Carl_Bergstrom

I think I did understand what you meant, Jose.

And I'm afraid I don't like your virtual nearly as much as I like the unaltered tree. Those front branches really belong there.

The formal upright is a very specific form, with quite clearly defined rules. While I don't mean to say that these rules should never be broken, they do exist for a reason, namely that most of the time, they help. So I sure would want to be very familiar with these principles of design before deciding to break them.

Also note that Flynhamer mentions working from the absolute classic book, Naka's Bonsai Techniques. In volume II, Naka has a wonderful 56-page chapter dealing with precisely the subject of branch placement, in which he advocates placement of front branches with foliage clouds obscuring the lines of sight to the trunk in places. He sketches probably a hundred trees in this chapter as suggested designs, and you'll see that none have the completely exposed trunk that you have advocated.

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In any event, thank you for not taking offense at my stubborn disagreement.

All the best,
Old Mister

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In love with trees

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