My "Trash" tree

Dav4

This tree is one of my most recent acquisitions, and one of my favorites, as well. I acquired it while rummaging through the "dead" pile at a local landscape nursery last April. The tree, a Hinoki cypress/Chamaecyparis obtusa "Gracilis" (I think that's the right cultivar), was thrown on top of a pile of dead trees where it had spent the entire winter, its rootball encased in a ball of clay with rotting burlap. It was very green, without any brown foliage, and the nursery said I could have it, so why not. I got it home, hosed off 1/2 of the clay, and planted it in a large plastic nursery can with good soil. The tree grew like mad last summer, so I started pruning/selecting branches/shaping. Today, I was able to hose away the rest of the clay and got the tree into a bonsai pot. I also did a little foliage pruning but no more this year. I'm amazed at how vigorous the tree has been and how far I've been able to take the tree in such a short time. The pot is a nice one, a gift from my wife, but probably won't be the final one when I've finished refining the foliage. The tree is a hair over 36" tall. What do you think?

Dave

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mike_p

Good save!!

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Learning the art of bonsai may be more like water wearing away a stone, or climbing a mountain where the peak is always shrouded in fog and just out of reach.
Persist, and someday you may see the peak in sunshine. You may pick up the stone and it's a thing of beauty.

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new4me

Great find!

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Jay

Dave... questions. Are you trying to bend the tree at the point noted by the trunk bender? If so, are you going to be moving the branch at that point to the inside of a curve? Also, it may be me but it looks like the picture is a composite. Did you do some photo work with it?

That all aside you are progressing with this tree.

Jay

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Dav4

Thanks for all the comments. Jay, no phototshop, just my digital camera on the "auto" setting with a torn, darkly painted piece of cardboard as the background. As for the portion of bending trunk, there really is no branch on the inside of the curve...it's more then 2" above that point. Do you think the tree would be better without it? I'll hopefully take/upload more pics from different angles tomorrow that might help with any critique. Thanks again,


Dave

Jay

Dave, I'd wait till you were finished with the bending then think about the branch. remember I'm seeing a flat 2D picture.

Jay

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A Bonsai student living with his trees at N 44.37 W 77.49...
Think before you act... then think again... no good comes from rushing

midwestbonsai

The dead pile is my favorite place to go at my local nurseries.
Except they know that I do bonsai and have to charge me something for everything I want. But it usually under $10.
Thanks for sharing
-Paul

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Dav4

Jay, the angle of that bend is about right and its been on for almost 1 year...I'm actually thinking of taking it off later this spring. You're right, though. In retrospect, the branch is on the inside of a bend, just not at the deepest point. The tree may or may not be better without it...I think trees like this look better with sparse tops with minimal foliage, but its a work in progress. We'll see.


Dave

weeijk

Sorry Dave, but I would have cut it after the first right branch, leaving a jin for the rest of the trunk or part of it. In that way you would gain much more taper, and Ít´ll give you the change to build up again at a much lower level.

For now it seems to be a bunjin with far to much folliage or a moyogi with no exitement at all.

Just my thoughts.

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