The area I will be collecting the tree from is on the edge of a seasonally flooded woodland consisting of 80-90% bald cypress. Here, cypress create domes usually centered around a depression that floods yearly, with the oldest trees in the center and young outside. This tree is from the outer edge of such a dome, and I doubt it floods for any more than a month in the most rainy time of the year. The rest of the year, it is a dry area. Some of the older trees in the center of the dome have massive bases that flare out so much that it forms a nearly flat table at the hight that the water floods in the wet season. Sadly, this area was logged some time in the early part of the 1900s so there are no truly gargantuan trees, but in another 100 years or so, our decendants can look forward to seeing some real heavyweights.
With the tree I will be collecting, I chose it for the flareing trunk base. I suppose in order to create a tree with some interest, I will have to cut that trunk a bit lower, and train a leader that I will allow to grow uncontrolled. Once that branch thickens, I could change the angle of the teee at a repotting, creating something that does not resemble a baseball bat.
If this were your project, where would you start, and at what point would you dig it up to continue its refinement?