Thanks Jase and Walter.
Those images are, of course, being considered. The leader has no taper and has poor directional movement. However, cutting it off would make the knot in the middle even larger.
Last night when photographing this tree, my friend Howard and I were mulling over a few different possibilities. One involves cutting off the knot-like portion and using one of the forward branches as the new leader. Another involves cutting the knot off and taking the tree to the left. Yet another involves rotating the tree to the right sevaral degrees. That one may have some promise for keeping the current leader or even removing it.
All in all, this tree is a wonderfully hideous monstrosity. I love it. It is important that this one be developed well and properly maintained - there's nothing in the world like it. It is, so far as anyone knows, the only root-over-rock cedar elm of these proportions ever collected. It will go in the now-being-built Texas Bonsai Exhibit. It is a Texas treasure and should be preserved for posterity. Plus, its just the right thing to do. ;-)
Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
www.andyrutledge.com/palaver/main.htm
zone 8, Texas