I potted up this Water-elm that we’d collected last July back in February. It’s a pretty cool little twin-trunk, featuring dead wood on both trunks as well as a “flying root” on the right side. You wouldn’t ordinarily want a root like that, but I thought it added to the character of the tree rather than detracting from it. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was going to be proven right.
I’ve been planning for a while to do some additional carving on the dead wood, then to treat everything with lime sulfur. That was one of the chores I tended to on this long weekend. In this photo you can see most of the result. This tree is definitely getting better.
How’s this for a surprise! I was digging around at the base of the right-hand trunk, and discovered that there was a hollow filled with mud that I hadn’t managed to clean out last summer when the tree first came home. The more I dug, the farther I went – until I came out the back! It’s a see-through trunk. So I cleaned it up and then treated everything with lime sulfur. And I think the flying root is now indispensable to the character of this bonsai. The tree just wouldn’t be the same without it.
Here’s a shot from the back. I think this Water-elm bonsai says a lot in a small package. Do you agree?