Vonsgardens

Gringo,
The long first branch is associated with at least two things:
1) A garden tree that guards and welcomes one through the garden to the home;
2) A common stylistic effect from the last century, if you look at the kokufu books these trees were common in the 60's-80's and the long first branches got more and more pronounced.

This is an old tree and reflects the plan of the originator. On the younger rather crappy imports (usually badly grafted on to black pine) you will still see this effect, I usually look to see if there is some hope to remove the majority of the first branch. On this tree, it works, it is old and the whole design hinges on the completeness of the tree. I don't know what the owner's plan is for the tree, but it really works as it is now. Having carried this tree arounf for a while, I can tell you that it is both large and heavy.

look up Sashieda- it is in the wiki.

John

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"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon