Procumbens Cascade

David Chauvin

This procumbens juniper was one of my first attempts at bonsai. I don't have any early photos, but it was purchased as rough nursery stock in June, 2000. The first photo shown was taken in March 2002 after removing wire and thinning the foliage. I didn't think to take a before shot. (Height 18" or 45 cm).

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"With the death of the Shamen, artists are the last interpreters of the Divine." Joseph Campbell

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David Chauvin

This photo was taken the next day after wiring.

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"With the death of the Shamen, artists are the last interpreters of the Divine." Joseph Campbell

David Chauvin

The last photos were taken June 2002 after looking at the tree for a couple of months.I decided to remove the top branch.The fine foliage was then wired. Any comments or virtuals are welcome and appreciated.

__________________
"With the death of the Shamen, artists are the last interpreters of the Divine." Joseph Campbell

David Chauvin

Left side.

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"With the death of the Shamen, artists are the last interpreters of the Divine." Joseph Campbell

David Chauvin

Right side.

__________________
"With the death of the Shamen, artists are the last interpreters of the Divine." Joseph Campbell

Carl_Bergstrom

Fantastic!!!!

Why don't [i:a6eb10909b]my[/i:a6eb10909b] first attempts at bonsai look like that today?

(Well, because most are compost, for one thing - but even the survivors, by and large, are not nearly so nice.)

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In love with trees

David Chauvin

Mr. Crow,

This is one of the survivors. A lot of my early trees were either killed outright or slowly whittled down to nothing through repeated styling attempts, impatience or plain old stupidity. I wish I had taken more photos when I got started because it's good to see the progress (or the decline) of my trees. Both are equally educational. Thanks for the complements, but constructive criticism is more useful, so don't hold back.

David

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"With the death of the Shamen, artists are the last interpreters of the Divine." Joseph Campbell

Carl_Bergstrom

David,

I wasn't holding back - I really like the tree, and I really didn't have anything I could think of to improve it! It's a very nice implementation of the cascade style; the decision to remove the upper apex seems like a very good one. The pot complements it beautifully.

My only suggestion - and it's just a guess - I'm not sure it will even work - would be to consider slightly raising the first major branch moving to the left of a view facing the tree. That would open up some space between the tip of that branch and the one below it, and could be used to echo the movement of the pot rim.

But I'm not sure that would work. I've really never done much with the cascade style, so I don't have a particularly good eye for these sort of things.

All the best,
Old Mister

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In love with trees

Carl_Bergstrom

Er...looking again at the tree, I see that I meant the left fork of that left branch, not the whole thing. By raising this you could open some space between the left and right forks.

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In love with trees