foliage even further on the lower area tonight in response to studying the photo. I continue to think that the current styling trajectory, however, has a high likelihood of producing a sort of tree that would not be too unreasonable to expect high in the Western mountains out here, but a more naturalistic, less stylized and less lush treatment of the foliage may pull that off better. I might trim it back a bit (or a lot) more tonight and re-post.
As it is, he’s a tall, lanky fellow, much too much so - “teetering in his pot” as it was described elsewhere - with a marginal base to prevent the teetering or to suggest stability. He’s putting out fine roots, though, and that should correct over time. If he had much of a prognosis for reaching a ripe old age I would probably put him in the ground for a few years, but he doesn’t. There are also areas I noticed yesterday and will explore today, where there seems to be an uro at the base, which I might explore and develop.
It’s currently sitting in a too-small “literati pot” which I then nestled inside an antique Tokoname pot of subtle refinement and better size just to see how it looks. It looks much better, so I’m leaving it in there for this season, and will repot into the larger one late winter.
This guy breaks lots of rules and expectations,
and seems controversial and just plain not very much to many people’s liking, which is fine, so I don’t mind the stuff flying around if it generates a robust dialogue to enliven things here. Even hack it up with virts and turn it into a formal upright sumo if you like, or cast unthinkable slurs in my direction - whatever you like. Have at it! 
