What lies beneath....

darrellw

Mame
Messages
244
Reaction score
1
Location
Vancouver, WA, USA
USDA Zone
8
Here is a ponderosa that I picked up from Oregon Bonsai last year. According to Jason, it had been kicking around quite a while, and had been on their website from the beginning, but no one had much interest in it. I decided to take pity on it, and see if it could be made into an acceptable shohin, even though the needles were a bit long. I worked on it at a Walter Pall workshop, but never got too excited about it. Here is the original picture from the Oregon Bonsai web site, and pictures after the initial styling.
 

Attachments

  • YPP-005-600x450.jpg
    YPP-005-600x450.jpg
    63.6 KB · Views: 56
  • IMG_0667.jpg
    IMG_0667.jpg
    88.6 KB · Views: 40
  • IMG_0668.jpg
    IMG_0668.jpg
    57.5 KB · Views: 47

darrellw

Mame
Messages
244
Reaction score
1
Location
Vancouver, WA, USA
USDA Zone
8
So this spring I repotted. Upon getting it out of the flat, I found that the trunk really increased in size under the soil line, and took a major 90 degree turn (probably along the crack of rock it was growing in). So I decided to change the planting angle and make it into a cascade. I had to remove two small roots, but other than cleaning out the native soil the rest of the rootball was pretty much left intact.

In the close up shot, everything below the tie wire was underground. I only did some very minor branch rearrangement, mostly just to get the tips pointing up. Next step is some major needle reduction, but if it responds to that well, I think this will become a real gem!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1829.jpg
    IMG_1829.jpg
    75 KB · Views: 42
  • IMG_1830.jpg
    IMG_1830.jpg
    74.4 KB · Views: 68
  • IMG_1831.jpg
    IMG_1831.jpg
    51 KB · Views: 65

rlist

Shohin
Messages
294
Reaction score
7
Location
Portland, OR
USDA Zone
8a
Hey Darrell - Great find! It just goes to show that every dirty dog on the website has potential...

I cannot believe I am actually going to udder these words (yes, udder, as in shudder), but this tree would be a good candidate to spend an afternoon with Mike this fall and ... graft JBP onto this little one - as I think you will be very hard pressed to get the needles to a convincing size.

Rich
 

darrellw

Mame
Messages
244
Reaction score
1
Location
Vancouver, WA, USA
USDA Zone
8
I cannot believe I am actually going to udder these words (yes, udder, as in shudder), but this tree would be a good candidate to spend an afternoon with Mike this fall and ... graft JBP onto this little one - as I think you will be very hard pressed to get the needles to a convincing size.

Rich, I can't believe my eyes! :)

Yes, of all my ponderosa, this would be the best candidate for that. But I'm going to give it a chance on its own needles first.

-Darrell
 
Top Bottom