A Larch Story

This is the story of a Larch I discovered high on a steep mountainside in Austria in 2004.

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This is a picture of that mountain six days before I collected the Larch in 2005, still mostly covered with snow. Because this site where it grew was a glacier, where snow was on the move for most of the year, there was not much chance for any tree to grow there. The few small trees that had grown there before were almost all broken or barerooted by last year's extremely heavy snowfall, and the enormous amounts of water and debris that came down when this snow melted in springtime. Those few trees lucky enough to survive all this were left covered by tons of small rocks and gravel.

I freed the larch from this story as much as possible so it could grow freely again to recover. All the unnecessary branches were cut off or cut back to promote back-budding. I left the tree at the site with good hope for its recovery, and in May 2005, I returned to see if it was safe time to collect it. When I arrived there I was very pleased to see that the tree had recovered more than enough to remove it with out much problems from this hazardous place.

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In this picture you can see me sitting next to the tree, starting to work. With a hook I started to remove away the almost impenetrable stone-hard soil. In soil this firm, I make a circular trench ( 20 Inches across in this case) around the base of the tree, just wide enough for my hand to move in, going deeper and deeper, cutting through any roots that I come across. In this way I'm left with a good, firm root ball in which the roots are well protected.

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Then, when the trench has reached sufficient depth, I burrow my way inward to the base of the tree, again cutting and sawing away the roots. This is time consuming, difficult work, but it is the safest way to go!

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This is especially important when collecting Larch! They don’t like it when you disturb their root system too much. But, there is a downside to this method ( as I found out the hard way that day)! With a tree this size, you are left with a root ball that weighs a ton!

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Next, I sawed of the large trunk/branch that I could not use. But I made sure to leave a large stump, so that it had the chance to die/dry back naturally, with out causing any harm to the sap flow around this large wound. The tree was then wrapped in wet sphagnum moss and taped tightly in to a large plastic bag. There are no pictures of me bringing this oh-so-heavy tree down from that hill! I was too busy falling down and almost breaking my neck and back in the process

After the long trip back, deep into the night I arrived home, but after just a few hours of sleep I was up again. I did not want to waste any more time, so and potted the trees I collected in their new homes as soon as possible. With the much-needed help of my friend/student Jeroen, I was able lift it out of my car onto a wooden stretcher.

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You can see the tree still standing the stretcher in this picture, where Jeroen can't wait any longer and had to look! We planted the tree in the big plastic tub (right lower corner of the picture), we had prepared with lots of holes drilled into the bottom. The tree was then placed in a shaded and windfree place in my garden. All I had to do was to make sure it never dried out completely.

The tree recovered nicely from its adventures and was allowed to grow freely that entire season, so it would regain all its former strength!

In early spring 2006 unnecessary branches were removed, and branches that had grown too long were shortened. This again promoted heavy back-budding.

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This picture was taken next year, in early summer 2006. The first branch on the left was (with the help of some 6mm wire) severely bent to the left and secured with a guy wire to a heavy screw placed in the now-dry wood of the stump. The second branch on the right was also moved, more or less, into its future position with the help of some heavy wire. The tree was now placed in a semi-shaded spot and received some heavy feeding during that growing season.

That summer was extremely hot and long, but with the help off some extra water to make sure the tree would never get completely dry, there were no problems whatsoever!

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On this picture from the other site of the tree: you can clearly see the big stump that was left from the large branch that was removed on the mountainside. The tree was turned around every month or so, to make sure all sides received enough light. Besides watering and feeding the tree, that was all I really did that first year.

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In late winter this year (2007) the heavy branch that was left on the tree to let it regain its strength, was removed so that all the energy that will be produced in the fast-approaching spring will be directed to the branches I could use in my design.

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Early March 2007: Although the movement of the trunk is a bit more gentle from this side, the far-from-ideal point of origin of the branches made me decide that it would ultimately be the back side of the tree.

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This side will be the front of the tree. The poor placement of the right branch is not noticeable from this angle. It now comes from behind the trunk to hover nicely above the future jin / shari, that now still is a large stump. There also is a nice natural shari on the front of the tree that gives the tree some more interest, and would be wasted on the back side.

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Close-up of the stump. You can see a chunk of limestone that I put underneath the branch to protect it from damage when it was tied down to the stump with that guy wire and screw.

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Here the stump is reduced even further. Even so, I still left a bit of extra material there because I needed to tighten/screw down that branch again. When I roughly counted the lines in the cut edge of stump I came close to an amazing one hundred years!

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Here I am wiring the branches off this future bonsai. It was a nice break from rebuilding my whole garden (see background). I’m completely in a world of my own when I’m styling a tree; I totally live for these moments. It is a brilliant experience for me!

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This is a close up of the natural shari and jin on the front of the tree before I started to work on it.

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I decided to work only with hand tools.

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This is how the shari looks for now. All the decaying parts are removed and the shari is connected to the smaller jin below it now.

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While I was still contemplating a possible shari running down from the top...the tree had already answered this question a few years ago! The shari you see here came out from underneath the bark and was completely natural, so that solved that question for me.

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This is the final result for now. For the time being, I am happy with the look and feel of this first styling. In the future, the tree needs to be tilted toward the right and forward somewhat to give it even more movement and character. The branches will be a bit shorter in the future as well. I'm not quite sure about that large jin on top, but that is all for the future! For the time being, I have to get comfortable with the appearance of the tree as it is now and then (maybe) some more big decisions.

Who knows?! I have plenty of time and just enjoy this old tree as it is now, but I hope you've enjoyed my larch story so far.

Regards,


Hans van Meer

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"I fly so high...and fall so low!"


Website: www.karamotto.org

Bonsai Blog: http://www.knowledgeofbonsai.org/ha..._meer/index.php

AoB Profil on Hans van Meer:
http://www.artofbonsai.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1191

more pictures

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A "larch"story more pictures 2

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These pictures complete my story.

Hans

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Thanks for sharing this larch story with us, Hans. I look forward to future progress on this great piece of material!

Regards,

Matt

Well done, Hans That's what it's all about!

Hans, Thank You for sharing the story of this wonderful time in your life!
And Yes you do look like you are in the Groove while working with the tree.
There is something about working with a tree that is so old that transends time itself.
I have no doubt that this is one that will be in your history books one day.
I enjoyed the pictures as much as the story!
You are a gifted Story Teller.
Irene

I loved your story Hans! Thanks for sharing it. That larch is a good bonsai, and made even better because of the story behind it.
Si

Bravo Hans!!

Thanks everybody, I'm glad you like what I did so fare with this Larch. But I have to admit: it's a bid of a shame, that not many people seam to find there way to the article section! I will keep posting any progress in the development of this future bonsai.

Regards,
Hans.