The "trumpet tree" is a composition that was designed and grown by my mentor and friend Nick Lenz. I have been under my care for some time so, like all bonsai, I am partially responsible for its look.
The story goes, some years back the Ogre (Nick) came to visit here in my home town of Brainerd, Minnesota and we were out thumping around in a bog up north looking for demented trees. We found little except we discovered a large ant colony right in the midst of a very wet sphagnum bog, which seemed entirely unlikely and rare. We collected a few small tamarack seedlings (larch trees).
On the way back we came through the the city of Crosby/Ironton, Minnesota and being the eccentric artist the Ogre is, he demanded we stop at one of the junky antique stores there. We found an exquisite shoe-box-sized metal car, which he bought. As we kept poking around, we found this old trumpet and he held it and looked at it hard and said, "what a beautiful form, I will make something with this" and he did.
The composition relies on being grown very slowly so it remains tame. It is tricky to keep the horns position perfect and the flare of buds at the top must be just right. I, of course, love it very much.
The story goes, some years back the Ogre (Nick) came to visit here in my home town of Brainerd, Minnesota and we were out thumping around in a bog up north looking for demented trees. We found little except we discovered a large ant colony right in the midst of a very wet sphagnum bog, which seemed entirely unlikely and rare. We collected a few small tamarack seedlings (larch trees).
On the way back we came through the the city of Crosby/Ironton, Minnesota and being the eccentric artist the Ogre is, he demanded we stop at one of the junky antique stores there. We found an exquisite shoe-box-sized metal car, which he bought. As we kept poking around, we found this old trumpet and he held it and looked at it hard and said, "what a beautiful form, I will make something with this" and he did.
The composition relies on being grown very slowly so it remains tame. It is tricky to keep the horns position perfect and the flare of buds at the top must be just right. I, of course, love it very much.
