jwoodjr5

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Hey all, first thread here and wanted to show the progression I'll be going through with this Western Honey Mesquite (Prosopis Glandulosa var. Torreyana)

4/23/2023
This was the tree when I saw it a nursery a few weeks ago
PXL_20230422_022623166.PORTRAIT.ORIGINAL.jpg

From this angle the trunk is about 3" however, both nebari and trunk look much better from the side adding another few CM and creating some more interest.

Thoughts

- The rugged bark is beautiful and shows some strong potential.

- As much as I would like to keep all the branches, there's a conflict regardless of which angle I choose as a front

- The tree feels like it just wants to be styled in a naturalistic way. It has some long branches that can be turned into deadwood to give the tree an image reminiscent of Mesquite trees seen in the Mojave Desert.

Side

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The left most branch feels like a more natural continuation of the trunkline and has more interesting movement.

- The branch coming toward the camera feels out of place, the branch coming from the right feels okay but it's too straight and doesn't have much interest.

- I proceeded to adjust potting angles and spent several hours just staring at the tree in different ways.

PXL_20230422_022706161.PORTRAIT.jpg


5/2/2023

- The tree speaks! Here is the newest anglePXL_20230503_135539195.PORTRAIT.jpg

- I removed the rightmost branch in the above photos. It went against the flow of the tree and even as a deadwood feature felt very out of place due to how long the branch appeared without branch closer to the trunkline.

- There is a thin branch slightly toward the photo at the top center of the tree. It's quite flexible so I will get out the raffia and wire and create some further interest.

- I'm hesitant on removing more of the longer straight sections as I'm considering bringing the foliage in toward the center and creating a Jin feature out of those longer portions letting them rise above the overall shape of the tree

- Still playing around with angles, I may get a bit more extreme with the potting angle. I'll keep assessing it and letting the foliage grow
 

Tieball

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Welcome to Bonsainut and making the leap to your first posting.
 

Tieball

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I’m a fan of naturalistic styles. I just find the style exciting to my imagination. On your tree there are quite a few straight branch sections. These straight areas may need to be dealt with even when pursuing a naturalistic style. The good thing though is that you have many branches budding that can loosen up the straightness.

Perhaps when several of the new-growth branches lengthen those straight sections might not appear so straight.

Staring at a tree from different angles is a good thing.
Nice tree!
 
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Here is our volunteer mesquite that grew in our front yard, its a few years old. It did not have a long tap root luckily.
 

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jwoodjr5

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I’m a fan of naturalistic styles. I just find the style exciting to my imagination. On your tree there are quite a few straight branch sections. These straight areas may need to be dealt with even when pursuing a naturalistic style. The good thing though is that you have many branches budding that can loosen up the straightness.

Perhaps when several of the new-growth branches lengthen those straight sections might not appear so straight.

Staring at a tree from different angles is a good thing.
Nice tree!
Completely agreed on the naturalistic style, it's where I think we as bonsai artists really are challenged into that blend of art and nature at its rawest.


I'm thinking I'm going to let it run the rest of this year and see what kind of branching and buds it'll give me before trying to force anything at the moment.

I'm likely going to reduce many of the branches and streamline the appearance a bit more. Some quick phone eraser tool work to show one of the potential lines I'm seeing for the tree
PXL_20230503_135534427.PORTRAIT~2.jpg

Quick observations on the tree tell me it backbuds reliably as all the old pruned branch stumps are budding out.

It being a tree endemic to the Southwest Deserts has me guessing the growth is fast and hardens off quite quickly so I'll look to utilize that speed in my future chops
 

jwoodjr5

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I love mesquite in the landscape! Rarely seen as bonsai, good luck with this one.
I have a deep appreciation and fondness for many of the species native to the Southwest

Much of the issue I've read seems to be in that they are incredibly difficult to collect due to the obscene lengths of the taproots.

As it's already in a pot I'm really hoping I'll be able to avoid that issue.
 

Tieball

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The phone eraser path looks mighty fine. I can see excellent potential just as you do. Well thought out direction you’re taking.
 
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