Taxus Yamadori "goming along"

hansvanmeer

The "Taxus" Yamadori from this little story, was given to me as a present by Tony Tickle when he came over to stay in my place in 2001.
This tree was so strangely and oddly shaped, that it made him beautiful to me! It grew straight like a pole out off his plastic container, for several inches! Than suddenly it became tree times as wide, but totally flat, just like a lollipop, from were a few very straight branches had grown! The backside off the tree and branches was made up out off death wood and were impossible to bend! Tony smiled when he gave it to me, and said I'm sure you can make something out of it! Well my mother always said to me: you should never look a given horse in the mouth! So...what to do? I thought about the possibility to air layer the tree just underneath the thick part, but i know that the change of success was Little! This tree had gotten this strange shape because it most likely grew over a rock....so i only had to find a rock that fitted the strange curves of this tree! So what would be the change off ever doing this? No... what would be the change of having a stone just right for it in my own garden? Well i did! And this stone is very nice one as well, it is a viewing stone from Indonesia i once bought, and that was lying somewhere lost in a corner of my garden. I held the tree in front off the stone and it looked like it might work, the stone had some sort of groove at the right side and a piece of rock sticking out of it at the bottom, and it looked like the tree could lean against the rock fitting in that groove and that this piece of rock sticking out would possibly hide some of the extreme reverse taper as well! So i first had to bring some branches into a workable position to form a tree shape with. This ment that i Had to separate the life wood from those branches away from the dead wood on two places to be able to bend them with the use of raffia and heavy wire. When this precise work was done, i took the tree out of the pot only to discover to my horror that the pole was going on for a long way underneath the ground, and to make matters worse there where only roots growing at the end of it! Well the tree fitted nicely into the groove of that rock (sound like a song tittle), and it look like a story that could had happened and there for natural, so i was hopeful that this strangeness of this tree could actually become it's main future. Because off the long unbendable root i had to place it in a deep pot, i wounded the bark of this long hard root in several places rapt it, with in rooting hormone soaked sphagnum moss before i filled the pot up with Akadama and Bios-orb. I know from experience with this species that they grow many roots in this kind off soil, so i just had to wait and keep my fingers crossed! The tree grew slow at first but than once it was settled it grew very fast, so there was some young branches to work with and create a natural looking tree with, this was great fun doing, and it looked like the fixed frame of this tree was made by Mother nature over many years , just to "Tickle" my fantasy ! Shaping a tree like this is pure improvisation, you cant change anything...so you have to work with branches starting from the wrong place and things like that! It was and still is one off my favorite trees i worked on!
This last month i was at Ginkgo to visit Danny and Ingrid and to look at there "Harley Davidson bar" they build in the middle of their bonsai center (is that cool or what?), when i found somewhere on the bottom shelf in the back of his large place, just the pot i was looking for! I took a deliberate risk with the dept of this new pot, because i figured that the tree would have maid plenty of roots by now, so i could shorten the long root enough to place it in this shallow pot. Well it did (look at the pic), it had an enormous root mass! I had to cut trough plenty off roots to even get it out off its pot! It was precarious work cutting away the roots underneath and around the stone trying to not separating the tree from the rock! This stone is pretty heavy to lift with one hand while untangling the roots with your other hand! I took of 2/3 off the roots and luckely was able to cut off a large peace off that trouble root. So i could place the tree and it's rock in to their new home. Now we are 1 month further and the tree is doing just fine. I think the pot goes very well together with the color of the stone and the tree.
It goes to show: that ugly can become beautiful in bonsai! At least in my eyes that is!
And TONY my friend thanks again!
I hope you like it!?
Hans van Meer.

Attached Images

	mei lente 2006 285 hans.jpg (73.1 KB, 140 views)
	april lente 2006 111 hans.jpg (72.8 KB, 107 views)
	mei lente 2006 280 hans.jpg (70.4 KB, 183 views)

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Craig Cowing

Hans:
Wonderful!

Craig Cowing

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I'm not finished yet, neither are my trees.

Joanie

That is a wonderful story, and a terrific tree and rock! What an inspiration!!!


Joanie

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grampz

Mr. Hans,

This is truly the work of an artist...One may 'master' the craft and create a bonsai from acceptable material, but when one is presented with material that has this many problems, only a true artist will be able to achieve a work of art such as this tree...This tree has the appearance of old age, huge size, and a struggle to survive despite the circumstances it has been handed by nature...Other than the wire, which is only temporary, the tree does not show the hand of man...The pot is an excellent choice...Very well done, the work of an artist, and the work of a bonsai genius...Thank you for sharing the tree and the history, and allowing us to once again see that one does not need perfect material to create a work of art, one needs talent...

Regards
Behr

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Bruce Winter

Hans, I always enjoy reading your stories.
One comment about the rock, I think it would look better buried in the soil a little. As it is, it is sitting ON the soil rather than growing OUT of the soil.
Greetz!
Bruce

hansvanmeer

Hi bruce,
Offcorse you are right about that the rock should be buried a bid more than it is now. But after i have placed (if i can find the right ones) various different mosses it will look more natural in the future.

Thanks everybody for your kind words, i am glad you seem to like this tree as much as i do! It is a shame that from precisely this tree i can not seem to find any pictures from the styling process.
Regards,
Hans.

Aaron_K

Loving your work as always Hans. Great tree, contrasting nicely with the rock.

All the best,

Aaron

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Misspeled_Name

Very nice Hans .

- Misspeled_Name

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