TJ’s Colorado Blue Spruce

[Colorado]

Colorado Blue Spruce

I acquired this yamadori tree in 2020 from Todd Schlafer. He collected it in 2018 or 2019, here in Colorado. It was repotted out of the collection container and into this round Sam Miller pot spring of 2022.

Last night I was feeling inspired to finally do the initial design of this tree after looking at it for a few years now.

Before


After


Side by Side - thanks @Hartinez !


It is one of my most favorite trees in my collection!

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

Great job with the styling!

 

[Tieball]

Wonderfully done. Seriously…mighty fine work!
I find the deadwood to be fabulous. And you now have a masterpiece.

 

[Colorado]

Great job with the styling!

Wonderfully done. Seriously…mighty fine work!
I find the deadwood to be fabulous. And you now have a masterpiece.

Thank you very much for the kind words!

 

[Hartinez]

She’s a beauty TJ!

 

[Shogun610]

I like this little tree , it’s got a great base and shari .. well in its way

 

[Colorado]

This tree responded very well to the initial styling. However, as I studied the tree all summer I began to feel like the design was a little bit awkward.

Consequently, I have been tinkering with this tree for the last couple of weeks. I made just some very minor adjustments, but now I feel like the design carries more balance and better proportions …. Perhaps at the expense of making the tree a little more vanilla.



Nice, juicy buds set for next year:


You can also see the needles are starting to reduce after a few years of pruning and 2 growing seasons in this pot.

 

[Shogun610]

I don’t think it’s too vanilla , I think that what it could use is a bit more wire to bend the lower branches down a bit and also using like 20 gauge to loosely wire the tips, and also a bit of apex scaffolding next

 

[Colorado]

I don’t think it’s too vanilla , I think that what it could use is a bit more wire to bend the lower branches down a bit and also using like 20 gauge to loosely wire the tips, and also a bit of apex scaffolding next

Thanks for the feedback - I will have to consider that next time I work on the tree!

 

[mattspinniken]

Great tree and will only get better!

 

[Ruddigger]

It’s looking good. I might consider shortening the left side and pushing out more on the right, eventually.

 

[Colorado]

Great tree and will only get better!

Thanks, Matt! I am looking forward to the coming years with this tree!

 

[Colorado]

It’s looking good. I might consider shortening the left side and pushing out more on the right, eventually.

Thanks, Rudd! I am totally with you - I wanted to play around with a little more extension out to the right. But I’ve maxed out the length on that side with the branches currently available. Will have to let that branch extend freely a year or two and then see what I have to work with!